|
Learn how to give up one pleasurable thing for another
Wednesday, 2 January 2008
We humans are funny creatures. We seem to be part animal on one side, and part angel on the other. When I go to the zoo and I observe the creatures there, I'm often struck by how similar their behaviours and motivations are to our own. They act on lust, hunger, power, love and anger, just as we do.
Yet, there is part of us they will never know. Somewhere inside us is the ability to create great works of art, discover new worlds, and understand the universe in ways they could never contemplate.
It is this conflict between our two halves that dominates much of our lives. On one side, we have our base animal instincts pulling at us urgently. On the other, our higher faculties of reason try to motivate us to do the right thing and think long term.
It's these higher faculties that take time and effort to develop. You should put work into allowing them to dominate and control your inner-beast.
And the best way of doing this is to learn the habit of giving up one pleasurable thing for another. Specifically, you should learn to put off immediate gratification in anticipation of an even greater reward in the future.
For your base instinct is to consume whatever comes your way as soon as it arrives. A resource not consumed in the wilderness is usually a resource wasted. Food not eaten or shared straight away will almost certainly go bad or be stolen. The moment is the main thing that matters under those circumstances. You may not be alive tomorrow to enjoy the fruits of your labour.
It's this inner-belief that drives people to consume today and forget about tomorrow. Those who buy things they can't afford on credit are following such instincts.
The classic way to give up one pleasurable thing for another and train yourself is through savings. Rather than spending all your income today, put some aside for tomorrow and invest it. Learn how to sacrifice today's desires for tomorrow's reward.
But there are other ways also. Learn how to eat less and exercise more. Or commit a selfless act to reinforce a friendship. Once again, pleasure postponed leads to a reward.
Learn how to give up one pleasurable thing for another. The more you can control this aspect of your life, the more successful you will become.
 | If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging | | Years ago, I overheard interesting conversation between two friends of mine, one of whom is a lawyer. Basically, the first guy say his company hadn't paid him for over a month, even though he was supposed to get salary money weekly. |  | Finding your life's purpose | | Many people find life a bit meaningless. They fall into a routine of living day-to-day, with little to look forward to. Each moment seems to slip by into the void, with little achieved and no feeling of moving forward. | | The easiest way to get rich | | Judging by their behavior, most people have an obsession with wealth. Politicians promise to create it, most popular magazines are filled with gossip about those who have it, and the average person spends much of their adult life trying to obtain it. |  | Most worthwhile things in life turn out to be harder than you expect | | What is it that gets people down? All sorts of things, of course. It may be a chemical imbalance in the brain, a family tragedy, or an accident. But most of the time, the reason for ongoing dissatisfaction is that people simply aren't getting what they want out of life. They feel they aren't where they should be. | | Most things won't be as easy as you think | | You know what really upsets me? When things don't turn out the way my optimistic side expects them to. When the girl I thought liked me just wants to be friends, when the job I thought I had in the bag goes to someone else, and when that cool party I was planning flops. | | Cut all your credit-cards in half | | I've never owned a credit-card. Most people are pretty surprised when I tell them that. They look at me like I've just said I've never had a glass of Coke or made a phone-call. |  | Concentrate on problems you actually have | | We all have things about the world we wish were different. If pressed to write a list of problems we wanted solved, it wouldn't take long for most of us to fill a page or more. Many of our efforts are focussed on fixing the challenges we face - from being hungry to avoiding ending up in poverty. | | Success is mostly about failing a lot | | Woody Allen once said "Seventy percent of success in life is showing up". It seems obvious, but convincing yourself to follow this advice can sometimes be difficult. |  | Generally, it's best just to tell people what they want to hear | | Some people live to tell others what they're doing wrong. They see themselves as some sort of ivory-tower dwelling soul, gazing mercifully down on the rest of us and having the generosity to point out our faults when they see it as necessary. I'm sure you meet such people all the time. | | Become a stubborn competitor | | There's one character trait that unites almost all the successful people. It's seen in those with good careers, good financial positions, and attractive partners. |
New articles are being added all the time, so make sure you bookmark Paul's Tips and come back.
|
|