100 Things Every Presenter Needs to Know About People

35. People’s Ability to Delay Gratification (Or Not) Starts Young

You want to buy that Kindle, but you’re thinking maybe you should wait a while. Maybe you should see if the price comes down later this year, or maybe you should pay down your credit card debt before you spend money on a new gadget for yourself. Do you wait or not?

Whether or not you are the type of person who can delay gratification, chances are high that you’ve been this way (a delayer or not a delayer) since you were a child.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Walter Mischel conducted a series of studies on delayed gratification with preschoolers. Years later he followed up with the original people in his study. He found that when the children who were able to delay gratification ...