In the late 1960s, a researcher named Walter Mischel developed a test to measure ability to delay gratification in children. A child was put in a room with a marshmallow and told that if she could wait fifteen minutes, she would be given an additional marshmallow. Some children gave in to temptation easily, while others were able to distract themselves from the marshmallow long enough to receive the extra reward.

The marshmallow test proved to be an astonishingly accurate measure of children's overall ability to succeed. Later in life, the children who had waited for the second marshmallow were better equipped academically and socially than their more impatient counterparts.

The concept around which this study was based is, of course, delayed gratification. The ability to grasp the idea of rewards and consequences, and behave accordingly, is one of the most important skills required to function as a human being. A marshmallow isn't much, but the same mindset that helps children wait for it will help them in other areas of life later on.

The Marshmallow Test is an effective metaphor for a wide variety of situations that everyone encounters on a daily basis. Every time you pay your rent instead of buying a new game console, or clench your teeth and smile instead of punching that annoying customer at work, you pass the Marshmallow Test.

In fact, if you're a college student, you're passing it right now. We all know how hard it is to go to school. Tuition, childcare, homework assignments, transportation, paperwork...it can be awfully tempting to run away from it all. After all, you don't need a degree to survive, do you?

No, but if you can stick with it, the rewards for your behavior will make it all worth it. A college degree makes an enormous difference in the working world. It means that you've gained certain skills and specialties, but it also offers proof that you can hold out for the long haul, and that may be even more important to prospective employers than talent or job experience.

Good for you. Congratulations on reaching for that second marshmallow.

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