Alex Haar › Comments

This is an interesting quote because it implies that "will power" is more about mental strategy, not some kind of mental strength for forcing yourself to do something. I have the same strategy with food -- I eat whatever I see, so in order to not eat something I just need to put it out of sight. - Paul Buchheit

effectively "out of sight, out of mind" - alphaxion

This is where the magic of science is: you spend time and resources to prove a proverb. - .i.m.a.r.s.o.r.a.m.a.

"The child who could wait fifteen minutes had an S.A.T. score that was, on average, two hundred and ten points higher than that of the kid who could wait only thirty seconds." - J.D. Deutschendorf

Sometimes I worry my metacognition is slowing me down because I'm spending less time just cogniting. (that oughtta be a word.) But no, in all seriousness, I think something, then realize the thought was there before I subvocalized it, and then I go in a circle several times subvocalizing those same thoughts as I examine the process of thinking. Frustrating! - Andrew C (✓)

Some friends and I refer to this study often, pointing out when we've failed the marshmallow test. Staying up late is my most common mashmallow test failure (sacrificing morning time to enjoy a few more bleary hours NOW), but it's easy to spot this sort of behavior and fun to have a standard vocabulary to highlight its ubiquity. - Seth

Episode on Mischel's marshmallows on RadioLab -- http://blogs.wnyc.org/radiola... - Alex Haar

As a parent, I consciously used this strategy to distract my children whenever they got in mischief, behaved badly or acted out. As a grandparent, I often send a box of tricks, things like super balls, an "uno" deck, paints, a book, a yoyo or top, for my daughter to use with my grandchildren when they are driving her crazy and need to think about something other than running around screaming. - Phil Boiarski

OK, that makes sense, but let's flip this on its head - How do you instead keep your mind on something and prevent yourself from getting distracted? You can't distract yourself from your distractions. Andrew C, the word you're looking for is cogitating. - Mr. Gunn

Mr Gunn, thanks. Though I think 'cogniting' is a touch funnier. - Andrew C (✓)

Some chimpanzees use this strategy as well, though not all of them. - Björn Brembs

i think bhudda had some theory on this too...:/ - Paul Moss

Today my 4yo daughter was having trouble waiting for a treat, so I told her (and my wife) about reading this article last night. I talked about the ability to distract - and I thought I was doing a pretty good job of explaining it in 4yo terms. When I was done with my paraphrase/lesson, I asked her if she understood. "Uh-huh," she said. Then after a few moments, she asked if we could stop and get some marshmallows on the way home. All I could do is laugh! - Gary Walter (gwalter)

I read a different writeup of this experiment a couple years ago, when our daughter was about 1 year old. Its something that can be taught, and encouraged. She's now very good at distracting herself from something which she knows she shouldn't do or would get into trouble over. She's not easily distracted in general: she can focus quite well on something she wants to do (and is allowed to do). - DGentry

It's in the works according to TechCrunch: http://www.techcrunch.com/2009... - Alex Haar

I don't think so, but you may have a connection over there that could get that done for you :) - Brett Kelly from iPhone

(and I can't wait) - Alex Haar

I don't think so yet. How would that work, since Google Voice forwards to other numbers? Port the well known number to Google Voice, and get a new, unknown number for the cell phone? - Mark Trapp from iPhone

In my case I want to port my # to GV and then point it to my new company phone. - Kevin Fox

not yet, but arrington did it - mjc

@Mark yes - mjc

Ah, that makes sense, Kevin. - Mark Trapp from iPhone

I wish this feature was included in Google voice beforehand. - Ashish

Agreed, I'm waiting for this feature to fully embrace GV. I'm just not willing to give up the cell number I've had for 10 years. I hear that it is a rather complicated process right now that involves multiple faxes between carriers and lots of manual work over multiple days, and until the process is automated (which will take some time) Google won't offer it to the general public. - Evan Parker

Have been using Google Voice for 3 weeks and it's performed flawlessly. I'm totally blown away by the contact customizations, voicemail transcripts, call screening and everything else this service does so far. They just succeded in providing me with another way to make my life easier. - Mike Elliott from iPhone

It is coming... can't say when... but they are working on it. I got to test the feature with my nearly 10-year-old cell number. Worked like a charm. - Michael Leggett

What if I want to start using GV but I don't feel like giving up my ATT contract? Is it possible to transfer the number to GV and get a new number from ATT that GV forwards to? - Daniel J. Pritchett

I think so, but I believe it is a bit hairy. I did the port when I moved from T-mobile to ATT (for the iPhone). So, I got a new ATT number and moved my T-mobile number separately. Had two working phones / plans for a few days. - Michael Leggett

Number portability is in the works. They aren't enabling it yet due to cell phone contract issues that could arise for users and the like. This is, of course, according to techcrunch - Marissa