THE TRUTH ABOUT INSTANT GRATIFICATION IN BUSINESS AND LIFE

Are you avoiding pain or living with purpose?

The way I see it, there are two paths we can take in any given situation:

1) One is the path of avoiding pain in the moment.

2) And the other is the more difficult path of delaying pleasure for a bigger purpose.

Wouldn’t it be nice to suddenly have a seven-figure booming business, an audience in the hundreds of thousands and all the free time in the world?  

You would be an overnight success story.

But here’s the thing, the connection to this success wouldn’t be deep.  

I have coached many clients on a mission to find career clarity. Some clients (and I am lucky to only have had a few) want to be handed an answer on a silver platter within the first hour, while the others are willing to put in the work and dedicate themselves to find their best possible path forward. 

The latter clients are the ones I know will succeed in the long term, because when you are willing to work for what you want the success and gratification are incomparable to that of anything instantly passed on.

Here are three reasons why hard work and persistence will pay off greater than instant gratification in business and in life.

1) Instant gratification creates addictive tendencies.

No matter how developed we become, there are still the cavemen like tendencies built into our psychological functioning. Our brains are wired to prioritize short-term needs over long-term goals.  The brain responds to short-term desires of satisfaction by releasing dopamine, a pleasure hormone that we crave more and more of. 

When you do give in to instant gratification for something, spend time reflecting on how it made you feel and whether you want to make decisions that way in the future.   

2) Delayed gratification is more rewarding.

You may have heard the age-old marshmallow experiment, which revealed a connection to delayed gratification and life success. Children were sat in a room with a single marshmallow on a plate and were told they could eat it now, or wait 15 minutes to receive two marshmallows. The study found that the children who waited had better overall health, and scored higher on standardized tests later in life.

Think about it, the best things that have ever happened to you were likely things that you worked for, that emotionally tested you and physically taxed you. When you finally received the reward, all of the struggles were well worth it.  

Delayed gratification is a skill to be built.  Improve your chances by creating a community of trusting people to surround yourself with. Commit to taking small steps every day to instill a sense of trust within yourself. 

3) Slowly built success is trusted and sustainable.

Entitlement won't bring you long-term success, and it won’t get you clients or business that trusts you. Think about it, would you rather seek advice from someone who has years of experience in their industry or someone with a flashy website who “got rich quick”?

Hard work is not overrated, and it is what will actually bring you genuine success.

I know you can do it, fight the urge to give in to instant pleasure and seek a greater sense of fulfillment. It will be well worth it.

Don’t eat the marshmallow just yet!

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