Make a commitment to delayed gratification.
I was at work today and remembered I had an energy drink in my car. I don’t drink them often, but the other day I went to buy one and they had a sale for 2… so I bought 2. This moment was basically the opposite of delayed gratification lol.
So I’m at work and I remember that it’s in my car.
Normally I wouldn’t care much, but because I’m fasting through the morning, I WANT IT. I start thinking about how good it’ll taste, the little boost of energy it’ll give me. Basically a bunch of reasons why i should drink it.
But I fought the temptation.
I thought: no, I don’t need it. But the longer I delayed, the more I wanted it.
I attempted a weak delayed gratification: ok, I’ll have it, but later.
Well, 3 minutes later was later right? So how about now!?!?!?
Then I thought, why not just commit to a time? I could have it after my lunch so it doesn’t mess with my fasting.
I fully committed to delayed gratification and committed to a specific time.
In one hour from now, I’ll drink the delicious drink waiting for me in my car.
And guess what happened.
The second I committed to a time, I was good. It became easy.
Up until this point I had had hunger pangs in my stomach. My body was telling me I NEEDED this drink.
Yet the moment I commit to a time when I know I will consume it, my body is good.
It’s like it said: Ok, I won, I’m good now. And it chilled the fuck out.
I realized that this is a good practice overall for building discipline.
There is real power in the practice of delayed gratification.
But just saying later, later, later can be quite difficult. You need to make it specific.
By picking an exact later, you’ve made a commitment and that gives you the power. It gives you strength to endure the time.
From there, you can increase your strength by slowly increasing your time. Today was 1 hour, tomorrow can be 1:15. Or even 1:05. Or 2:00. I suggest taking it slow and build consistency.
Or, for bonus points, you can even extend the current time once you reach it. Like at the 1 hour mark I can then say: Nah, I’m good for another 30.
BOOM. now you have a super power!
Add delayed gratification to your toolbox and help build your discipline to endure!