The Instant Gratification Trap

Balancing near-term rewards with long-term goals

                                                Photo by Icons8 Team on Unsplash

"No one wants to be patient. No one wants to wait for anything. They want it right now - that instant gratification".- P J Tucker. 

Let's face it. It is a common human weakness to give up on long-term goals for immediate gratification. We decide to go on a diet, but when someone offers us a chocolate cake, the urge to grab it cannot be controlled. And we determine the diet can start from tomorrow. 

We promise to save money, but when we decide to save, we see a new bike, a pair of good shoes that we must have, and we cannot control the craving to buy them.

Something similar happens with healthcare as well. Everyone knows preventive medicine is more cost-effective and suitable for catching and avoiding health problems if diagnosed early. But we often procrastinate and avoid getting health checkups done regularly. 

Many coaching clients talk about how they would achieve their self-development goals and have impressive action plans, but in reality, they struggle to get them off the ground. So, what holds them back? Busy schedules, lack of confidence, or absence of instant rewards? Often it is the absence of instant rewards.

The era of 10min delivery is a classic example of instant gratification. I no longer have to plan and make a list of my groceries. My family feels like eating a particular food item, and I don't have the ingredients available. I order them through any 10 min delivery app on my smartphone, and wu la la! I have items delivered at my door in 10 mins. 

                                               Photo by Kai Pilger on Unsplash

When making decisions in our lives, we think we are in control. But actually, we are not. 

In the book "Predictably Irrational" behavioural economist and author Dan Ariely talks about the hidden forces that shape our decisions. In a series of experiments, he shows how expectations, emotions and other factors skew our reasoning abilities. And this is the reason why we can't do what we want to do.

According to researchers at Princeton University, two areas of the brain compete for control over behaviour when a person attempts to balance near-term rewards with long-term goals. One area of the brain is associated with our emotions, and the other with abstract reasoning. When offered a cake, the brain's emotional response to instant gratification; we get pushed to grab the cake even if other healthy options are available.

Try these self-control mechanisms to stay in check and make the right choices.

• Pre-commit to achieving goals. Know your "why" clearly.
• Don't allow your emotions to overpower your logical thinking. Tie your feeling to a goal that you want to achieve. I wanted to develop a habit of getting up at 5 am and going for a walk. I kept putting off this idea, but then I started reminding myself of the positive benefits of this habit.  
• Delay gratification when you urge to break your diet plan or your goal to save money—Journal and note what you have done to overcome instant gratification.
• Set limits for yourself.
• Get an accountability partner who will nudge you and make you answerable if you fail to follow through.

"Don't sacrifice your future dreams at the altar of instant gratification." Ashley Borden 

The Truth about the plugged in world.

 Read my article published by Kitaab 

https://kitaab.org/2022/05/24/essay-the-truth-about-the-plugged-in-world-by-shubha-apte/

The Power of the Humble Pen and Paper.

The pen is still mightier than the keyboard.

                                                              Photo by cottonbro on Pexel.

I love the good old-fashioned pen and paper.

In the digital world, we have forgotten the inherent benefits of writing with an old-fashioned pen and paper. The benefits of digital tools cannot be ignored. But we cannot become slaves to technology.

I am a big kindle fan and cannot deny the ease with which books can be searched and downloaded. Even while reading on a Kindle, I have a pen and paper to take notes. Kindle has a feature that allows you to highlight and share to other apps and devices. But I prefer making notes with pen and paper.

I have a weakness for pens, and whenever I am in a stationery shop, I look for ball pens, fountain pens, and colour pens and buy at least a couple of them.

                                                 Photo from Shubha Apte

Since my childhood, I have had this weird passion for pen collection. Over the years, I have gathered quite a good collection, and they are constantly jostling for space on my desk. It sounds strange to some when I tell them that a new pen always inspires me to write. A writing instrument can indeed inspire and motivate.

“A pen transmits the voice of the soul “- Fennel Hudson.

There is truth in what Hudson has said.

The simplicity of pen and paper prevents your mind from getting distracted. Let’s face it, technology can be addictive because of the ease of doing things, but it can also be distracting.

I find myself visiting different websites and getting lost in all the noise when I choose to write using the keyboard or on my tablet. Without the internet, all you have are your thoughts, the silence, and your brain can roam free. I sometimes end up doodling, but that I consider a positive thing.

Writing with pen and paper is a slow process. It helps you slow down and allows you to think with deep focus and gather your thoughts.

Putting pen to paper is both physically and mentally satisfying. The texture and touch of the paper and its smell encourage and stimulate your mind, forcing your hand to write.

A study from a team of Japanese researchers suggests handwriting on paper leads to greater brain activity and memory retention compared to writing with a stylus on a tablet. The study was published in the journal “Frontiers in behavioural neuroscience”.

Scientific studies show how handwriting benefits the brain and our neurological systems and, therefore, our mental health and wellbeing.

Anybody with a deep love for writing with pen and paper can relate to these studies.

Experiments conducted with school and college students demonstrated that students who wrote by hand showed better results, came up with more ideas and were more creative than those who wrote on a computer.

I have developed the habit of unplugging, turning off all devices and sitting quietly in a room with a pen and paper. It feels very relaxing and satisfying to create something using pen and paper.

As Ruskin Bond, in his book “ It’s a wonderful life: roads to happiness”, says, “there is a certain sensuous intimacy about this connection between pen and paper that is absent from any other form of writing; maybe it is the texture and touch off the paper the flow of ink, the movement of the pen, the connection of all three with the human hand and the hand’s connection with the mind of the writer.”

I am one of those people who is obsessed with pens.

The voice typing feature in a google doc is a game-changer! It does not take long to convert what you have written on paper into digital format. Voice typing allows you to write, edit, and navigate your document without using the keyboard. It saves you the time and effort required to type on the keyboard.

The pen and paper still trump the keyboard. Writing by hand sparks creativity.

Benefits I have experienced writing with a good old pen and paper.

1. One of the biggest benefits is that it improved my health. I had severe pain in my elbow, forearm, wrist and hand due to long hours on the computer. It caused extreme fatigue, pain and muscle strain. My doctor advised me to slow down and improve my posture while working on the computer. I started spending more time with pen and paper, significantly reducing stress and pain.
2. Pen and paper help me slow down, remain focused and force me to think.
3. It helps me avoid all distractions from the internet world.
4. It helps boost my creativity; the outcome is always better whether I am doodling or working on a draft.

“There are thousand thoughts lying within a man that he does not know till he takes up a pen to write” William Makepeace Thackeray.