Question

If you are really craving a bag of potato chips, but you know you need to stick to your diet, you will try to delay gratification—that is, you will try NOT to eat the potato chips (which would, no doubt, taste wonderful and be quite rewarding) so that you will feel attractive in your bathing suit next weekend (which is even more wonderful and rewarding). Describe two tactics you might use to make your delay of gratification easier.

Answer 1

Delayed gratification is one of the most effective personal traits of successful people. People that delay gratification are more successful with their career, relationships, health, finances and really, all areas of life. The following tactics or strategies can be used to delay gratification:

• Know Your Values: As we explored in Understanding Your Values, when you know what is important to you, you are able to make choices that lead you to happiness and success.
• Know What You Want to Achieve: Ensure you have clearly defined goals. What is it that you want to achieve exactly? Having a clear understanding of what you want to achieve longer-term can help you make a choice in delaying gratification to help you reach your ultimate goal.