This time it had me thinking about the connection to achieving our career dreams.

It wasn’t just about the main ingredient to a S’more. It’s about how we show up in our careers, how we treat our desires, and how mindset influences what we attract and what we wait for.

When I dug into the research, here’s what I found—and why it matters for you.

The original study: The set-up and what it seemed to show

Back in the late 1960s/early 1970s, psychologist Walter Mischel and colleagues at Stanford University gave preschoolers a choice: one favorite treat (often a marshmallow) now, or wait several minutes and they would get two marshmallows. They tested under several circumstances including having the kids do something fun while they waited or have the marshmallows in sight or place the marshmallows out of sight to see if that changed the outcomes.

The main thing they were testing for was self-control and delayed gratification. In early follow-ups, the children who waited longer tended to score better on later tests (like the SAT), had better overall self-control, and healthier lifestyles.

Except … later research has disproved this theory.

Newer studies looked more closely and found important qualifiers. The researchers concluded that delays in gratification alone provide a much weaker prediction of adult life-outcomes than originally thought. In fact, it is the child’s environment, socio-economic status, trust in the promise of future rewards, that are the real determinants of future success.

If you believed, because you grew up in an environment where your needs were provided for consistently, that more marshmallows would always be available, the chances at future success would be higher.

In short: waiting is useful—but believing in the promise of the future (and having an environment that supports it) matters a lot more.

What this marshmallow study means for your career

Okay, so you may be thinking: “Great, marshmallows and kids. But how does this apply to me, to my career?”

Here’s the translation:

• The marshmallow on the table = your current opportunity.
• The promise of more marshmallows = your future potential, growth, bigger roles, more impact.
• Waiting or grabbing now = acting from confidence in future flow vs. acting from fear of scarcity.
• The environment and your belief in the future = your mindset, the resources you trust, the network you rely on.

When you decide to believe that what you desire is already coming—that you are already prospering, that there’s a marshmallow in front of you and more on their way … you operate from a very different energy. You’re not scrambling, you’re not panicked, you’re not in “grab everything now because there might not be more” mode. You trust.

By contrast, when you carry a scarcity mindset thinking, “This may be my only chance. I can’t wait. I must grab what I can now” you may act faster, but you’re also investing from fear, which often increases friction, stress, second-guessing, and can slow down the flow of more opportunities.

The Marshmallow Mindset Shift

Using this marshmallow research as a metaphor and a caution:

• If you believe your future holds more marshmallows, you’ll take action, or no action, from a place of calm confidence—not desperation.
• Even if your evidence (past experiences, environment) might suggest scarcity, you can choose differently. The research shows that background has a strong influence—but it’s not the whole story. You have the power of choosing how you think about you and your dreams.
• That choice—believing abundance over lack—is the very pivot that separates a “good” career transition from an aligned one. It’s the difference between saying “I hope I’ll get there” and “I know I’m already on the way.”

To sum it up: when you truly believe you can achieve your dreams today, not only do you get that first marshmallow—you get S’more.