“The ability to discipline yourself to delay gratification in the short term in order to enjoy greater rewards in the long term is the indispensable prerequisite for success.” – Brian Tracy
Are you someone who can resist temptation?
Or do you delay pleasure for a bigger purpose?
We live in a time that thrives on instant satisfaction of our wants and desires. Typically, we all want what we want, when we want it!
Have you impatiently stood in front of a microwave, impatiently waiting the three minutes for your food to warm up? How about the frustration of not quickly losing the weight it took you years to gain?
Working through the need to experience instant gratification, takes practice and a new level of self-control.
Your ability to Delay Gratification is not only an important part of achieving your goals, but it is also vital for long-term life success and overall well-being. To delay gratification is to gain mastery over your habits, thinking, emotions and communication.
Watch the video to learn 5 simple steps you can use to delay gratification and achieve your goals. Learn how losing a battle can help win a war!
Your ability to self-regulate will directly impact your ability to achieve success. In a culture surrounded by messages such as “earn $10k working 10 hours a week,” or “lose 20 pounds in 20 days,” the ability to wait for a long-term reward is less attractive.
The self-control needed to delay pleasure in an effort to serve a more important and more gratifying goal is truly the secret to long-term success.
Let’s look at 5 tips you can use to improve your ability to delay gratification and ‘mine the gap’ between where you are now and where you desire to be.
1- Make a clear declaration.
Create a clear picture of what you desire to achieve in the future. Use all your senses. Create an image that inspires, moves and excites you.
2- Set a specific and measurable target.
Unfortunately, knowing when you will hit your target is most often not within your control. This uncertainty is what makes delayed gratification a challenge. The trick is to aim at your target but give yourself a series of short-term goals to focus on.
3- Identify short-term goals you must achieve to hit the target.
List all the actions required to move you towards and eventually hit your target. Once your actions are clearly identified rewrite them as specific and measurable goals. Now schedule time to work on each short-term goal. Focusing on your short-term goal rather than the target in the distance will allow you to experience small victories and begin to mine the gap.
4- Ask who must I become.
Establish rituals and routines and develop a daily and weekly action plan based on your goals. Your rituals and routines will allow you to develop the habits and mindset needed to hit your target and experience long-term success. Mining the gap and accepting the delay provides the time required for you to become the person who can hold the vision. You are mining for the ‘diamonds’ in the gap.
5- Take action, evaluate and course correct.
While hitting the target is definitely a victory, I believe that true success is the experience rather than hitting a target. Success is the personal integrity and trust you build when you do what you say you’re going to do, even when no one is watching. It is the experience of growing and conquering what you once thought was impossible. It is knowing you are achieving a new level of mastery and discipline. It is who you become!