By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy

Here’s an idea to help you better discipline your thinking. Reading time: 2:58.

The boys were fighting over a candy bar with all the vigor their four-year-old arms could muster. “Hey hold on there,” mom intervened. She grabbed the Twix candy bar and put it on the coffee table well within their reach.

“Now listen to me. You can each have a candy bar,” mom added, while placing another Twix candy bar on the coffee table. “But I have an even better idea, especially if you guys like candy.”

The two boys knodded and bubbled with enthusiasm. “You can each have two candy bars, if….”

The “If” turned out to be an exercise in delayed gratification and a learning tool toward their eventual development as leaders- a learning tool that all leaders as works-in-progress can leverage no matter where you are in your career.

The mom said that each boy could have one candy bar right now— or if they waited a few minutes —they could each have a second candy bar, if and only if they did not IMMEDIATELY eat the candy bars she placed on he coffee table -one for each boy. “Now I have to go and get the other candy bars, ” the mom said, as she left the room. “Remember don’t eat those candy bars on the coffee table until I get back.” Continue reading →