Delaying gratification: A balancing act

The ability to delay gratification is imperative for a successful life.

The willingness to put aside the desire to play when the need to study arises is the difference between academic excellence and academic mediocrity.

The willingness to exercise when less painful pursuits are easily at hand is the difference between living a healthy life and one less healthy.

The same holds true for food. Though a daily cheeseburger and scoop of ice cream are deeply appealing, the ability to put aside those desires and eat more nutritious food is the difference between a healthy life and one less healthy.

The willingness to put aside a certain percentage of your income – thus delaying desired purchases – is the difference between a retirement of financial ease and a retirement of financial concern.

Delaying gratification is one of the most important skills that a person can possess.

Yet Derek Thompson is also correct. Those who are constantly, relentlessly building for tomorrow at the expense of today will end up missing out on some of the greatest joys of life.

Balance, of course, is key.

If you spend your life waiting for retirement to travel the world, an untimely bolt of lightning may result in having never seen the world before your demise.

If you spend your life avoiding dinner with friends because eating in restaurants is more expensive than eating at home, you may find yourself with a larger bank account but far fewer people with whom to share your life.

If you spend your life waiting for the right moment to launch that business, embark on that artistic endeavor, or make that big change, it will likely never happen.

You’ll almost certainly die waiting.

Life is tragically bereft of “right moments.”

Someday is today.

A certain amount of delayed gratification is essential to ensure a happy future.

Delaying gratification too much, assuming that you always have a tomorrow, and thinking that you’ll enjoy the fruits of your labor “someday” is a guaranteed way to live a static life, absent of many of the things that make life worth living.

Tomorrow is important but remember, too, that someday is today.