How can I stop caving in to Instant Gratification?
I am much the same way. But lately I have gotten somewhat better on some areas. I am no expert, but here is my off-the-cuff thinking: Weight: I have been about 30 pounds overweight for a while, for the same reasons you say: instant gratification. It’s easier to eat quick stuff and sit on the couch than do what’s best in the long run. But lately, I started riding my bike to work, and anywhere else I can, and just for fun. What I found was, riding the bike BECAME the instant gratification because I enjoy it. I have lost about 10 pounds in a couple months, even without eating much better. But I feel so good with that accomplishment, that I am gradually changing my eating habits. They key for me is small changes. I’m not going to eat things I don’t like just to lose weight. But I CAN eat a little less of things I like, or substitute some things that don’t make a huge difference (diet pepsi for regular, etc). Money: Thankfully I have avoided a lot of debt, but the major way was to NOT HAVE
The realisation of my inner spoilt brat finally helped me to quit smoking. I haven’t tamed the weight loss one entirely yet, but I’m getting there. So here’s the thing for me. My desire for instant gratification would often go “Fuck it, I’ll have one (cigarette, doughnut etc) anyway and worry about it tomorrow.” I think the trick here is to have some kind of alternative plan for when this happens. With the cigarettes, it became a refusal to even contemplate smoking. A “no” shouted in the inner cavity of my brain. With dieting, I’m trying to have a hot drink (it’s winter here) everytime I think of eating when it’s not on my plan. I think about the sort of person I want to be, the sort of person I want to model for my kids and the pleasure achieving my long terms goal will get me. I try and hold onto those ideas when the IG moment hits, but it doesn’t always work. Oh, something else that’s helping – a recent blog and I can’t remember which one – Slow Leadership I think says “stop paying
“stop paying so much attention to how you feel.” That’s really the key. You can’t feel happy all the time and constantly catering to your demanding inner child is exhausting. So many of my friends have blown good opportunites because they were afraid they might suffer some un-quantifiable loss of happiness if they chose a challenging path. Of course, none of them are happy anyway. Life is for living, not worrying about imho.
