While writing this blog, I experienced a dilemma whether to sip cheap instant coffee or drive to Starbucks to get in to that highly perceived ‘creativity zone’. However, as usual, I turned on the kettle, poured five cents worth of instant coffee and proceeded with my task on hand. Unlike many millennials, my decision was based on the rationale of returns and utility. Whether paying for that expensive instagrammable coffee will add any utility and whether the greater good achieved through this blog will offset the impact the carbon emissions.
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Although any rational thinker would agree with me, millennials and later generations are focused on the experience rather than the qualities of the outcome. A cup of coffee or few drinks over the weekend that keep you productive may not seem harmful; as such gratification serve as the positive reinforcement necessary to encourage grind or favourable behaviour. In other words, they keep you calm enough to bear disgruntled clients and strong enough to fight the Monday Blues.
Moreover, social media has fostered a culture of superficial optimism, which I personally abhor, that feeds on the desire to appear rather successful. This accentuates the need for instant gratification as a coping measure to maintain a successful image. Although this might sound harmless, this has psychological and monetary consequences. Recognising the psychological consequences require high levels of self-awareness, while understanding the monetary consequences requires long-term thinking.
However, this is a makeshift mechanism as self-rewarding mechanism works only in presence of rewards. For instance, imagine a company that suddenly stops paying incentives to the sales executives; if the sales performance is driven by attractive incentives, imagine the shift in performance once the incentives are withdrawn. If your drive depends on rewards, you better be pleased easily as you might be unable to afford expensive endorphins during the bad days!
Getting back to the company, once incentives are withdrawn, the demotivated team might fail to achieve revenue targets, causing another pay-cut and forcing the company into a downward spiral. Resilience and perseverance are far more important in the stormy weather than in the sunshine weather. In simple words, when you depend on a self-rewarding mechanism and require some form of gratification in order to perform, you might fail to persevere during stormy days owing to the lack of resilience.
In addition to this psychological downside, there are monetary consequences at an individual level. Although such costs may be borne frequently, owing to the insignificant amounts, the immediate impact may appear inconsequential. And long-term consequences require certain foresight to be apprehended. For instance, every Starbucks coffee is a lost opportunity to save or invest; and worse, it takes away a jar of instant coffee which I will consume in the future!
Nobody, except for economists, thinks few decades into the future. Hence, just as opportunity cost is not apparent to most businesses, so is the loss of an opportunity that you have not yet perceived. Every unnecessary expense today costs something necessary in the future, as the quote says “if today you buy things you do not need, tomorrow you will have to sell things that you need”.
However, the biggest problem with instant gratification expenses is that most of them are written-off immediately. For instance, if I buy a car, I might be able to get some depreciated value but when it comes to beer and coffee, it is flushed down the drain in a few hours! Leaving me with a bunch of drunk texts or decisions to regret and a slimmer credit balance on your card.
It is too easy to fall in to this trap and being norm of the day, you will also be validated by peers and social media. Personally, I had not hit the realisation until I went on a diet that avoided consuming anything containing ethanol, sugar, palm oil, or trans fat. In simple words, I could not eat almost everything that is sold in the market! And the savings made comprehend the amount of money that I would otherwise spend on things my body would despise.
Occasional gratification is necessary to maintain mental sanity, but only as long as it is not frequent enough not to be called occasions. Hence, the challenge is not the realisation but the abstinence necessary to maintain the behavior without diet restrictions or financial constraints. As the instant gratification devoured from caffeine served with delightful ambiance, or pastry loaded with unhealthy ounces of sugar may be too lucrative to disdain!
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Feature Image Photo by sheri silver on Unsplash
Savvy Munshi 