Is that a bad thing? Not necessarily, although some psychologists believe that struggling to delay gratification might be linked to negative outcomes down the line.

“Some people who have the strength to restrain themselves are more able to be disciplined and not give in to temptation,” notes psychologist Jan P de Jonge. “A piece of psychological research, (what came to be known as) the ‘Marshmallow Test’, became famous because it claimed to predict life outcomes for children’s performance on that test. A child’s ability to exercise control and refuse to eat the marshmallows was said to predict how they would fare in adulthood. More recent research suggests that children develop over their entire childhood and that complex, adult-like, self-regulatory processes develop through adolescence and even into early adulthood.

“Many researchers who study differences in people, or the psychology of personality differences, agree that we differ in the extent to which we are conscientious, rule-following and impulsive. Being able to self-regulate is often seen as being closely related (and positively so) with one’s level of income, savings behaviour, financial security, occupational prestige, lack of substance use, school readiness, not smoking and avoidance of a criminal record.”

The act of eating all your advent calendar in one go is not in and of itself a ‘bad’ thing. But it could be indicative of a likelihood to do other potentially not great things.

What does it reveal about you if you’ve already opened your entire advent calendar?