In Part 1 we discussed the fact that part of the reason we fall behind with money is because we haven’t decided what we want. Part 2 is tangentially related, though it focuses on what we want NOW vs LATER.

Reason #2: You sacrifice tomorrow for today

“The ability to discipline yourself to delay gratification in the short term in order to enjoy greater rewards in the long term, is the indispensable prerequisite for success.” — Brian Tracy

Okay, I now have decided what I want, I have connected it to my core values, now what?

Well now you have to make the difficult trade-off decision of getting what you want now or later.

Denying ourselves of what we want NOW, so we can have something greater in the FUTURE is hard.

It’s that way for everyone.

You see, most animals are hardwired to follow their instinct. Whatever their instinct tells them to do, they do. They are very focused on the present.

Humans have similar hardwiring in our brains. We have chemicals in the body that reward certain actions or inactions (remember that psychology class you took in college that talked about dopamine and serotonin?)

But, humans also have the capacity to reason and make complicated trade-off decisions. We have to make sure we make those decisions intentionally, and that they are not being made FOR us by default.

How could that happen? Our lives are forever intertwined with the lives of those around us like family and friends. In addition to that, now, more than ever, our lives are intertwined with broader society. We are affected by it every day.

What we see online, in our Instagram feed, in the trending tweets, on Facebook, are messages constantly bombarding us and enticing us to get that thing will make us happy.

When everyone else’s lives look so glamorous and perfect, and ours don’t, we think that if we just had what THEY have, we would be as HAPPY as them.