Tag: Delay of gratification

Beware, the rewards switch with time.

There are 2 ways to think about life.

  1. You can focus on The Now.
  2. You can focus on The Next.

When you think about The Now you are encouraged to do the things that are rewarded now. Sleep in. Relax. Have fun. Indulge. Spend. Eat. Drink. And hang out with Mary.

When you think about The Next you do the things that are rewarded next. You wake up early. Work. Focus. Study. Save. Exercise. Build. Carefully monitor your food, drinks, and activity with Mary. (And Ben and Jerry.)

Focusing on The Now is immediately enjoyable. Focusing on The Next makes now less enjoyable in most ways. (Sorry, Charlie.)

But beware, the rewards switch.

In a literal blink, you are past The Now and into The Next. And what is rewarded in The Next is the opposite of The Now. Which is what makes life and the decisions you make so interestingly complicated. And it is why I encourage you to tie the following quote to your decision tree:

“It almost always happens that when the immediate consequence is favorable, the later consequences are disastrous, and vice versa.

-Frédéric Bastiat, French Economist.

Key Takeaway

Always think about the long-term consequences of your actions and inactions. Invest your time, energy, and growth into a much larger payout in the future. A delay of gratification is most often rewarded with compounded interest in The Next. And it’s always well worth the wait.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more ideas on how to enjoy a better future, check out my new book What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

If you want to be an entrepreneur you have to save your candy.

Trick or Treating is a grand lab experiment for humans. Over the past four days my children have gone Trick or Treating three times, in three different neighborhoods, with the same results. They are like lab rats who discover that if you ring the bell on the doors with lights, you will be rewarded with a treat.

My kids can’t get enough of this reward. I am certain they would go Trick or Treating again tonight and tomorrow night if I let them. But I won’t let them. Because I have seen what happens to the lab rats in this experiment. And I don’t need any heat from Family Services.

Flashback

I loved Trick or Treating when I was a kid. I would come home with a huge haul of candy, dump it on the floor in my room, sort it, count it and virtually roll around in it. But then I would do something unusual. I would save it. It is not that I don’t like candy. I like it a lot. But I liked exhibiting control over the candy even more.

Delay of Gratification

What I have learned is that I am really good at the delay of gratification. As a kid that meant stockpiling candy. Today I do the same thing with hotel points and air miles. A quick check of my accounts shows that I have 538,336 unused miles on Delta Airlines and 782,719 unused points with Marriott.

It’s not that I don’t care about those miles and points. I think about them often, and what I will be able to do with them, someday. I love saving and planning for something bigger than a flight to Detroit and a stay at the Airport Courtyard (no offense to either). I have always loved building towards something bigger and more exciting down the road.

Entrepreneurial Tendencies

Looking back, I can now see that an important entrepreneurial trait could be seen in my youth each year at Halloween. Because as an entrepreneur you have to be willing to show up, make the rounds, find the doors with lights on, ring the bell, and engage with people in order to get the rewards.

But you also have to be willing to not eat your candy right away. You have to be patient and willing to wait for a bigger, better, longer-lasting feast later.

If you are willing to do all that, you can become a great entrepreneur.

Happy Halloween!