For too long, we’ve believed in a narrow path to getting ahead: start early, specialize, eliminate distractions, and deliberatively practice for at least 10,000 hours. For students on a college prep path, following a path like this has resulted in an unprecedented rise in anxiety, stress, and distress levels and an unprecedented fall in preparedness for college, work, and life. But in this groundbreaking work, David Epstein presents the research to effectively challenge the s

The Big Idea: In a classic test of willpower, psychologists found that preschoolers who could resist eating one marshmallow now to get two marshmallows later fared better as adolescents and in life, predicting higher SAT scores, better social and cognitive functioning, a healthier lifestyle and a greater sense of self-worth. For decades the famous marshmallow test has been cited as evidence that self-control leads to success. But there’s more to it. The nature of the interact