I love instant gratification. There’s something about wanting something and then getting it that just makes me happy. I know that there are plenty of things out there that are worth the wait, but I can be very impatient.
The desire for instant gratification can have a multitude of effects on your ability to accomplish your goals, both good and bad. While at first glance, we would assume that wanting to get something quickly would be entirely detrimental, it does have its advantages. But first, what does the battle with instant gratification look like for a typical person?
Instant gratification stems from your inability to live in both the present and the future. We are really only able to look at today as the present and have a general idea of what the future might be, and what we might want then. However, the future can seem far away, and for most people it’s incredibly difficult to put value on that future experience. Who knows what might happen in-between now and then?
You’re Not Planning For Long-Term Success
When looking at something through the lens of immediate satisfaction, it is almost impossible to make decisions that would help in both the short-term and long-term. Do you ever say to yourself, “Although I know I’m going to regret doing this later, I really want that now.”? I’m pretty sure this has happened at some point in your life, even if it is just relating to food choices. You may choose to eat the treat that you know will make you feel ill later, but that’s a problem for you to deal with in the future, and the present you is really craving it.
The same goes for financial decisions. Deciding whether to buy something now or to wait for it later, can be one of the most difficult decisions to make. Sometimes, the responsible side wins out, and you wait for a lower price. Other times, it’s not so easy.
How does this relate to Creativity?
It is pretty easy to understand why instant gratification can have a fairly negative effect on your health and finances, but what about your creativity? Where does instant gratification fit into your ability to be creative?
Well, there are actually two sides to that coin. On one hand, yes instant gratification tendencies can hold back your creative endeavors just like any other part of your life. While seeking to experience the life you want now, instead of delaying until it may make more sense, you can significantly hinder your ability to see it through.
Building a business is a great example of where this can happen. When thinking of new ideas and business plans, your instant gratification side can focus on the financial gain a new business can provide, and cause you to jump into the first idea that comes to mind. Six months down the road, you may find that you are nowhere near qualified to run this business, your expected market is not there, and the product you have developed does not do the job it needs to. So, you are now out money, time, and energy.
However, there is a potential upside to bringing together your desire for immediate results with your creative side.
Creativity can blossom when there is a fixed goal in front of you, and you need to figure out how to achieve it. Let’s say that you want the instant gratification of becoming an amazing writer by the end of the year. While that is an incredibly difficult, and possibly unreasonable goal for someone just starting out, knowing that your goal is there can help push you to become better.
The only way to reach that goal in such a short amount of time is to dive into writing and push yourself to do this task to the best of your abilities. So, you find that the best way to tackle this goal is to dedicate a number of hours each day to practice the craft of writing. But, you can’t just write out the dictionary, so you come up with a plan to stay engaged. To become better, you find that you need to write what amounts to a few books in the time between now and the end of the year. This goal, while seemingly impossible, will push your abilities to create new stories to share every day. If you didn’t have this desire for instant gratification, you may never have started writing to begin with, and certainly not at that absurd pace. And it’s only this absurd pace that will improve your abilities to level of a great writer.
I’m like you in that I am not a very patient person. When I look at all the things I’ve gone after in life, I can honestly say that I wouldn’t be the person I am today if it weren’t for those pursuits. It’s interesting because I would never say that selfishness is a good trait to have, because it goes against what I stand for, but at some point I decided to keep moving, in hopes to satisfy my craving of satisfaction. I guess you could argue that this was instant gratification, but the problem was always that I was never satisfied with what I found – I always wanted more. I see this as the biggest issue with an instant gratification world. When I decided that people were the reason for everything that I do, I realized that the pursuit of dreams is never more important than people. People are the reason for the pursuit in the first place.
I think it’s cool that you touched on possible pros and cons here, rather than just cons. That in itself shows creativity.
I also believe that “instant gratification” can both help and hinder creativity.
For instance, there is value in “no-judgement brainstorming,” which requires that you just shoot out EVERY idea that comes to mind without assessing its value. That kind of “instant gratification” is good for creativity.
Another example would be deciding with a group of songwriters or producers that you’re going to stay in the studio and work together until you’ve created a strong song. This can push you to make something happen; there’s positive energy to it.
However, making big decision “instantly” can prevent you from having the time to let your creativity work on as-yet-unseen solutions or approaches, limiting you to a smaller (and potentially inferior) set of options from which to choose.
It takes experience and some wisdom to know when each approach is appropriate for the goal.