Brian Tracy Quote on Delaying Gratification and How It’s An Indispensable Prerequisite for Success

“The ability to discipline yourself to delay gratification in the short term in order to enjoy greater rewards in the long term is the indispensable prerequisite for success.”

Brian Tracy

Beyond the Quote (339/365)

The ability to delay gratification—to resist an immediate reward in preference for a greater future reward—has been proven to be an accurate predictor of a person’s long-term success. In other words, it’s almost always a good idea. After all, a greater reward sounds better than a smaller reward, even if it is a little later, eh? But, at the same point, should gratification always be delayed? Wouldn’t pushing what you desire out into the future cause you a certain level of discontent/ unhappiness, too? How does that discontent/ unhappiness in the short-term measure up?

These questions popped into my head when I was thinking about how desire creates a gap between where you are and where you want to be. And how it’s that gap that’s precisely responsible for a person’s discontent and unhappiness. For, a person without that gap—without desire—is where he/she is AND where he/she wants to be. They are found; they are content; they are satisfied; they are present; they are happy. And so by delaying something that we desire to a later point, aren’t we actually creating that very gap that we’re trying to avoid by consequence?

Here’s my answer: yes and no. The thing is, those immediate desires that we crave, are tempted by, and have to use our willpower against, are almost always just temporary desires. Meaning, they go away after the situation has passed—they are fleeting and illusive. Those other desires that you might have built up in your mind, however—about wanting to buy that mansion, with that Ferrari, and still have that many 0’s in your bank account—are long-term and, by their nature, not temporary. They will be there for as long as you continue to reinforce them in your mind. But short term desires are just that—short.

Those cookies you craved so intensely? You probably forgot about them when you got back to work. That coat you really wanted to buy on sale? Dissolved from your mind as you ate your meal later that day. That show you wanted to binge? Is usually forgotten about once you’re flowing through your tasks for the day again. And when you’ve moved on, the gap disappears with it and you’re right back to that state of content/ satisfied/ fulfilled. The only thing that takes away from that wonderful state of contentedness are those long-term gaps built up by your long-term desires.

But wait, there’s more. While the instant gratification “gaps” that are created are only temporary, the problem with those short-term gaps is that they become real when they’re acted upon. So long as we resist temptation and choose to delay gratification, the gaps disappear and there’s no effect. But, if we act on them, the gaps get added to the gaps that we already have in our lives—because choosing the immediate makes reaching the long-term harder.

In the context of health, resisting the immediate reward of eating cookies for the greater future reward of being healthy is a clear success. And every time we resist the cookies, we skip the short-term satisfaction and invest in the long-term reward. Every time we eat the cookies, we enjoy the short-term satisfaction, but move our long-term goals (desires) further away—because our desired state is now harder to achieve.

From a monetary context, being able to resist impulse/ nonessential purchases for the greater future reward that comes from saving and investing is a clear success. Every time we resist that coat that was on sale (or whatever), we skip the short term satisfaction and can invest in (or save towards) our long-term monetary goals. Every time we indulge in superfluous purchases, however, we move those long-term goals further away—because we have less to put towards our bigger, desired purchases. And so it goes.

So, yes—delaying gratification is almost always a good idea in that it’s a clear investment into the greater rewards of the future. It helps you close the gap between where you are and where you want to be. The ultimate? If you haven’t figured it out already, is to eliminate your unnecessary, superfluous long-term desires and meet yourself right where you are. Because THAT combined with delayed gratification is what one might consider freedom.

Freedom to be healthy AND to enjoy being healthy? Sounds better than being healthy but always discontent with where you are. Freedom to have your basic needs covered AND money in the bank for travel, independence, self-sufficiency—whatever? Sounds better than having money but always being unhappy because of ever increasing desires. This, as the timeless expression so eloquently puts it, is how you get your cake AND eat it, too. You just have to remember not to eat it yet.

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