Quick Tip – Enjoy Your Life Today

Find the right balance with delayed gratification – Issue #73

Are you familiar with the famous Stanford “Marshmallow Experiment”? During the 1960s and ‘70s, Stanford psychologists conducted a marshmallow test with about 90 children enrolled in a local Stanford preschool.

They tested whether children could restrain themselves from eating a first marshmallow when they knew that they would receive a second one if they held out. Supposedly, they found a correlation between an ability to delay gratification and later success in life.

What they failed to control was a difference in social and economic backgrounds. More recent research has found that:

“Those who hold out for the second marshmallow may come from more affluent households, and their future success is based on this economic advantage rather than sheer willpower.”

The children who were quicker to eat that first marshmallow have learned, unfortunately, that there are no guarantees of food tomorrow. Eat what you have right now. If you wait, you may go hungry later.

This is not to say that willpower and an ability to delay gratification are pointless. It is challenging to be successful in your career and life if you only live for the moment. You will fail if you never plan for tomorrow, refuse to save money, and behave as if today is your last day on Earth.

However, some of us take delayed gratification too far. I used to push off the enjoyment of my life to some magical date in the future when I thought I could relax. I envisioned a time that I could tell myself that I had finally “made it” and could reap the rewards of my hard work.

That type of life strategy is risky, as well. There are no guarantees in life. I know of far too many people who delayed rest and relaxation until retirement (e.g., taking a nice vacation), only to pass away before they had a chance to enjoy life to its fullest.

Find balance.

Enjoy life now, while you plan for the future. Live in the moment enough so that you don’t look back with regret later.

“If you aren’t in the moment, you are either looking forward to uncertainty, or back to pain and regret.” — Jim Carrey