Don't eat the marshmallow! | Joachim de Posada

Translator: David J. Kreps Finnemann Reviewer: Troels Larsen

I'm here because I have a very important message:

Jeg står her, fordi jeg har en meget vigtig besked:

I think we have found

jeg tror vi har fundet

the most important factor for success.

den vigtigste faktor for succes.

And it was found close to here, Stanford.

Og den blev fundet tæt herpå, Stanford.

Psychology professor took kids that were four years old

Psykologi professor tog børn der var fire år gamle

and put them in a room all by themselves.

og satte dem i et værelse helt alene.

And he would tell the child, a four-year-old kid,

Og han fortalte barnet, et fire-årigt barn,

"Johnny, I am going to leave you here with a marshmallow

"Johnny, jeg efterlader dig her med en skumfidus

for 15 minutes.

i 15 minutter.

If, after I come back, this marshmallow is here,

Hvis, når jeg kommer tilbage, skumfidusen er her,

you will get another one. So you will have two."

får du en mere. Så du har to."

To tell a four-year-old kid to wait 15 minutes

At fortælle et fire-årigt barn at han skal vente 15 minutter

for something that they like,

på noget de kan lide,

is equivalent to telling us, "We'll bring you coffee in two hours."

svarer til at fortælle os, "Vi kommer med kaffe om to timer".

(Laughter)

(Latter)

Exact equivalent.

Præcis det samme.

So what happened when the professor left the room?

Så hvad skete der da professoren forlod værelset?

As soon as the door closed...

Lige så snart døren lukkede...

two out of three ate the marshmallow.

to ud af tre spiste skumfidusen.

Five seconds, 10 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds,

Fem sekunder, 10 sekunder, 40 sekunder, 50 sekunder,

two minutes, four minutes, eight minutes.

to minutter, fire minutter, otte minutter.

Some lasted 14-and-a-half minutes.

Nogle klarede den 14 og et halvt minut.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

Couldn't do it. Could not wait.

Kunne ikke klare det. Kunne ikke vente.

What's interesting is that one out of three

Det der er interessant er, at en ud af tre

would look at the marshmallow and go like this ...

kiggede på skumfidusen og gjorde det her ...

Would look at it.

De kiggede på den.

Put it back.

Lagde den tilbage.

They would walk around. They would play with their skirts and pants.

De ville gå rundt. De ville lege med deres nederdele og bukser.

That child already, at four, understood

Det barn forstod allerede som fire-årig,

the most important principle for success,

den vigtigste grundregel for succes,

which is the ability to delay gratification.

hvillket er evnen til at udsætte nydelse.

Self-discipline:

Selvdisciplin:

the most important factor for success.

den vigtigste faktor for at få succes.

15 years later, 14 or 15 years later,

15 år senere, 14 eller 15 år senere,

follow-up study.

opfølgningsstudie.

What did they find?

Hvad fandt de ud af?

They went to look for these kids who were now 18 and 19.

De tog ud for at se til disse børn der nu var blevet 18 eller 19.

And they found that 100 percent

Og de fandt ud af, at 100 procent

of the children that had not eaten the marshmallow were successful.

af de børn der ikke havde spist skumfidusen var succesrige.

They had good grades. They were doing wonderful.

De fik gode karakterer. De klarede sig flot.

They were happy. They had their plans.

De var glade. De havde planer.

They had good relationships with the teachers, students.

De havde gode forhold til lærerne, de studerende.

They were doing fine.

De klarede sig flot.

A great percentage of the kids that ate the marshmallow,

En stor procentdel af børnene der spiste deres skumfidus,

they were in trouble.

de havde problemer.

They did not make it to university.

De kom ikke på universitetet.

They had bad grades. Some of them dropped out.

De fik dårlige karakterer. Nogle af dem droppede ud.

A few were still there with bad grades.

Nogle få var der stadig med dårlige karakterer.

A few had good grades.

Nogle få fik gode karakterer.

I had a question in my mind: Would Hispanic kids

Jeg havde et spørgsmål i tankerne. Ville latinamerikanske børn

react the same way as the American kids?

reagere på samme måde som amerikanske børn?

So I went to Colombia. And I reproduced the experiment.

Så jeg tog til Colombia. Og jeg genskabte eksperimentet.

And it was very funny. I used four, five and six years old kids.

Og det var ret sjovt. Jeg brugte fire-, fem- og seks-årige børn.

And let me show you what happened.

Og lad mig vise Jer hvad der skete.

(Spanish) (Laughter)

(Spansk) (Latter)

So what happened in Colombia?

Så hvad skete der i Colombia?

Hispanic kids, two out of three ate the marshmallow;

Latinamerikanske børn, to ud af tre spiste deres skumfidus;

one out of three did not.

en ud af tre gjorde ikke.

This little girl was interesting;

Denne lille pige var interessant;

she ate the inside of the marshmallow.

hun spiste det invendige af skumfidusen.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

In other words, she wanted us to think that she had not eaten it, so she would get two.

Med andre ord, ville hun have os til at tro, at hun ikke havde spist den, så hun ville få to.

But she ate it.

Men hun spiste den.

So we know she'll be successful. But we have to watch her.

Så vi ved hun bliver succesfuld. Men vi skal holde øje med hende.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

She should not go into banking, for example,

Hun burde ikke blive noget i bankverdenen, for eksempel,

or work at a cash register.

eller arbejde ved et kasseapparat.

But she will be successful.

Men hun bliver succesfuld.

And this applies for everything. Even in sales.

Og dette gælder for alt. Selv indenfor salg.

The sales person that --

Sælgeren der --

the customer says, "I want that." And the person says, "Okay, here you are."

når kunden siger, "Jeg vil have det". Og personen siger, "Okay, værsågod".

That person ate the marshmallow.

Den person spiste skumfidusen.

If the sales person says, "Wait a second.

Hvis sælgeren siger, "Vent lige et øjeblik.

Let me ask you a few questions to see if this is a good choice."

Lad mig stille dig et par spørgsmål, for at se om det er det rigtige valg."

Then you sell a lot more.

Så sælger man meget mere.

So this has applications in all walks of life.

Så dette gælder for alle aspekter i livet.

I end with -- the Koreans did this.

Jeg slutter med -- koreanerne gjorde dette.

You know what? This is so good

Vidste I det? Det her er så godt

that we want a marshmallow book for children.

at vi vil have en bog om skumfiduser til børn.

We did one for children. And now it is all over Korea.

Vi lavede en til børn. Og nu er den overalt i Korea.

They are teaching these kids exactly this principle.

De lærer børnene om præcis disse principper.

And we need to learn that principle here in the States,

Og vi skal lære det princip her i staterne,

because we have a big debt.

fordi vi har en stor gæld.

We are eating more marshmallows than we are producing.

Vi spiser flere skumfiduser end vi producerer.

Thank you so much.

Mange tak.