“Good things take time.”
‘Rome wasn’t built in a day.”
“Patience is key.”
We’ve all heard and used these phrases, but the difficult part is actually understanding and implementing them into our lives.
We’ve all hit the snooze button, or went out for drinks when we KNEW we had a really important assignment to complete. We’ve all relied on a notification that says someone ‘liked’ our latest Instagram post to justify our self-worth. The need for instant gratification might seem miniscule in the moment, but ultimately when looking at the bigger picture, it is ruining our generation.
Our generation has become fixated on portraying their most perfect life on Instagram along with ‘living their best life’ as they procrastinate important tasks. That results in feeling the need to constantly do things that make us feel great in that instant but wear off after a while. It’s a vicious cycle that most of us don’t even know we’re caught up in. Social media platforms and technology itself enables instant gratification.
As a society we are losing the ability to lose or delay gratification. Someone liking your Instagram picture, liking your tweet or sharing a Facebook post instantly makes you feel better. But that feeling doesn’t last too long, and you then upload another image to attain that feeling again.
Sure, hitting snooze that ONE time won’t make a world’s difference, but if you constantly oversleeping because ‘your bed feels so good’ you are impacting your future self. Do things your future self will say ‘thank you’ for. You really do only live once, so make sure that everything you do is contributing to making your life as wholesome as you want it to be. The ability to delay gratification while focusing on a long term goal will ultimately result in success.
You are your biggest competition! Short term sacrifices lead to achieving our long term goals. The desire for instant gratification exists within most, if not all of us, but the good news is: we all have the willpower to overcome this desire. Below is a quick list (and real cute image) which helps us gain the willpower to suppress the desire for instant gratification:
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Acknowledge your goals
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Set small milestones as you work towards them
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TRUST YOUR JOURNEY
Image by IQ Matrix
So when your alarm goes off at 5.30am GET UP and GET THOSE GOALS girls.