Monday, February 14, 2011

I think delayed gratification is a funny thing.

Overall, it's a good thing.  It is often difficult to practice the patience or discipline required to execute it.

The funny part is that sometimes it works against you.  I imagine it like this--you buy an ice cream cone.  It's in your hand ready to eat but then you decide to practice "delayed gratification".  You decide to wait until later to eat the ice cream cone.  It's really hard, but you wait an hour.  And by then it's melted and rendered inedible.

OK, so that's a contrived example of something that no one would ever do.  Still, are there times when we think we are practicing delayed gratification, but really just missing out on an opportunity for happiness? Yes, I would agree with you, I think they are far less common than the opportunities we miss to delay small amounts of instant gratification for much greater gratification in the future.

whatever.
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2 comments:

Alt 255 said...

You've hit upon a nice little paradox here.

I think this is similar to caution versus, I don't what you'd call it exactly... spiritedness. The primary reason I delay actions is out of a sense of caution. So, a simiar paradox arises with that dichotomy. Sometimes caution is absolutely better than being spirited and jumping in. And sometimes you miss out on something good because you were cautious. Many times it's very difficult to tell which side of that coin a particular situation represents until you've made the choice to either be cautious or spirited.

But that's life, right?


no regrets

2/15/2011 10:36 AM
Neuro said...

I have a different take on this concept, and ask your forgiveness for writing on your board for the first time. Have I written previously?

I think delayed gratification is a way of separating the trigger from the perceived reward. If we respond to a trigger, such as seeing ice cream, by eating it immediately, then we will always perform the action because the perceived positive value of eating the ice cream is always the same. It always tastes delicious. However, the longer the time in between the trigger and the reward allows us to reflect on the true value of the reward. Is there more than just the taste, or should we consider the negative values associated with the increased caloric intake as well as the financial expenditure. With that separation, we can take in to account many more factors, which could allow us to break a habit that we would otherwise like to quit anyhow.

Alternatively, we may realize that the positive value associated with the ice cream outweighs the negative values, which is a decision we never would have been able to reach had we immediately indulged.

All of this is to say, delayed gratification is good if you're curious what your true thoughts are on the situation, but once you have come to the appropriate conclusion the delay is no longer necessary.

Dopamine is a b&%ch.

2/16/2011 9:07 PM

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