Managing your environment, with some planning and forethought is one of the best ways to influence your behavior.
If you want to focus better, eliminate potential distractions ahead of time. If you want to eat better, control what is in your pantry and refrigerator and change your shopping habits. If you want to quit smoking, ensure you are not hanging out with the same friends during the smoke break and make sure there aren't cigarettes anywhere in sight.
MG revisits the famous "Standford marshmallow experiment" from the early 1970's where the professors leave children ages 3.5 to 5.5 in a room with their favorite treats; marshmallows, cookies, Oreos, etc. The objective of the experiment is to see how well the children are able to delay gratification. They are told that if they can wait for the professor to return they will get two of their favorite treats or, they can ring the bell aright away and get one.
In turns out, the children who performed well in the test went on to become better students and had better careers. While this seems to oversimplify the matter, one thing all the kids did to successfully delay gratification was to put the cookies OUT OF SIGHT.
The other key idea is that self-discipline and will-power are learnable skills/habits that can be cultivated over time.
Enjoy the episode!
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