Stop Delaying Gratification and Do This Instead
We’ve been led down a slippery slope.
“Oh, I’ll reward myself later. This is too small of a win to celebrate” easily turns into never celebrating any wins at all.
This was what happened to me.
Milestone after milestone got shrugged off as just another part of the process. No wins, nothing, was celebrated wholeheartedly.
I remember finally squatting 100kg for 6 clean reps for the first time after 2 years recovering from injury — I was elated. But only for a minute or two, as I quickly stopped myself from getting too excited.
I had conditioned myself always to delay gratification, and I lived my life in a perpetual state of longing for the good that was to come eventually. Ironically, the good never came because I denied myself it.
The False Promise of Excessive Delayed Gratification
“Set your future self up for a better life. Forego expedience and the fleeting satisfaction of appeasing your present desires.”
Oh yes, for sure. But we’re plenty capable of taking this too far.
“If you delay gratification to the extreme, there’s no gratification.” — Chris Williamson.
