Originally Published: February 12th, 2023
Updated: September 2nd, 2023
This article is about the areas where delayed gratification really shines.
![delayed gratification really shines](https://i0.wp.com/thrivingindependently.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Delayed-gratification-scaled.jpg?fit=756%2C1024&ssl=1)
We may all have heard of delayed gratification and maybe even tried it ourselves, but I have found five areas where delaying gratification really shines and expedites personal growth.
Delaying gratification and controlling your impulses really makes you focus on the things that are currently intangible.
You have no control over whether or not your boss decides to promote you or the time that it will take you to become financially free.
You have control over factors that support those goals, however; you don’t necessarily get to decide when these things will happen.
You have to use your imagination to picture yourself in a better situation in the future based on the work that you are putting in, in the present.
Benefits of Delayed Gratification
There are some substantial benefits to being able to gain control over your impulses. You can tap into your intrinsic motivation, thus keeping you aligned with your goals.
I explain the benefits of delayed gratification in greater detail in this blog post, but generally speaking, delayed gratification can make the results less significant and put the value on the growth that you achieve during the process.
For example, your initial goal may be to build a platform on social media, but in the process, you would have learned the value of consistency and the importance of showing up, you may have gained social skills like communicating, or evaluating the value of information.
You may have gained technical skills such as in marketing or in photography.
Reaching a goal can give you a sense of achievement, but the learning experiences and growth that you may not detect during the process are where much of the value is found with delayed gratification.
Delayed Gratification and Intrinsic Motivation
Intrinsic motivation and delayed gratification go hand in hand. They both are causes of the other in some way and they both carry you through difficult times.
What is intrinsic motivation?
- Intrinsic motivation refers to when something is done for its own sake without the use of external rewards. An example of this would be when someone chooses to go on a run just because they enjoy running rather than running for an external reward or recognition.
I would like to note that many other definitions that I have found include that a part of being intrinsically motivated is that you enjoy the thing that you are doing, sort of reminiscent of a hobby.
Personally, I don’t think that you necessarily need to enjoy what it is that you are doing to still be intrinsically motivated.
An example of this would be cleaning the house. You don’t need to enjoy pulling out all of your cleaning supplies and scrubbing the floors each week, but you may enjoy living in a clean apartment. I would say that it still classifies as an example of intrinsic motivation.
In order to reject an immediate reward, which may be our bodies’ natural response, you would have to find some value in delaying it.
Maybe it will be more fulfilling if you receive it later, or the reward will grow along with the recognition that you will receive for your effort.
Intrinsic motivation reduces the appeal of the award because someone who is intrinsically motivated would have done the work or the thing anyway.
An external justification simply wouldn’t be necessary as the person would perform regardless of any reward that they could receive.
Where delayed gratification really shines
I have found five prominent examples of when delaying gratification is really beneficial to getting results. If you are at the beginning of your journey of building discipline and becoming a more valuable individual in your environment.
Finances
Finances are a great example of delayed gratification because saving money is a critical part of building finances.
With every instance that you get paid, some financial gurus encourage you to “pay yourself first” as in first invest in yourself before you pay your bills and attend to all of your other expenses.
Examples of this could be putting money into your savings and investment accounts as well as saving for your retirement.
Money is easy to lose control of, especially if you do not set a plan or a budget beforehand. This is where delayed gratification comes in.
It may be more tempting to use your money in ways that will not benefit you in the future and you may feel a temporary sensation of fulfillment. But the more boring option of putting money aside can be more fulfilling in the long run.
If you are looking for more information about where delayed gratification really shines with finances, here is a good article.
You may wonder if you are working so hard now, why you shouldn’t be able to use all of the money that you earn.
The answer is that you do not know what the future may bring, therefore, you will find more benefit in having money that you don’t need than needing money that you don’t have.
Exercise
Exercise is another great example of delayed gratification because the results first occur internally and they do not come immediately.
Seeing any results from your exercise requires consistency and dedication to maintaining a routine. This journey will be more difficult for some than others, but the work is required on the front end to see results later.
You also experience some internal transformation as you learn to cope with your increased effort and lack of visible progress. It takes some amount of belief in a better result in the future to encourage you to keep on your exercise journey.
If you liked this post, you’ll love these:
- Starting from Zero | Best Ways to Set Yourself Up for Success
- How to Stop Overthinking and Take Back Control of Your Life
- How to show yourself love on Valentine’s Day
Time Management and Goals
Time management is probably one of the most obvious examples of delaying gratification. Virtually every task you do will have a “less productive” option that will give you an empty satisfaction.
What I mean by this is that for every “important” progress-inducing thing that you feel that you need to do, there will always be an alternative that results in little to no meaningful progress.
An example would be studying for an exam, the alternatives could be binging a social media app, going on a walk instead, or taking a nap. All of these actions have corresponding consequences, but there is a hierarchy in terms of overall contribution to your life.
It can be much more appealing to start the new season of Euphoria than to begin your term paper, but doing your term paper would stimulate progress.
Getting work done early (avoiding procrastination)
Another way that we inhibit delayed gratification is by giving ourselves what would be the reward too early. For example, when procrastinating on a task, we do everything that is more attractive than the task in order to avoid it.
From this perspective, you are rewarding yourself before you have completed the task, which makes the task much less appealing because you have received the reward anyway. When you scroll on TikTok for hours instead of doing work, you are increasing the threshold for doing the work.
If you do the work early and avoid procrastination, you will have the satisfaction of the task being completed and you will receive a boost from the reward.
If you liked this post, you’ll love these:
- Starting from Zero | Best Ways to Set Yourself Up for Success
- How to Stop Overthinking and Take Back Control of Your Life
- How to show yourself love on Valentine’s Day
Shopping (buying higher quality items)
Every day we get bombarded with advertisements from companies that would love for us to give them our money. They even try to appeal to your values, emotions, or aspirations to convince you that their product is worth buying.
When you buy on impulse, you feel a temporary sensation of gratification from buying something that you didn’t really need. You also forfeit the opportunity to compare prices and really analyze if this item will add value to your collection.
If you use delayed gratification in this scenario, you could pass on buying the item initially, but gauge how much you really like the item based on whether you think about it or not. I believe that what’s for you is for you, so you shouldn’t worry about if the item will still be there.
If you still desire the item after days have passed, it is probably worth buying. You can make more confident and informed decisions about what you buy when you wait. You also cause less waste by buying things less frequently.
Conclusion
Delayed gratification can be great for personal development and I think that it shines especially bright in these areas. Rejecting immediate pleasure leaves room for more internal fulfillment and potential for growth.
As always, if you have anything to add, feel free to leave a comment. Also, don’t forget to share this post with your friends! It could be a great conversation starter!
Let’s Keep the Party Going!
Don’t forget to follow me on Pinterest so that we can share the knowledge!
![cold weather tips for home](https://thrivingindependently.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/cold-weather-tips-for-home-683x1024.png)
![staying warm in winter](https://thrivingindependently.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/staying-warm-in-winter-683x1024.png)