Consumer Critique: Keep Your Eye on the Marshmallow

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If you've never heard of the marshmallow experiment, I highly recommend you watch the TED talk below, in which Joachim de Posada, author of Keep Your Eye on the Marshmallow: Gain Focus and Resilience-And Come Out Ahead, explains the experiment (put 4-year-olds alone in a room with a marshmallow, tell them not to eat it for 15 minutes and they'll get a second marshmallow) and the long-term ramifications. Keep Your Eye on the Marshmallow is actually the follow-up to two previous books that explore different aspects of the marshmallow experiment.
My mom and I both agree that the results of the marshmallow experiment would have played out very different with my own brothers and me. My youngest would have eaten the marshmallow right away. The middle brother probably would have sat in a corner of the room and completely ignored the marshmallow. I probably would have played with it, but waited, knowing I'd come out ahead in the end. And all three of us, in our adult lives, still display some of those same traits regarding risks and rewards.



The book takes a look at Arthur, who dreams of starting his own business but is faltering along the way. His mentors explain to him guiding principles that will help him focus and bounce back from struggles, without losing sight of what's important to him.
The book is well-written, and has a friendly tone. By using the story of Arthur and his mentors, de Posada is able to convey a lot of wisdom and cautions without being preachy. I liked it - so much that I just ordered the previous two books in the series! It's worth a read for anyone who is struggling to meet their goals, or wants some guidelines for striking out on a major endeavor.