And if so, how do we teach and model this value to new members of our community?
What is delayed gratification?
Delayed gratification, or deferred gratification, is the ability to resist the temptation for an immediate reward and wait for a later reward. Generally, delayed gratification is associated with resisting a smaller but more immediate reward in order to receive a larger or more enduring reward later.
Source: Carducci, Bernardo J. (2009). "Basic Processes of Mischel's Cognitive-Affective Perspective: Delay of Gratification and Conditions of Behavioral Consistency". The Psychology of Personality: Viewpoints, Research, and Applications. John Wiley and Sons. pp. 443–4. ISBN 978-1-4051-3635-8.
Small, Immediate Rewards Versus Larger, Delayed Rewards
I rarely enjoy waiting. Waiting is hard. Waiting requires patience.
And to be honest, I want things now! But that kind a mindset does not always serve me well in life or in the Steemit community.
Which category below best describes your current Steemit strategy and/or mindset?
Does you current mindset help you achieve your future goals?
Are you ready to invest the time and effort required to achieve your goals?
| RIGHT NOW MINDSET | DELAYED GRATIFICATION MINDSET |
|---|---|
| A large number of mostly unengaged followers | A growing number of engaged and interested followers |
| Offering "follow for follow" | Attracting followers through content and comments |
| Complaining about the lack of response | Persevering despite the lack of response |
| Seeking to be served | Desiring to serve others |
| Generic, repetitive comments | Authentic, caring comments |
| Irrelevant, inappropriate content | Valuable, quality content |
Final Thoughts
I believe that Steemit is and can continue to be something great. I also feel that many members of our community, and especially some of the newer members, do not understand the time, work, and patience it takes to build a viable Steemit blog.
We see the early Steemit adopters, the frontier men and women, the high rolling investors in our community, and we expect to receive the same results without sacrificing like they did.
As individuals and as a community, we can either promote the small, immediate rewards, or we can work together to accomplish more meaningful and enduring rewards.
We have to decide. What do you choose?
I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below!
Learn more about me. Click here to read my reintroduction post!
I write posts about my family and lessons I am learning about life, love, and money.
Check out more of my posts!
Image Source:
1 - https://pixabay.com/en/clock-wall-clock-watch-time-old-1274699/
2 - https://pixabay.com/en/sign-direction-now-afterwards-1865303/
3 - https://pixabay.com/en/hands-together-handshake-give-1947915/
4 - Dream it Steem it Signature created by @sumatranate (that's me!)
5 - SteemDads Badge created by @daddykirbs
Interesting post, for me delayed gratification, for sure. I'm in the front quartile of the GenX generation, so is it a generational thing or a product of our 'fast food' economy? Or both? We do have to figure out a way to temper new users and lean them toward the delayed gratification...and we can't put all new users in the same boat. The people that come to the platform through an aquantence tend to be less after the quick buck and more looking to build relationships... Quite a conundrum we have as we head towards a social economy.
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Great point! Not all users are here for the same reason. I really appreciate the phrase "temper new users."
I love the Steemit community. I enjoy interacting with the community, but I feel that we put a lot of burden on a new user to learn the ropes. Unless a new user runs accidentally finds a positive influencer, he or she might start down a me first path.
We shall see what the future holds. Thanks for the comment @jasonbu!
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I'm a delayed gratification kinda person.
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I thought you might be.
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This behavior has shown to be the most profitable for me over the 57 years I've been alive😁
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I'm into delayed gratification. I really don't need much in my life right now so I'm willing to just wait to see what happens. I hope that crypto will present new opportunities for many people and help jump start the economy a bit.
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@lightsplasher, I see a lot of potential with cryptocurrency too. It will be fun to watch things unfold. We are just seeing the front end of the potential.
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Congratulations! This post has been upvoted from the communal account, @minnowsupport, by sumatranate from the Minnow Support Project. It's a witness project run by aggroed, ausbitbank, teamsteem, theprophet0, and someguy123. The goal is to help Steemit grow by supporting Minnows and creating a social network. Please find us in the Peace, Abundance, and Liberty Network (PALnet) Discord Channel. It's a completely public and open space to all members of the Steemit community who voluntarily choose to be there.
If you like what we're doing please upvote this comment so we can continue to build the community account that's supporting all members.
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Persevering despite the lack of response & Desiring to serve others
I never looked at steemit that way until you mentioned it. Always a good reminder to keep the big picture in mind and making good habits along the way so when you are a whale your actions will be proof as to why.
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@kubbyelizabeth, I am so glad that something from the post impacted you. Thanks for the comment and giving me courage to keep pushing forward!
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Have you heard of the creative writing challenge? I think you would really like it. Your writing is very creative and thought provoking, see what i did there? ;)
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Can you give me more information about the creative writing challenge? It sounds fun!
And I saw what you did! Look forwarding to hearing more.
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Here you go, glad to have you on board :)
https://steemit.com/writing/@steemfluencer/the-creative-writing-challenge-day-1-diary
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I will not be able participate in this round. My brain was too fried. Would not have been able to meet the deadline.
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aww man, feel better and hopefully next time you can join
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Been there. Done that. Trying not to be there and do that again!
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