Don’t give up what you want most for what you want now
In today’s day and age of one-click buys and readily accessible content and information, instant gratification is the go-to for most people. Whereas the truth is, it’s not realistic to get everything you want, much less get it immediately.
What is Delayed Gratification?
Delayed gratification refers to rejecting the temptation of an instant benefit in the hope of receiving a larger reward later. In simpler terms, it means to resist a pleasure now and act on a difficult thing because the difficult thing is more rewarding in the long run. It is the ability to exert willpower, to work on a difficult task instead of taking the easy way out, and it is one of the most important aspects of taking and acting on decisions.
For example, completing a difficult task like completing your practical's that you have to submit the next day instead of scrolling on social media or playing games will have the benefit that, after completing the practicals, you won’t have to worry about them and can carry on with the rest of your day. However, if you choose the other way around, you will keep on scrolling on social media and the remaining work will be left on the side, which you have to complete eventually, and this will result in unnecessary stress afterwards when there is less time left.
Here’s a bit of research to support what I am talking about
While I was researching for more information to include in this article, I came across an interesting study called The Marshmallow Test.
Wherein a group of pre-schoolers were placed in a room with an researcher and a marshmallow. The kids were instructed that the researcher would leave the room and return after a while, and in the meantime, the kids could eat the marshmallow if they wanted to, but if they waited till the researcher arrived back, they would get another one as a bonus.
The researchers tracked the participants into their adulthood and the kids who proved successful in waiting for the researcher to come back showed higher SAT test score, were healthier, responded better to stress and avoided addicted behaviours as compared to others who gave in and ate the first marshmallow. (You could say that the results were delayed :) )
But here are few reasons why it’s so good for you:
1. Better overall physical health
You knows the feeling of craving when there is some cake left in the refrigerator and you can’t just stop thinking about it and it keeps you up at night. (I was just joking, unless…)
In this day and age, it’s difficult to keep a healthy diet and exercise every day, and with more fast food options available than ever, that just send your taste buds on a rollercoaster of pleasure.
I know it’s difficult to resist such temptations.
But the people who follow healthy habits don’t generally eat fast foods and exercise daily or as per their schedule because they know that this will yield greater results in the long run, and this is where delayed gratification comes in.
They envision their future selves every time they want to resist an urge for instant pleasure and instead take the difficult route, and at times they reward themselves for their patience (maybe with a piece of cake).
2. Improved self control
Remember the last time you checked your wardrobe and were left wondering why did I buy this? or you felt like that you have already spent enough for this month but then a sale comes up and you look at the discounts and go on a spending spree again. This is what impulse buying looks like.
The online companies try to lure you into buying stuff by giving discounts that make you feel like the things are a bang for the buck and they could really be worth the discounted price (but the question is, did you really want to buy it in the first place?)
Instead, delayed gratification teaches you to save that money and spend it later on stuff that you really wanted to buy but couldn’t afford at the time.
Don’t give up what you want most for what you want now.
The same can be said for addictions. People really use addiction as an excuse for dealing with stress and pain. Whereas people who understand delayed gratification know that these addictions might be pleasurable in the short term but will be harmful in the long run, and hence stay away from them.
3. The ability to act on difficult tasks
After all, it’s all about resisting temptations to do what’s easy and pleasurable but not so important and performing a more difficult yet highly rewarding task in the long run.
For instance, writing online might feel like a very difficult task, even with all the available tools and resources. Just because it feels difficult and you might make mistakes doesn’t mean you should not act and it might feel easier to just go back and scroll through social media or keep on reading other articles while overeducating yourself to feel good. Instead, if you just start the difficult task, you will come to know that it’s within your reach and you can perform it. But what role does delayed gratification play here? Well, it allows you to take the difficult route; you just have to envision yourself as someone who wrote an article and published it online and feel the sense of achievement it gave you.
Bringing it all together
Delayed gratification is not about giving up everything right now in the hope that something extraordinary will happen in the future. Instead, it’s all about balancing the easy and difficult tasks based on their rewards and the way they will make you feel.
And here’s the good thing: It can be practised and improved through self-discipline and exerting your willpower.
True happiness entails delaying pleasure, and putting in the time, discipline, and patience required to achieve a goal instead of feeling good now — Aristotle
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