Gardeners understand the value of short-term sacrifice and delayed gratification.
When you first plant a seed in soil, nothing happens. It doesn’t instantly sprout from the ground fully grown and ready for harvest. You have to tend to the seed to see it grow.
You must water it, fertilize it, make sure it gets enough sunshine, and pick weeds. These are all short-term sacrifices you have to make to ensure the seed grows. When you pair those sacrifices and efforts with patience you get to reap the rewards.
One of the best examples of the need for patience and sacrifice is bamboo.
When you plant a bamboo seed you have to treat it like any other seed. You have to water it and tend to it consistently. The difference is that after the first year, there are no visible signs of growth. All of that time and attention and you still can’t see anything. This is where the ability to delay gratification comes into play.
You trust that your efforts will be worth it in the end and continue to nurture the bamboo seed. Another year passes, and there are still no signs of life. Your trust in the process will be tested as the time continues to pass without any noticeable results. Two more years pass of consistently caring for the seed and you still see no growth.
Finally, in the fifth year, the bamboo starts to grow. But it doesn’t just grow a little. In a matter of a couple of months, the bamboo grows upwards of 65 ft tall and can even grow 3 ft in a day.
While you were watering and caring for the bamboo seed all those years it wasn’t lying dormant. The bamboo was growing underground, developing a strong root system that could support its rapid growth later. Without this foundation, the bamboo would not have been able to grow sustainably.
While you are toiling away and working towards your goals, remember the story of the bamboo. The bamboo grew because of your patience, short-term sacrifices, and trust in the process. Without patience and the ability to delay gratification, you’d never make it long enough to see the bamboo grow. Simply being patient and waiting without putting in the work isn’t enough either. Consistent effort and patience are the price you have to pay if you want to see success on the other side.
Small Sacrifice, Big Reward
Why bother with delayed gratification in the first place? If you could achieve all your major goals instantly, there would be no need for delayed gratification. However, success does not work like that.
If you want to achieve your major goals in the long term, you have to make small sacrifices in the short term. Short term sacrifice means making a trade-off between receiving small, short-lived rewards, now, in exchange for the promise of larger, enduring rewards, later.
Delayed gratification is really all about putting in hard-work now, being patient, and making short-term sacrifices, so you can achieve your goals and reap the rewards later.
Here are some examples:
| Short-term Sacrifice | Long-term Reward |
|---|---|
| Working out at the gym instead of relaxing | You’ll grow stronger and healthier |
| Investing money instead of spending it | Your savings will grow and you will become more financially secure |
| Staying in to study instead of going out with friends | Your grades will improve and help you get into a college or job you want |
| Working on a project instead of scrolling through social media | You’ll make progress towards achieving your goal |
Think about your short-term sacrifices as an investment in your future that brings you closer to your goals. If you continue to invest you’ll see significant returns over time. If you choose instant gratification instead, you’ll stay exactly where you are, at best. At worst, instant gratification can be destructive and will move you further away from your goals.
Your short-term sacrifices lead to long-term success because of the compound effect. While individual actions may feel small in the moment, they build on each other over time. Each action you take either move you closer to your goal or further away. You have to step back and look at your actions over time to see how they lead to the results you desire.
Distraction vs Discipline
Uncertainty can lead to doubt. Doubt can lead to distraction. When you are unsure if your actions are leading you closer to your goals, the allure of distraction and instant gratification can steal your attention.
Instant gratification does not lead to long-term satisfaction. It may be easier to give in to temptation in the short term, but you’ll never make progress towards your goals if all you do is avoid the discomfort of discipline and sacrifice. In the words of Aristotle:
“Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.”
Delayed gratification is all about patience and trust in the process: faith that your actions will be worth it in the end. You cannot escape uncertainty. Doubt will inevitably creep in at some point, but you must learn to choose discipline over distraction.
In Ego Is The Enemy, author Ryan Holiday said:
“Every time you sit down to work, remind yourself: I am delaying gratification by doing this. I am passing the marshmallow test. I am earning what my ambition burns for. I am making an investment in myself instead of in my ego. Give yourself a little credit for this choice, but not so much, because you’ve got to get back to the task at hand: practicing, working, improving.”
Being patient isn’t easy, especially when you are working hard, but not seeing the results you wanted. You might be on the right path, you may just need to reorient your expectations.
In his book Atomic Habits, author James Clear shares a concept he calls The Plateau of Latent Potential. This visual can give you another perspective on making progress.
Setting realistic timelines and expectations for your improvement can help with your ability to delay gratification.
Your progress may start small, but it compounds over time. There is light at the end of the tunnel if you are willing to go through it.
“Learning patience can be a difficult experience, but once conquered you will find life is easier.” – Catherine Pulsifer, author
Impulse Control
The ability to ignore distractions and delay gratification can be trained like any skill. The key is learning to recognize and control your impulses.
Impulse control is your ability to override the cravings for instant gratification. Each time you practice delaying gratification, your ability to repeat that behavior improves. You train your mind to see that your impulses are temporary, but your long-term goals are lasting.
However, before you jump aboard the total control train, there is a caveat. Impulse control is another case of the Goldilocks Effect. Both too much control and too little is maladaptive.
When you are undercontrolled, you act freely on what you want without thinking of the future. This holds you back from working on challenging long-term goals and growth.
When you are overcontrolled, you may actually be too disciplined. You may be restraining yourself when you do not need to, causing you to miss opportunities and enjoyable experiences.
Discipline and sacrifice are prerequisites for success, but be sure to consider if they are worth it to you. There are always trade-offs. Keep your long-term goal top of mind and use it as a reference to guide your decisions.
Footnotes
- How fast bamboo grows depends on the species and climate.