{"id":38469,"date":"2017-10-31T04:45:54","date_gmt":"2017-10-31T04:45:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michaelhyatt.com\/?p=38469"},"modified":"2022-02-13T19:55:52","modified_gmt":"2022-02-13T19:55:52","slug":"deferred-gratification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/deferred-gratification\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Ways to Get Better at Deferred Gratification"},"content":{"rendered":"

I work with a lot of young people getting started in their careers. Those who chase the highest possible starting salary, most prestigious title, or sexiest-sounding company do worse than those who ignore all of that and focus on value creation, no matter how humble.<\/p>\n

You are your best investment. There is no IRA, real estate deal, savings account, or job that will come close to generating the returns you get when you invest in enhancing your own value<\/a> to yourself and others.<\/p>\n

People who realize this look for opportunities to grow and sow seeds for the future. They work for free or low pay to build skill, experience, confidence, and social capital. They can go under the radar in the early years of their career, but three, four, or five years down the road, they are outpacing everyone. Ten years later they\u2019re hiring people who made too many early withdrawals.<\/p>\n

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There are some famous studies<\/a> on deferred gratification, showing children with greatest ability to delay payout now for something better later tend to be more successful later in life. We know it works. But that doesn\u2019t make it easy to put into practice. Here are four mindsets that can help us get better at deferred gratification.<\/p>\n

1. Find instant gratification in deferred gratification<\/h3>\n

Have some pride in your persistence<\/a>. If you can turn the current abstention into a fun game itself, you\u2019ll be much better at it.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve got to have enough sense to be sacrificing with a purpose\u2014meaningless suffering is the worst of all evils. But if you believe that deferring now will make you better and open more opportunities later, do it, and have fun with the pain!<\/p>\n

While you don\u2019t want to be annoying and brag about your spartan lifestyle (\u201cI get up earlier than you losers!\u201d)<\/em>, it definitely helps to have a partner or two<\/a> in the process. Time in the trenches with someone is exhilarating and provides meaning and momentum regardless of the eventual outcome. Find some people to suffer alongside you and push each other.<\/p>\n

Anything you can do to enjoy the sacrifices themselves, instead of fixating on the end-result, do it. Every kid knows half the fun of Christmas is the anticipation and restraint to not open gifts early. Besides, if you hate the process, you\u2019re less likely to enjoy the reward.<\/p>\n\t\t