Winning the marshmallow test

Does winning the Marshmallow Test make you unhappy?

The Marshmallow Test is a psychological study on delayed gratification. Researchers put one marshmallow in front of a preschool kid with the promise that if they wait 15min (without nibbling), they’ll get two marshmallows.

The researchers tracked these kids into adult life and found that those who were able to delay gratification as kids tended to be more successful in adult life (higher SAT scores, higher-earning careers, etc).

Recently I’ve been wondering whether some of us are too "good" at delaying gratification. Perhaps the very thing that enables people to become successful also means they never get to enjoy their success.

Many of us spend our lives stockpiling marshmallows without ever actually eating any. We keep sacrificing today for a better tomorrow, without acknowledging that we'll eventually run out of tomorrows.