My question to explore from this week’s readings is-
What are ways or strategies to better our ability to delay
gratification? Are we even able to better this or are we born with it?
One way
to look at this question is the nature versus nurture principal. Some may
believe that the ability to delay gratification is something we are born with. These
same people would say that people are born with a set amount of patience and
cannot build up patience. With that being said, it connects to the fixed
mindset in that having this mindset considers we are born with a certain amount
of intelligence. To
go along with this, the willpower article brings up that, “You only have a
finite amount of willpower as you go through the day, conserve it, save it for
emergencies.” So, maybe we are born with it but deeper, maybe it is the way in
which we choose to use it, not so much the amount we have. If not used
efficiently, the lack of willpower could turn into ego depletion where
everything feels more intense.
The other
way of looking at this argument is that we are able to better our ability to
delay and it seems more logical to me. Most of the articles spelled out
different strategies to help exercise our abilities. In “The Secret of
Self-Control” article, it suggests that one makes the situation work for them. An
example of this would be if someone is hungry, and tempted to eat an unhealthy
snack such as cookies, to not even have cookies in the house. This way, they
still can satisfy their hunger, just in a different way, hopefully with a
healthy option. The most effective strategy I found in these articles was that
the key is to avoid even thinking about it in the first place. By distracting
ourselves from the rewards and plugging away at the challenge little by little,
we will stop focusing on the reward so much and before we know it, we will
reach the end result. I never realized it, but this can relate in my own life
to high school. My high school experience was absolutely amazing and I will
cherish the memories forever, but I think we all have a point where we just
want to fast forward through the four years and just move on to college. But,
by involving yourself in activities, attending school functions, and building
positive relationships with teachers and peers, four years goes by in a blink. This
is exactly what happened to me in high school and hopefully will carry on
through college. Getting all of my work done, but dismissing the thought of it
will help me make the most out of my college experience. These turn out to be
examples of meta-cognition or thinking about thinking. Therefore, the strategy
goes further to focus on what works for you personally and applying those approaches
to difficult tasks in particular. Ways to do this include planning out each
week for yourself and also clearly recognizing your priorities. Prioritizing time,
work, and fun, can really help to balance what life throws at us and I believe
is the right path to success.
After considering
both sides of the argument, I think it is a mixture of both. I do think we are
born with a set amount of patience and smarts to an extent, but there are
definitely ways of us improving on them. All we have to do is outsmart our
desires and find an efficient way to use our willpower throughout each day so
that we do not suffer from ego depletion. So, to answer my question, I do think
there is enough evidence to prove that we can develop our delaying
gratification skills through constant exercises and practice, with the
foundation of what we are born with.
How can we educate others to practice delaying gratification? Will they be more interested if they know it is the key to success?
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