Delayed Gratification

“The ability to discipline yourself to delay gratification in the short term in order to enjoy greater rewards in the long term is the indispensable pre-requisite for success.” Brian Tracy, a self-help author who also makes presentations on leadership skills, sales topics, managerial effectiveness, and business strategy, is correct on the topic of delayed gratification. According to Google Dictionary, delayed or deferred gratification is the ability to wait in order to obtain something that one wants. This is what everyone should do so they can obtain what they want in the future, by working their hardest now. In the year 2010, young adults are having trouble grasping the idea of delayed gratification and if they don’t know what delayed gratification is they get into problems that many people don’t want to be in. People in high school must learn that delayed gratification will help them in the long run because if they do well in high school they will get into a good college and then get a good job, but it can also go the other way too. If they do badly in high school they won’t get into college, they will work a job that doesn’t pay much and they will be unhappy because nobody respects them because they didn’t go to college. This concept also ties in with materialism because many students want the latest and greatest in technology and other gadgets and when they start to drool over the amazing things they can get, they start to take their mind off of school and onto getting a job. If they get this job and forget about school, they won’t be able to do well in the future and then they won’t be able to live by themselves, because they won’t have enough money to pay the bills, because the job they got to get the gadget they wanted, was an instant gratification job or a job that will pay small money very quickly. According to two professors of the University of Washington, in 1998, of 1000 high school students only 457 of them stayed on track through all four years