Delayed gratification

I got a submission from Knight Slydogstags via the FB page that he wanted to share
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47DmUM7MW7s



How do you feel about the test? Do you feel its accurate? Is delaying gratification useful? Are there downsides?

Those are a lot of questions. For me, I think understanding the context of what we mean by the word success is important to how we process this results of the marshmallow test. Delayed gratification is a tool that can be learned and implemented into our daily routines to shift how we seek rewards for action, but it alone I don't think is indicative of success. I also feel that over-reliance on this tool is damaging to an individual's healthy development. I'm working with an individual who is willing to sacrifice his own personal care, hobbies, interpersonal relationships, and his obligation to his employer on the bet that his music career will take care of him in the longer run.


The hustle while you can philosophy is what he calls it. We all have to sacrifice some of our freedoms to allow things we want to manifest, but it's important to draw that line while still maintaining some balance.

I'm on my phone now but I'm willing to expand on these thoughts later. But this is good to start the conversation. How do you define success?

MadHatter wrote: How do you feel about the test? Do you feel its accurate? Is delaying gratification useful? Are there downsides?

I'm strongly for it. I think, specifically with this upcoming generation (which includes my own to a degree), that instant gratification is becoming all too common. It is not uncommon to see these people struggling to grow because they want results now, not tomorrow, not the next day, and definitely not months if not years down the road. To teach this at an early age is key to ensuring a child's success in life. They need to know that they reap what they sow, and sometimes they have to put in work to get greater rewards.

It's an important skill for sure, and something which seems to go against our nature a little. Probably from when we didn't have enough food and water etc, so we had to remind ourselves to want it else we'd not get enough when we needed it, just because there wasn't much of it.

So us a fundamental mechanism of being, we gotta watch out how our perceptions of identity feed off it, things like consumerism and addictions become like nested psychological and physical process of emotional regulation which viewed in the context of the whole body and its place in society tend to be more negative then positive!

Economically its vital, having the capability to buy something should not equate with the acquisition of it - rather acquisition should be done for other reasons then simply 'grabbing it' when you can... whether you want to make money from it, or use it for something of value that has some real relationship to its cost.

Another thing to consider along these lines is, the dangers of under estimating or over estimating oneself, and how these reinforce expectations on others and oneself..

Here is one of my favourite examples of delayed gratification:



Beyond the fact that just watching this put me in a meditative stupor, he has to do so much work to get anything. What I enjoy is the fact he makes everything by hand. He goes in with nothing more than a camera and the clothes on his back (or, I guess, legs). He makes the fire by hand, instead of using a lighter, using good ol' fashioned sticks and friction. He collects and mixes the clay and mud. He heat treats them. He slowly stacks each individual one.

The end result speaks for itself, and is something to be proud of, despite it being a mud house. I think many people can learn something by watching this guy.

Thank you Ari, me and the son just watched that togeather . I feel the satisfaction strangely enough myself. Force be with you !

Short answer? Yes.

Long answer: Delayed gratification has been shown through numerous studies to be a powerful predictor of future life struggles and successes when observed from a young age. Moreover, it can certainly be learned later in life, though that seems to be incrementally harder.

Anyway, I like Michio. I've been listening to him my whole life on the radio. I will say, that I'm always looking for what concerns me when it comes to videos like this. I wouldn't, personally, put too much of the weight of gratification issues on the generation itself, or the individuals, but rather the society which fosters that sort of thinking -- just my two cents -- but I do think that, for anyone, the benefits are obvious. There's just a danger that it can become a response of "well, if the poor people just handled their money better they'd be okay" if someone wasn't looking close enough at all the implications not touched on really in this video.

The Marshmallow experiments are fascinating, though.

Also, I totally got absorbed by the hut-building video. That was wonderful!