Delayed gratification helps you to do more, persistent and get better reward and greater profit.
Sunday Adelaja
Yesterday, I was feeling tired. Both mentally and physically. In a fixed mindset. So, I decided to listen to some motivation. You know to pump me up. So, I put on my earphones, connected them to my phone and without checking any messages opened YouTube. I skipped a few videos and saw one video titled – How to change your future by Simon Sinek. So, I opened the video and started listening to the message he was sending.
And after finishing the video, the message was pretty clear. He talked about why millennials are the future but face problems that their lives difficult.
He talked about how parents should help them grow as an individual and not praise their talents but their hard work. How we, millennials, feel entitled. And the reasons that we face difficulties when we grow up outside our homes.
But the message that stuck with me the most was that millennials are used to instant gratification. Having things quickly. And when you really think about it, we practice instant gratification every day. If we want to watch a show we search for it on the internet, if want music, instead of waiting for the C.D. to be released we get it on different applications. If we want something we have Amazon. If we want to watch movies, we have Netflix. And if want to listen to music we have Spotify.
And this is all time saving and really efficient. But what we should ask is if this really helping us to grow into the person that we aspire to be.
Instant gratification makes us feel entitled to quick success. A success without many failures and with quick success. But what we miss out on is the idea that maybe success takes time, that maybe success needs us to build relationships that are trustworthy, and maybe success is a slow process that asks us the discipline and patience that it needs to grow.
So, since yesterday I have been practising delayed gratification and always reminding myself that delayed gratification is the key to every success. Whether it is in a relationship, in opening a company, running a startup or talking to the person you like. It is going to be a slow process which demands patience.
And this is how I’ve been practising it:
When I want to watch a movie, I don’t turn to go on any of my devices. Instead, I turn on the tv and watch something on it. The wait for a movie to start after an ad.
When I want to listen to music, I just don’t. I avoid listening to music.
Delayed gratification has helped me understand that things take time and so does growth. But it will come to us if we hang on to it as our parents did for the things or the person they loved.
Life Design 