The balanced art of willpower!
As humans, we are bound to experience and feel pleasure from certain activities we do. Perhaps, it could be the simplest of the simple thing. For instance, a few people find pleasure in playing video games, pleasure in eating often, pleasure in drinking, smoking etc.
This pleasure leads to attraction and it’s obvious to have that kind of attraction. However, if there’s no line drawn in front of them, they’ll lead to addiction. With the days passing, eventually, we tend to become slaves to such attractions and move away from the reality that, in some way, we are on the verge of harming ourselves.
A classic example is, most of us would have this habit of looking at our phones every now and then. Usually, most of our minds function in such a way that we snub the pain and attain pleasure. By pain, I mean the self-restraining nature. Here refraining from using the phone for some time makes us restless and our mind considers it as pain.
In fact, such pleasures are termed as Instant (or immediate) Gratification in which the temptations result in foregoing a better future benefit and trying to attain an immediate benefit that is less rewarding.
That said, is it that difficult to have self-control over such happenings which might turn out addictive? While our mind agrees to undergo that slavery behaviour, a simple question to ourselves can be the starting stage of self-control.
Will my productivity and focus increase, if I step aside from that gadget by enabling the, Do not disturb mode?
Being genuine to ourselves and to that question is of utmost importance as that is required in the need of the hour to prioritise things in a better way. This stand is important cause ‘The worst of all deceptions is self-deception’.
Now, let’s dive into The Marshmallow study which was performed at Harvard University years back.
A few kids were given a marshmallow each. Next, they were informed that if they wish they can consume the marshmallow right away. Nevertheless, if they could wait for some time without eating it until the second marshmallow is brought, they will get 2 marshmallows each. With this, the behaviour of each kid was examined and noted. A few kids waited patiently for the person in order to get the second one whereas, the rest couldn’t resist themselves from having the first one before they could get the second one.
Now, did something ring a bell? And was that all about the experiment?
Believe it or not, this experiment was not all about just noticing the instant gratification nature of each kid. Beyond this, came the crucial part of the experiment which extended for years. The examiners waited patiently for years and tracked down the information of those kids who turned into adults.
It was witnessed that the kids who were able to have self-control over their instant gratification, turned out to be more successful in terms of health, relationship and finances when compared to the ones who could not have control and fell into the trap of instant gratification.
The self-controlling nature is very much important in every stage of our day to day life. Here, it doesn’t mean that one should suppress doing the activities to the core and flaunt their willpower. All that is required is a balance and some limit.
Consuming a lot of tasty food in terms of junk, will not give the required nutrition to our body and considering to eat something just for the sake of nutrition will instantly reduce our interest and attraction towards the food. But if the taste and nutrition are balanced, the food will be enjoyed in both taste and health-wise.
Definitely, something to ponder and have the self-controlling quality rather than being slaves to such toxic pleasures!
