Out of Sight

"What you focus on expands within your awareness."  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! *** New listeners: By texting the word "HABITS" to the mobile phone number "33444" you will instantly receive your "hack"/habit tracker/habit development template, or you can download it here: thehabitfactor.com/templates. Feel free to share the episode and leave a review on iTunes!  ***** Subscribe iTunes here! Subscribe: Android | RSS ***** TOOLS/BOOKS WE RECOMMEND: Bucket List PRO (iOS app) iTunes Grab your FREE copy of As a Man Thinketh (PDF) right here: As a Man Thinketh The 3 C's of SucCcess (Mitch W. Steel) The Psychology of Achievement (Brian Tracy) The Power of Positive Thinking (Norman Vincent Peale) The Magic of Thinking BIG! (David Schwartz) Think & Grow Rich (Napoleon Hill) The Success Principles (Jack Canfield) Getting Things Done! (Allen's Great Book!) TRELLO! **HABIT FACTOR RESOURCES!!** The New HabitXP Planner! (FREE! The Habit Factor's Tracking Template) The Habit Factor® (website: BLOG, tips, tools and other resources) The Habit Factor® Book (Amazon Kindle) The Pressure Paradox® Book (Amazon Kindle) The Habit Factor app (iOS, Android) The Pressure Paradox™ **WEBINARS** Get Unstuck Course  Habit Mastery: (FREE) Learn the process to Master Habit, Enhance Discipline and Strengthen Willpower: The 28 Day Breakthrough! Free Webinar: (Mini Course) Why Happiness is a Habit and how to cultivate it! Free Webinar: (Mini Course) Focus & Discipline --------- Thank YOU for checking out this episode and we're always grateful when you SHARE our episodes w/ your friends and family and help us by writing a review ; ) ---------- This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit habits2goals.substack.com/subscribe