We are more likely to repeat a behavior when it is satisfying. Pleasure teaches your brain that a behavior is worth repeating. Positive emotions cultivate habits. Making it satisfying increases the odds that a behavior will be repeatedĀ next time. It is immediate satisfaction that we need to make it satisfying.
We live in a delayed return environment. It is only recently that society shifted to this kind of environment. Compared to the age of the brain, modern society is extremely new. Human nature has changed comparatively little. It made sense in the past to place value on immediate gratification. The brain evolved to value the present more than the future. A reward certain right now may be worth more than a possible future one. The consequences of bad habits are delayed while the rewards are immediate: smoking a cigarette, eating unhealthy food, having unsafe sex. Bad habits: the immediate outcome is enjoyable, but the ultimate outcome is bad. Good habits can be the opposite.
As a general rule, the more immediate pleasure you get from an action, the more you should question if it is aligned with your long-term goals. The brain tends to underestimate distance threats and overestimate immediate threats. What is immediately rewarded is repeated, and what is immediately punished is avoided. The road less travelled is the road to delayed gratification. The last mile is always the least crowded. People who are better at delaying gratification have better outcomes in many different ways. Success in most fields requires you to delay gratification.
Add a little bit of immediate pleasure to habits that pay off in the long run. Add a little bit of pain to those that will not.
Immediate rewards keep you excited while the delayed rewards form in the background. Reinforcement uses an immediate reward to increase the rate of a behavior. It can be useful when trying to break a bad habit that is simply avoiding doing something like not spending extra money.
The more a habit becomes a part of your life, the more it becomes a part of your identity, and the more likely it will last and deliver the delayed rewards.
We live in a delayed return environment. It is only recently that society shifted to this kind of environment. Compared to the age of the brain, modern society is extremely new. Human nature has changed comparatively little. It made sense in the past to place value on immediate gratification. The brain evolved to value the present more than the future. A reward certain right now may be worth more than a possible future one. The consequences of bad habits are delayed while the rewards are immediate: smoking a cigarette, eating unhealthy food, having unsafe sex. Bad habits: the immediate outcome is enjoyable, but the ultimate outcome is bad. Good habits can be the opposite.
As a general rule, the more immediate pleasure you get from an action, the more you should question if it is aligned with your long-term goals. The brain tends to underestimate distance threats and overestimate immediate threats. What is immediately rewarded is repeated, and what is immediately punished is avoided. The road less travelled is the road to delayed gratification. The last mile is always the least crowded. People who are better at delaying gratification have better outcomes in many different ways. Success in most fields requires you to delay gratification.
Add a little bit of immediate pleasure to habits that pay off in the long run. Add a little bit of pain to those that will not.
Immediate rewards keep you excited while the delayed rewards form in the background. Reinforcement uses an immediate reward to increase the rate of a behavior. It can be useful when trying to break a bad habit that is simply avoiding doing something like not spending extra money.
The more a habit becomes a part of your life, the more it becomes a part of your identity, and the more likely it will last and deliver the delayed rewards.
Article notes
What is the law of behavior change (Atomic Habits) that is unlike the other laws in that it increases the odds that a habit will be repeated next time?
Make it satisfying
What are habits where the immediate outcome is enjoyable but the ultimate and delayed outcome is bad?
Bad habits
As a general rule, the more immediate pleasure you get from an action, the more you should what?
Question if it is aligned with your long-term goals