Improve Your Time Preference and Delay Gratification — Journal every day.

Journaling is an investment to increase your efficiency and productivity.

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If the concept and subject of money interests you (which I believe it does), then you should be aware of the concept of “Time Preference” and its impact on your decision-making.

Time Preference

We are mortal, and hence anything offered us today means more value than in the future unless the future holds more value of the same thing to compensate for the wait.

Time preference refers to the ratio at which an individual values the present compared to the future.

If you weigh present consumption more than in the future, you have a higher time preference.

If offered enough remuneration to wait, a person will wait for the increased amount of the same product in the future rather than consuming it now. That is a lower time preference, i.e., we are ready to wait for future consumption. And, when we are ready to defer, we are ready to invest.

Our time preferences have shifted from high to low through time, allowing us to prepare for long-term needs.