Wisen's notes

# Self-control is a good indicator for academic success

Our intuition will tell us that the best indicator for an academic success will be intelligence, but fortunately there are researches that has proven that self-control is a better indicator for an academic success. The reason this is a good news is we don't have a lot of things that we can do with our IQ, but influencing self-control is within our reach.

# References

Scientific Secrets for Raising Kids Who Thrive Audiobook | Peter M. Vishton, The Great Courses | Audible.co.uk (opens new window) (Downloadable PDF)

Interestingly, about 10 years after the original marshmallow study, Mischel and his colleagues looked again at the children in the initial study, using a variety of surveys for both the subjects and their teachers. They also obtained access to records of the children’s grades. What Mischel found was unexpected and amazing. Those who, as 5-year-olds, managed to wait longer before eating the first marshmallow, tended to be more competent teenagers than their peers who ate the marshmallow after only a relatively short delay.

Ahrens, How to Take Smart Notes (p. 2).

What does make a significant different along the whole intelligence spectrum is something else: how much self-discipline or self-control one uses to approach the tasks at hand (Duckworth and Seligman, 2005; Tangney, Baumeister, and Boone, 2004)