Immediate Gratification

• Gratification is pleasure • Immediate means done at once • Why do we seek this: ° To avoid delay in important matters personally/professionally. Evolutionary need for food, protection ° A fear of opportunity lost ° Impulsivity. Especially as we age. If not now, when? ° Intellectual curiosity. ° Poverty, desperation ° Boredom. Here’s a new shiny object. ° The alternative of long hard work (I can make money selling cars now, being an engineer would take six years.) • The trouble is that it is often temporary. (The dog toy breaks.) Other people have the same thing. The novelty wears off. • Often generates anti-social behavior—breaking into a line, theft. • In the longer term is unfulfilling, creating more disappointment. • Undermines all patience even when required: recovering from an illness, waiting for a delayed plane, even waiting at the deli counter. • Impulse purchase items are placed near the cashier in stores or at the end of aisles. • Can cause health problems (stress, ulcers) waiting for an acceptance to college, a job offer, a club membership. • Isn’t a realistic view of life, even when successful. Often depends on factors out of one’s control. • The key, perhaps: Fine on the minor stuff, a gamble on middle stuff, can be fatal on the major stuff. • Don’t forget, this is an age when kennels and shelters force potential animal adopters to qualify!

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