Success has a very broad definition, especially from different groups of people. Yet, one thing is common: Everyone wants to be successful in life and in the areas that we care about.
Regardless of how you define success, it requires skills. These are the critical virtues for it.
1. Delayed Gratification
According to research, delayed gratification is one of the most effective personal traits among successful people. But what exactly is delayed gratification?
In non-geeky terms, delayed gratification is the ability to resist the temptation of a short-term gain for a bigger reward at a later point in time. The famous experiment that is synonymous with delayed gratification is Stanford’s Marshmallow Experiment. In the experiment, the researcher offers a child a marshmallow and places it on the table. The researcher then leaves the room for a while. If the child is able to resist the temptation of eating the marshmallow, he gets two when the researcher returns.
Retail Therapy?
The children who were willing to delay gratification showed better progress in life in a range of measures including education, health and social life when they were tracked in follow up studies. Now, let’s relate delayed gratification to your life and how it can help you succeed. Imagine that you receive your paycheck today.
Do you choose to spend it all on impulse on retail therapy? Or do you squirrel away your pay into a savings or investment account for gains in the future? It can also mean putting away time to enjoy now and focus your effort on a long term pursuit, e.g. pursuing a Master’s degree or a new technical skill.
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