How To Fight Instant Gratification

By Grant Stenzel, MS Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor

Instant gratification is something we all fall prey to from time to time. Sure, we all know that it’s going to be more beneficial for us in the long run to eat the healthy food instead of junk or put our extra money in savings instead of spending it on something shiny we don’t necessarily need. But eating junk food sometimes and making a few impulse purchases here and there isn’t the end of the world. Everyone needs to treat themselves a little sometimes.

However, for others it’s not an occasional problem, it’s an all the time problem. Living a life of constant gratification will eventually have negative consequences, but how do you fight the constant temptation?

Set Goals for Yourself

A good start to motivating yourself to be better is giving yourself something to achieve. Whether it’s losing weight, saving money or controlling your anger, it is important to have specific goals in mind. And don’t be afraid to start with short-term goals. These are easier to attain, so you’ll be less likely to fall back into habits of instant gratification. Try reaching several smaller goals before moving on to the long-term goals. Having a few achievements under your belt can make for great motivation to keep the momentum going.

Positive self-talk can help when faced with the temptation of instant gratification. Saying something like,  “I will choose a healthier option for myself today” is more helpful than, “I’m not allowed to do that.” It’s important to try and keep a positive mindset about your goals, instead of thinking of them as restrictions that are causing you miss out on things. This can be extremely difficult to do, especially when so many of us value pleasure and leisure above everything else.

Once you’re able to ignore the desire for instant gratification more often, make sure to pay attention to the feeling you get when your decisions start to pay off. This might come in the form of feeling more energetic after eating better. Or maybe it will be looking at your savings account and realizing that for the first time you don’t have to worry about what you’d do if you had a sudden financial emergency. Whatever it ends up being, the positive reinforcement of delayed gratification should help you stick to your goals.

Hold Yourself Accountable

You don’t have to fight instant gratification alone. Including others who can hold you accountable is extremely helpful. If your goal is to be healthier by working out more, then having a workout partner or the help of a personal trainer can keep you from giving up on the harder days. Even if you don’t have anyone who can dedicate a lot of time to doing activities with you it can still help to have someone who checks in and asks, “Did you do this today?”

Use the Five-Minute Rule

If you feel like doing something that you know is bad for you, then try the five-minute rule. If you can wait five minutes, often the temptation will subside. Combine this with accountability and the fight against temptation should get a little easier.

Try to Understand Why

The main reason that people fall into the constant cycle of immediate gratification is to deal with their emotions. Think about it like this: when you have a headache you take an aspirin to alleviate the effects of the headache. Instant gratification is very similar to getting rid of a headache. People don’t want to feel the emotions that are making them feel bad, so they turn to something that makes them feel better quickly. The problem with this is that instant gratification often leads to shame, which turns into needing to feel good quickly again. It’s a vicious cycle of using bad habits to self-medicate.

Positive self-talk can also be helpful in this situation. Tell yourself that you’re allowed to feel poorly, and you don’t have to feel good all the time. This is also another way that the five-minute rule comes into play. Try sitting with your negative emotions for five minutes instead of immediately seeking to forget about them. You might be surprised to find how much progress you can make.

Think of Self-Control as A Muscle

It’s important to think of self-control as just another muscle in your body.The more you work on it the stronger it will get. And just like how some people have to work harder to build muscle or lose weight, you may need to work harder at building effective self-control. And that’s okay!

If you or a loved one struggle with the pitfalls of instant gratification and need a little help learning how to flex your self-control, then reach out to us. We’re always here to help.