I stumbled upon a Twitter post mentioning this topic and felt like I should write something about it, mainly to remind myself since I think I've known the concept for ages but sometimes struggled to put it into practice.
In simple terms, Delayed Gratification is delaying or waiting for larger rewards. That's it. I bet it sounds familiar to you too.
A quick search shows that a lot of research has been conducted on this topic. Like how it affects self-regulation, or to the extreme on how psychopaths have a really superior of delayed gratification.
This thing matters, because today, we're all about instant stuff. We want things now, right away. But life isn't always like that. Sometimes, good things take time.
Think about saving money. That's delayed gratification right there. You're saying no to buying stuff now so you can have something bigger later. It's not easy, I'll tell you that. I struggle with this a lot. Just a few days ago, I almost bought this new gadget that I actually don't really need. But I'm glad I stopped myself and put the money on some good stocks instead.
It's not just about money though. This delayed gratification thing is everywhere in life. Like studying instead of watching YouTube, or working out instead of lazying around. It's all about choosing the harder thing now for a better result later.
I'm not saying I'm good at this. No way. But I'm gonna try, you know? And maybe that's what counts. Just a little bit better than before is already good.
This is a simple idea, but it's hard to do. It's worth a shot, though.