Don’t kill your future with today’s greed.
Have you seen those videos on Instagram & TikTok, where parents test their children with sweets, before running out of the room to see if the child can wait to eat them?
Would you eat them?
Yep. I know I would.
There’s actually a study, based on a famous experiment in the late 80’s called the Standford Marshmallow Experiment, that set out to test the impact of instant gratification during childhood, on long-term financial consequences.
Don’t worry. Even if you would have eaten the sweets, there’s a silver lining for you so keep on reading.
What is Instant Gratification?
If I said you can have $10,000 dollars now, or you can wait, I’ll come back in the future and you can have $100,000 – Would you go for the $10k or wait for the $100k?
I’d expect the first thing to come to mind would be ‘Will he actually come back?’
You’d also be thinking of the impact $10,000 would have on your life right now.
If you chose the $10k, that would demonstrate instant gratification.
Most of us never choose to delay gratification, and it’s evident in society.
We want everything, and we want it now. Social media has made this worse.
You look at other people’s lives from the outside and think they have a perfect life, and for some reason, you seem to think they got to that success overnight.
It’s one of the reasons why people are so susceptible to get-rich-quick scams.
Gratification & Dopamine
Dopamine is a feel-good hormone that’s pumped around our bodies when something makes us happy or feel rewarded.
When you scroll through your TikTok feed, and see a cute cat video, Dopamine is released in the brain and you get a hit of good feels. It’s very short-lived because the event isn’t extreme, it’s just a 30-second video you’ve watched.
You’ll keep scrolling, and every time you see something you resonate with, you’ll get a little pulse of Dopamine. It’s why so many people scroll for hours without realizing it.
Dopamine is addictive. It’s a feel-good, trippy drug produced by your own body. It can’t get any better than that.
Instant gratification causes the same response.
Most people are so stressed and find very little enjoyment in their lives, that they have to grasp at what pleasures they can.
So when someone comes along, and offers you $10,000 today, or $100,000 somewhere in the future, you’ll probably take the $10k. That will give you a serious Dopamine hit, which will last several hours or maybe days.
But, you couldn’t wait for the $100,000 which had the potential to be life-changing, because you needed to feel good right now.
The Impact on Your Financial Present & Future
GETTING INTO DEBT
An almost inevitable consequence of seeking out quick Dopamine fixes through instant gratification is financial debt.
Instead of saving for that new smartphone, pair of trainers, or handbag, simply because saving would take too long, you might take out a credit card or a loan.
You might think, ‘It’s only $20 per month, I can pay it off’.
Again, you’ll spend more on that credit card, or get a new one. Until the $20’s add up to a few hundred, and now your debts are costing you the same as your rent.
Most people will then take out another loan, to keep up their repayments, and now they have 2 debts. But wait, there’s that vacation coming up that you booked last year. You need spending money for that. Let’s get another credit card.
Now you’re struggling to repay 3 credit cards and the loan, so you need a consolidation loan to combine all your debt into 1 monthly payment which you also can’t afford.
After that, it’s depression, anxiety, crap quality of life, living paycheck to paycheck. No more luxuries, no more holidays. Relationship issues, self-hate, imposter syndrome. Finally, bankruptcy.
Instant gratification can be the root cause of years of debt and misery.
MISSED OPPORTUNITIES
I read about a guy who had invested in a large amount of Bitcoin back in 2010.
He didn’t think it would amount to anything, so he lost patience and proceeded to order 2 Papa John’s pizzas for 10,000 Bitcoin.
Instead of chasing instant gratification by way of a mediocre pizza, if he had held on to his investment, his Bitcoin wallet would have been worth $270 Million a few years later.
Instant gratification cost him $270 Million, but gave him 2 pizzas.
If you don’t have any savings due to impulse buying, even when an investment opportunity does arise, you won’t have the money to take advantage of it.
Starting your own business requires patience, discipline, and delayed gratification. Those who don’t have these qualities, won’t see long-term success.
The Silver Lining
Just because you would have taken the $10k, or eaten the sweets your mom put in front of you as a child even though she told you to wait, doesn’t mean you’re doomed.
That’s why I wanted to bring your attention to it, because not many people talk about this.
Even if you’re already in debt, or you’re suffering from the consequences of instant gratification, you can stop it from getting worse and get your life back on track.
If I hadn’t written this article, would you have thought about it as the root cause of your problems?
BREAK THE CYCLE
It starts with education. I don’t mean school, I mean self-taught.
You need to learn the value of delayed gratification and how life-changing it is.
The more you understand the dangers of instant gratification, the more aware you are of it in your day-to-day decisions.
It’s important to acknowledge your weaknesses before you can work on them. Don’t be in denial.
If you know you’re a sucker for a quick Dopamine fix, you need to change that.
Avoid triggers and situations that will make you spend money when you don’t need to.
Unsubscribe from the marketing email that keeps asking you to buy the latest smartphone, or delete the food app that pops up with a discounted burger every weekend. If you need a new phone, you’ll look for one when yours breaks.
This ties into cultivating patience.
Achieving financial freedom, or reaching any goal for that matter, takes time and patience. Remember, you’re struggling right now and it hurts, but if you persevere, you’re more likely to see success than the person who quit because they couldn’t wait.
Learn how to delay gratification by starting off small.
If you’re hungry, instead of reaching for your phone to order take-out, look up a recipe and cook your own meal. Sure, it takes time, but it’ll be healthier for your body and your wallet.
See something you want to buy when you’re out? Could you buy it twice, with cash, without struggling to pay your bills? If not, then save for it. It might take a few months, but so what? Chances are it’ll drop in price by the time you’re ready to buy it, which is a bonus!
Final Thoughts
Our lives are filled with temptation, and we’re constantly looking for that next Dopamine hit. It’s important to understand that even the smallest decisions we make, will have long-term impacts on our future.
This article shouldn’t serve as financial advice, because I’m no expert. But I do hope it sheds light on the heavy toll instant gratification can take, and even if you’re suffering from its consequences now, there is a silver lining for everyone, and you can break out of the cycle.
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