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Here is what the researchers found.
Kids who could wait ...
• did better in school, scoring 125 points higher on college entrance exams.
• made more money.
• were more likely to have long-term, satisfying relationships.
When they redid this study with 65- to 90-year-olds, they found once again, in a study with snacks, that people who
could wait lived happier, healthier, and wealthier lives.
Let’s break this down even further. What skills do people who can wait have that make their lives more successful?
• Resilience: This means that they can stay calm and in control when faced with a challenge.
• Ability to focus their attention
• Control their emotions and impulses
• Ability to learn because they have a working memory
• Cognitively flexible
These abilities lead to better reasoning, problem-solving, and planning that are necessary for achieving their chosen goals.
People can learn to wait
This research may make it seem like people are doomed to a bad life if they can’t wait. But guess what? We can grow
our brain and build the skills necessary to be able to wait! These abilities can improve at any time over the course of
our lives. Most of us want the life of a person who can wait. They appear smarter, make more money, have long-term
relationships, and are happier.
Victor Frankel, a Holocaust survivor, stated, “Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is
our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” What does this mean?
With increased space, people can learn how to respond rather than react, which will lead to personal growth and the
freedom to choose. What do you think is the difference between reacting and responding? When we react, we let our
emotions take over. We act quickly, without much thought. This might be when someone pushes our buttons and our
heart races, our breath quickens, and we might even feel sick to our stomachs. We often act in a way that we regret.
Everybody does this but with these exercises, we can learn how to pause and make a thoughtful response instead of
just reacting. When we pause, we slow down, think it through, and realize that we have a choice. We might act more
from logic and less from emotion. We call this “making space.”
With Mind Matters we hope to expand that space between stimulus and response.
We are going to learn skills that are mental exercises. With practice, these can improve our ability to wait.
The purpose of this class is to become someone who can wait, someone who can pause. As the research
shows, this increases the possibility that we will have a healthier, wealthier, and happier life!
Here is what the researchers found.
Kids who could wait ...
• did better in school, scoring 125 points higher on college entrance exams.
• made more money.
• were more likely to have long-term, satisfying relationships.
When they redid this study with 65- to 90-year-olds, they found once again, in a study with snacks, that people who
could wait lived happier, healthier, and wealthier lives.
Let’s break this down even further. What skills do people who can wait have that make their lives more successful?
• Resilience: This means that they can stay calm and in control when faced with a challenge.
• Ability to focus their attention
• Control their emotions and impulses
• Ability to learn because they have a working memory
• Cognitively flexible
These abilities lead to better reasoning, problem-solving, and planning that are necessary for achieving their chosen goals.
People can learn to wait
This research may make it seem like people are doomed to a bad life if they can’t wait. But guess what? We can grow
our brain and build the skills necessary to be able to wait! These abilities can improve at any time over the course of
our lives. Most of us want the life of a person who can wait. They appear smarter, make more money, have long-term
relationships, and are happier.
Victor Frankel, a Holocaust survivor, stated, “Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is
our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” What does this mean?
With increased space, people can learn how to respond rather than react, which will lead to personal growth and the
freedom to choose. What do you think is the difference between reacting and responding? When we react, we let our
emotions take over. We act quickly, without much thought. This might be when someone pushes our buttons and our
heart races, our breath quickens, and we might even feel sick to our stomachs. We often act in a way that we regret.
Everybody does this but with these exercises, we can learn how to pause and make a thoughtful response instead of
just reacting. When we pause, we slow down, think it through, and realize that we have a choice. We might act more
from logic and less from emotion. We call this “making space.”
With Mind Matters we hope to expand that space between stimulus and response.
We are going to learn skills that are mental exercises. With practice, these can improve our ability to wait.
The purpose of this class is to become someone who can wait, someone who can pause. As the research
shows, this increases the possibility that we will have a healthier, wealthier, and happier life!
