I'm here because I have a very important message: I think we have found the most important factor for success. And it was found close to here, Stanford. Psychology professor took kids that were four years old and put them in a room all by themselves. And he would tell the child, a four-year-old kid, "Johnny, I am going to leave you here with a marshmallow for 15 minutes. If, after I come back, this marshmallow is here, you will get another one. So you will have two." To tell a four-year-old kid to wait 15 minutes for something that they like, is equivalent to telling us, "We'll bring you coffee in two hours." (Laughter) Exact equivalent.
Jam ketu sepse kam nje mesazh shume te rendesishem: Mendoj se kemi gjetur faktorin me te rendesishem per sukses. Dhe eshte gjetur ketu afer, ne Stanford. Profesori i psikologjise mori disa femije kater vjec dhe i vendosi ata ne nje dhome, vetem. I tha femijes, nje femije kater vjec, "Johnny, une do te le ty ketu se bashku me nje marshmallou per 15 minuta. Nese, pasi te kthehem, kjo marshmallou vazhdon te jete ketu, ti do marresh dhe nje tjeter. Pra do kesh dy." Ti thuash nje femije kater vjecar te prese per 15 minuta per dicka qe ata e pelqejne eshte i barasvlefshem si te na thuash ne, "Do te te sjellim kafe per dy ore." (Te qeshura) Ekzaktesisht e barasvlefshme.
So what happened when the professor left the room? As soon as the door closed... two out of three ate the marshmallow. Five seconds, 10 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, two minutes, four minutes, eight minutes. Some lasted 14-and-a-half minutes. (Laughter) Couldn't do it. Could not wait. What's interesting is that one out of three would look at the marshmallow and go like this ... Would look at it. Put it back. They would walk around. They would play with their skirts and pants.
Pra cfare ndodhi kur profesori u largua? Sapo dera u mbyll.. dy nga tre e hengren marshmallou. Pese sekonda, 10 sekonda, 40 sekonda, 50 sekonda, dy minuta, kater minuta, tete minuta, Disa duruan 14 minuta e gjysem. (Te qeshura) Nuk ja dolen. Nuk mund te prisnin. Interesantja eshte se nje nga tre e shikonte xhelatinen dhe bente keshtu.. E shikonte. E vendoste prape ne vend. Ecnin rrotull. Luanin me fundin dhe pantallonat e tyre.
That child already, at four, understood the most important principle for success, which is the ability to delay gratification. Self-discipline: the most important factor for success. 15 years later, 14 or 15 years later, follow-up study. What did they find? They went to look for these kids who were now 18 and 19. And they found that 100 percent of the children that had not eaten the marshmallow were successful. They had good grades. They were doing wonderful. They were happy. They had their plans. They had good relationships with the teachers, students. They were doing fine.
Ai femije tashme, kater vjec, e kuptonte parimin kryesor te suksesit qe eshte aftesia per te vonuar kenaqjen. Vete-disipline: faktori kryesor i suksesit. 15 vjet me vone, 14 ose 15 vjet me vone, ndjekja e studimit. Cfare zbuluan? Vajten te kerkonin per keta femijet te cilet tani ishin 18 dhe 19. Dhe zbuluan se 100 perqind te femijeve qe nuk e kishin ngrene marshmallou ishin te suksesshem. Ata kishin nota te mira. Po ja dilnin mrekullueshem. Ata ishin te lumtur. Kishin planet e tyre. Kishin marredhenie te mira me mesuesit dhe studentet. Po ja dilnin shume mire.
A great percentage of the kids that ate the marshmallow, they were in trouble. They did not make it to university. They had bad grades. Some of them dropped out. A few were still there with bad grades. A few had good grades.
Nje perqindje e mire e atyre femijve qe e hengren marshmalloun, ishin ne telashe. Nuk kaluan dot ne universitet. Kishin nota te ulta. Disa nga ata e kishin lene shkollen. Disa ishin ende aty me nota te ulta. Disa kishin nota te mira.
I had a question in my mind: Would Hispanic kids react the same way as the American kids? So I went to Colombia. And I reproduced the experiment. And it was very funny. I used four, five and six years old kids. And let me show you what happened.
Kisha nje pyetje ne mendjen time: A do reagonin dhe femijet hispanike ne te njejten menyre si femijet amerikane? Ndaj u nisa per ne Kolumbi. Dhe riprodhova eksperimentin. Ishte shume e kendshme. Perdora femije te moshave kater, pese dhe gjashte vjec. Me lejoni tju tregoj se cfare ndodhi.
(Spanish) (Laughter)
(Spanjisht) (Te qeshura)
So what happened in Colombia? Hispanic kids, two out of three ate the marshmallow; one out of three did not. This little girl was interesting; she ate the inside of the marshmallow. (Laughter) In other words, she wanted us to think that she had not eaten it, so she would get two. But she ate it. So we know she'll be successful. But we have to watch her. (Laughter) She should not go into banking, for example, or work at a cash register. But she will be successful.
Pra cfare ndodhi ne Kolumbi? Femije hispanik, dy nga tre e hengren marshmalloun; nje nga tre nuk e hengri. Kjo vajza vogel ishte interesante; ajo hengri pjesen e brendshme te marshmallous. (Te qeshura) Me pak fjale, ajo donte te na bente te mendonim se ajo nuk e kish ngrene ne menyre qe te merrte dy. Por e hengri. Pra ne e dime qe ajo do jete e suksesshme. Por duhet ta vezhgojme. (Te qeshura) Per shembull ajo nuk duhet te futet ne fushen e bankave, ose te punoje te arka e pagesave. Por ajo do jete e suksesshme.
And this applies for everything. Even in sales. The sales person that -- the customer says, "I want that." And the person says, "Okay, here you are." That person ate the marshmallow. If the sales person says, "Wait a second. Let me ask you a few questions to see if this is a good choice." Then you sell a lot more. So this has applications in all walks of life.
Dhe kjo aplikohet ne gjithcka. Madje dhe ne shitje. Personi i shitjeve qe-- ku klienti thote, "Dua ate." dhe personi i thote, "Ne rregull ja ku e ke." Ai person e hengri marshmalloun. Nese personi i shitjeve thote, "Prit nje sekonde. Me lejoni tju bej disa pyetje ne menyre qe te shohim nese kjo eshte nje zgjedhje e mire." Atehere ju shisni me shume. Pra kjo aplikohet ne shume fusha te jetes.
I end with -- the Koreans did this. You know what? This is so good that we want a marshmallow book for children. We did one for children. And now it is all over Korea. They are teaching these kids exactly this principle. And we need to learn that principle here in the States, because we have a big debt. We are eating more marshmallows than we are producing. Thank you so much.
E perfundoj me --Koreanet e bene kete. E dini cfare? Kjo eshte aq e mire sa ne na duhet nje liber marshmallou per femijet. E krijuam nje per femijet. Dhe tani eshte ne te gjithe Korene. Po i mesojne femijet ekzaktesisht me kete parim. Dhe ne na duhet te mesojme ate parim ketu ne Shtetet e Bashkuara, sepse kemi nje borxh te madh. Jemi duke ngrene me shume marshmallou sesa po prodhojme. Ju faleminderit shume.