Delayed Gratification Versus Instant Gratification

What is the difference between delayed gratification versus instant gratification and how can you leverage it in fitness & health?

With this week's newsletter, I want to help define these two terms and to provide you insight of why delayed gratification can have more of a benefit than the latter and also how to effectively leverage instant gratification in times of need.

First, what is delayed gratification?

Delayed gratification is defined as having the ability to delay oneself to immediate rewards. For example, if I wanted to lose 5 lbs of body fat this month, I would sacrifice a whole 30 days of any highly processed foods, fast food, or any sweets that I find enjoyment and pleasure in from eating to reach that goal. The action of not consuming foods that could give me temporary satisfaction would make my results of losing 5 lbs much more rewarding and contentment would last longer.

On the other hand, what is instant gratification?

Instant gratification is experiencing a reward quick and on-the-spot. An example for this would be going scrolling through Instagram or TikTok to get enjoyment as soon as possible and to immediately escape from other activities.

As you can tell both have their benefits but why push back our gratification rather than receive it so suddenly?

"The day you plant the seed is not the day you eat the fruit."

If we can train our brains to just wait a little bit more, the rewards can be that much sweeter for ourselves not just at that moment but even for the long haul.

Have you ever studied so hard for a big exam that would either make it or break it because your grade was borderline from either having an A or B in the class? So you put in honest work, made the time to do the work that needed to get done, and then once you received the results of the test, you find out you got the A. How did that feel? It must have felt really good, right?

OR what if you didn't study for the test as how you would like, used up that study time to either spend time with friends, play video games, or do other non-related things to get you the grade that you didn't want?

Not the greatest feeling and almost feels disappointing.

I'm also not judging if you've done this before because I myself have done it plenty of times in college but don't be like me and do the work because trust, I was on both ends and man does it feel good to work towards something you really want and reap the benefits.

"How can I relate this with fitness, nutrition, personal habits, etc.?"

It can actually be very simple to implement this in your fitness & health. One crucial way to save yourself from instant gratification to receive a bigger reward later is by listing out the pros and cons. For example, I've been getting big cravings of some good fast food spots like Jollibee (shoutout to the Filipinos) or Raising Canes.

Obviously these aren't the healthiest options so I list out the pros and cons;

PROS:

• It taste fire and it will fulfill my cravings in the moment

CONS:

• My digestion won't be the greatest the next day having little to no fiber whatsoever
• It has an excessive amount of calories across the board; super high in fat because of the oil its cooked in, the batter being heavy in empty carbs, and low protein source = low nutrient density

• I'm spending money that can be used for healthier groceries

• I have to drive a distance to go and get it

As you can tell, there are way more cons than pros and that gets me to think twice about my decision.

One last thing I want to mention, if you truly want the thing you want in the given moment whether that'd be eating fast food, doom scrolling through your phone, or going home instead of going to the gym in your normal routine, it's totally fine to do it from time to time just as long as those moments don't become a habit. If you give in to these, that's just proof that instant gratification wins all the time.

Can you resist the temptation of instant gratification or can you train yourself and build a system where delayed gratification can get you hitting the jackpot later?

That's your call to make. Choose wisely.

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