Thinking Your Way Out Of The Instant Gratification Trap

A quick lesson from Darren Hardy

…but it sure is worth it

If we were ever able to step back and see where some of our habits were taking us in the long run, I’m sure most of us would all be frightened. And the funny thing is, that most of us indulge in these habits without ever thinking where it will lead us in the future. So we will let Darren Hardy explain how these things compound over time, and why we need to step out of the instant gratification trap.

“We’re a ‘rational’ species — at least that’s what we tell ourselves. So why are we so irrationally enslaved by so many bad habits? It’s because our need for immediate gratification can turn us into the most reactive, nonthinking animals around.

If you took a bite of a Big Mac and immediately fell to the ground clutching your chest from a heart attack, you might not go back for that second bite. If your next puff of a cigarette instantly mutated your face into that of a weathered eighty-five-year-old, chances are you’d pass on that, too. If you failed to make that tenth call today and were immediately fired and bankrupted, suddenly picking up the phone would be a no brainer. And if that first forkful of cake instantly put fifty pounds on your frame, saying “no thank you” to dessert would be the true piece of cake.

The problem is that the payoff or instant gratification derived from bad habits often far outweighs what’s going on in your rational mind concerning long-term consequences. Indulging in our bad habits doesn’t seem to have any negative effects at all in the moment. You don’t have that heart attack, your face doesn’t shrivel up, your’e not standing in the unemployment line, and your thighs aren’t thunderous. But that doesn’t mean you haven’t activated the Compound Effect.”

-Darren Hardy’s The Compound Effect