In a post from the archive, renowned psychologist Walter Mischel reminds us of the connection between long-term, noteworthy accomplishments and delayed gratification. To make his point, he references the famous Stanford marshmallow experiments done in the early ‘70s where children were given the choice of eating one marshmallow now or waiting to receive two marshmallows later. If I want to reach the goal I have in mind — I want the two marshmallows — I have to inhibit interfering responses. People who are successful focus attention on monitoring progress towards the goal and do whatever necessary to make it possible. Planning, future-oriented activities, and controlling one’s own emotions require delaying gratification. These fundamental skills allow you to have control over stimuli rather than being controlled by them. For many hiring managers, this is the struggle going through their minds when faced with completing the unpleasant tasks of recruiting. I’ll just work with my own agents and make them more productive. I don’t want to appear too aggressive, so I’ll wait for this prospect to contact me. I don’t think my follow-ups are making a difference—do I really need to spend time on this? Embracing a delayed gratification paradigm starts with a mindset that believes increasing self-control is possible. It rejects that idea that willpower is a state of being over which you have no control.