Notice how every single day we are bombarded with ads?
Whether is instagram, television or on the radio, everything appears to be an encrypted message to get us to buy something.
We see something we like…..we make an instant purchase, believing it will bring us happiness, we want it instantly……we use our credit cards…. the item arrives………when it arrives we love it, enjoy it, play with it. After a couple of weeks, or months it is no longer appealing or pleasurable as it once was.
Does that purchase no longer bring us the same happiness it once did?
Or was It just the “shiny new toy” syndrome? Where you get a new toy play with but after a while it no longer matters?
This got me thinking about consumption and the way we buy and buy things in order to “achieve” some level of happiness.
We live in a world where instant gratification is a way of life.
When we see something we want, we want it right away. We have access to it right away via our credit cards. The next day via delivery we get it. But is instant access to what we want really making us happy?
Or do we actually value things we have to worker harder for?
Is delayed gratification the secret to fulfillment and success?
Delayed gratification: “Delayed gratification, or deferred gratification, describes the process that the subject undergoes when the subject resists the temptation of an immediate reward in preference for a later reward.”
Usually when it comes to saving and budgeting we don’t see the benefit right away.
Why save a little bit of money over the next 12 months to go on that dream vacation, when you can just use that money to get lunch and drinks with friends every day this week.
Will having fun and enjoying eating out bring you better satisfaction then slowly saving to go on a big vacation?
Will sacrificing these lunches yield better results in your life? It all comes down to whats more important to you, getting immediate gratification (not cooking at home and going out every night) Or saving that money cooking at home and going on that big trip 12 months from now?
Is all about what’s important to you.
Ask yourself, should you budget for that expensive bag and have to wait to wear it or should you just buy it on your card even though you won’t be able to pay it off immediately and the interest will cost more than the bag in the long run?
Instant gratification can sometimes come with it’s consequences we won’t realize until is too late.
So for now thinking a little bit before taking on these instant gratifications is the best thing to do.
The choice is yours.
Slowly train your willpower muscle and discipline yourself to wait and get rewarded later rather than right away.
If you want to achieve something, you will need to dig deep and be disciplined to take action instead of becoming distracted and doing what’s easy and fun now.
Let’s train our ability to delay gratification. Tell yourself every time you have to make a choice:
1) yes, it will be worth it to wait.
2) yes, I can do this now and the reward later on will be greater.
3) I will appreciate what I achieved even more because of the efforts I put in to get it.
