The Marshmallow Test

aking progress incrementally has never been my strong suit. I tend to jump ahead - way ahead. But it's getting better. Now that I'm aware of it, I can write down my distant goal and then work backwards to find all the steps necessary to achieve it.

Case in point: Hooey Savvy's Cookie-Wise Pablo. A children's book on financial education: 27 chapters, 80+ songs and one budget dance. It'll be one tome, I reasoned, so parents and librarians wouldn't have to buy 27 separate books, which they wouldn't do anyway, they'd buy two or three if I was lucky, but they'd miss out on 90% of what I wanted to get across and nothing would change.

So have I changed my tune? Kinda.

While re-reading it recently, I came across my favorite chapter which I named the book after. "Cookie-Wise Pablo" is the marshmallow test in story form. What's the marshmallow test? Hey kid, do you want one marshmallow now or two later? Test after test has shown that kids that take the two later, that delay gratification, that plan ahead and save, that wait for the better deal, do better in life in the long run. If I had to make one single point about personal finance it would be: Wait for the two marshmallows, kid.

So I've extracted that chapter from the book, introduced Pablo in simpler more general terms, and am going to go with my best foot forward: A more traditional 32 page picture book about the most important thing I can say about personal finance.

It's far easier to digest. And hey, if folks like it and they ask for more, there's another 26 chapters waiting.

I've also returned to writing The Boston Squeeze which is a project I just enjoy getting lost in.