self mastery

the marshmellow experiment

If you’re thinking about the marshmallow and how delicious it is, then you’re going to eat it,” Mischel says. “The key is to avoid thinking about it in the first place.”

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/05/18/090518fa_fact_lehrer

This is a link to a story in the New Yorker about kids who were given a marshmellow and told if they didn't eat it they could get a 2nd one after 15 minutes. The result was that most could not wait and those who could were good at everyting else in life. No surprise. However, The kids who could wait and not eat the marshmellow were able to do so because they had a method to distract them from eating the marshmellow.

No one can just sit and stare at a marshmellow and not eat it. That is impossible. The way to avoid eating it is to sing a song, or pretend it is a cloud.

With simple training, a few lessons on metacognition (the science of thinking about how to think) children were able to dramatically improve their waiting time.

I used to run 50mile ultramarathons, my last race was over 2 years ago. I am trying to get back into shape to do a 30 mile race this spring, and the distance running is daunting. I have been thinking about the psychology of running great distances lately. As I remember it, the way I got myself to do those was to break up the distance, focus on the podcasts I would have on the IPOD, and other wise distract myself from the physical discomfort of the exercise.

When I am trying to lose weight this week, I am going to avoid eating junk food by not having it in the house, earmarking it for the kids' lunches, and distracting myself by focusing on the TV I get to watch every evening after my healthy dinner. It is comforting to know that it is not really just a matter of "will power" but also a matter of strategy and controlling ones environment.

So, you may ask, why do I need to lose weight if I am training for huge running races? Well, It is evidence of the fact that exercise alone will not make you lose weight.