“The obsession with instant gratification blinds us from our long-term potential” — Michael Dooley
Instant gratification feels good. It’s really difficult to turn off the switch in our brains that fiends for that incredibly satisfying feeling.
And there really is a switch, too (of sorts). This article by Dr. Shahram Heshmat talks about ten psychological reasons we rush instant gratification, and it’s pretty interesting.
For example, there is actual psychological discomfort associated with denying ourselves immediate satisfaction. “Evolution has given people and other animals a strong desire for immediate rewards,” Heshmat explains.
Instant gratification is also linked to procrastination. We often delay accomplishing things we know we should do because the task at hand does not give us the immediate reward we’re wired to look for.
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Instead, we do easier things that instantly please. We binge Netflix, we eat, and we check our social media notifications (see my article on bingeing and how to overcome the habit).
Charlotte Lieberman’s article from The New York Times discusses the causes behind procrastination, revealing that the habit is derived…
