Making Wealth: Delayed Gratification
Self-induced happiness is a consequence of two things; fulfillment and achievement. Happiness out of fulfillment is as a result of doing things that are required of you for example paying rent, buying clothes when you need new ones etc. Happiness out of achievement is one from doing things you want to do that are not part of your obligations for example buying houses, going on vacations etc. The difference between the two is that fulfillment comes from needs while achievement from wants.
Fulfillment happiness is the first kind of happiness that you experience in your wealth making journey. Then comes achievement happiness. People will sometimes indulge in order to get a taste of the achievement happiness. Which is a good thing. It reminds/shows you of what awaits you. However, you have to work to get money which is the basic means of getting past the fulfillment happiness. The goal is always to be able to do what you want when you want, how you want which is basically to experience achievement happiness.
You must understand the need for delayed gratification. Letting go of that achievement happiness is the hardest thing. It is very hard to resist getting the better apartment when you get a raise or buy that car you’ve always wanted immediately you can. This is because it comes with a sense of pride that far surpasses what you feel when you are merely doing what you must. The concept of delayed gratification only works if you understand why because it is much easier to endure pain when you understand the reason. By postponing the desire to get what you want in the initial stages of your wealth making process, you shorten the amount of time it would take to get the achievement happiness which is the final stage.
Everything takes time; the only difference is the quantity of it. Just as in the initial stages you will have more of the fulfillment happiness than the achievement happiness eventually the reverse happens. How soon the eventually is, is a choice you make. You can add more achievement happiness to your initial stages which will slow down how fast you get to the final stage thus minimizing the amount of time you will have to enjoy it or you can minimize it (not completely avoid it) so that you get there faster and have plenty of time to enjoy it more, at once and continuously; the choice is yours.
