Hi All,
Hope you're having a great week. For some of you it may not be because the kids are home driving you crazy. But don't fret, they'll be back in school soon enough. lol In any event, let's get into this week's random thought.
Delayed Gratification
So this past week marked a very special date. No I'm not referring to Good Friday or Easter. They pale in comparison to the event I'm referring to. The day I have in mind is the launch of Apple's new gadget the iPad. For those of you that can't read sarcasm or humor, obviously Easter and Good Friday are far more important. Lol
Now with that said, you may not know the following about me. I'm a huge gadget guy! To put this in perspective, let me run down some of gadgets for you. I have two iMacs, 1 MacBook, 1 MacBook air, two iPhones, 1 flip video camera, 2 HD tivos, and two sling boxes. Yes I know I have a problem. But fortunately I have a successful affiliate marketing career to support my habit. Furthermore I have supportive family members and friends that will happily accept my old gadget donations which are often provided since gadgets are constantly updated. lol So now you understand how important gadgets are to me especially Apple stuff (for better or worst). With that in mind, imagine how hard it was for me to resist the temptation to head over to my local Apple store and purchase the ipad. Keep in mind the store is literally 10 minutes away . The reason I fought this tremendous urge wasn't because I'm smart and plan to wait for the version 2 of the ipad. Yes that would make sense because any gadget lover will tell you version 2 is always better because they worked out all the kinks. But I'm actually just waiting for the 3G Version so I can finally have internet access anywhere I go and not be confined to places that have wifi access. So for me it's worth waiting for the other version of the iPad even though it's very tempting to just buy the wifi version.
So what the hell does this have to do with anything useful or inspirational? Well sometimes in life you'll have to wait to get what you want. My 3G iPad is just a superficial example. A better example may be the fact that I spent over a decade to get where I am now where I can now work at home and chat about nonsense like an iPad and still get paid for it. Many of you are on this website because you have dreams and working at home is the means to get you there. We all have our reasons. It may be that you want to be able to raise your kids. It may be that you've been laid off. It may be that you're just sick of making someone else rich. Whatever the reasons may be, how dedicated are you to make them happen? Are you willing to wait to see your dreams come to pass? Or will you be quick to give up because of obstacles you have or will face?
The ability to wait in order to obtain something that one wants is known as delayed gratification. You may not neccessarily have heard the term before but chances are you understand the concept fairly well. Think back to your childhood. Do any of the following phrases sound familiar? If you behave in the supermarket, when we get home I'll bake you some cookies. If you get good grades the next quarter, I'll buy you that game. Or my personal favorite, wait until we get home, I'm telling your Dad! Okay so the last one may be more an example of delayed punishment. lol Either way, you get the picture. Sadly as we get older we lose the important skill of delayed gratification. We live in a society of instant gratification. When you get a little hungry you may run to your local fast food place and get a burger. You want to find out what's going on around the world, you just hop online and check the your favorite news site. The art of waiting is like some type of endangered species. You hear about it but rarely see it anymore.
I strongly believe this is why so many of us fail at our goals especially when it comes to pursuing work at home jobs or building a work at home business such as affiliate marketing. Everyone is looking for a quick fix. Sometimes it's justified because if you have bills to pay, the collectors don't really practice delayed gratification. So in those cases I understand the urgency. But I've noticed a lot of folks who aren't in that situation just aren't willing to stick it out to achieve their goals. At the sign of any obstacles or failures, they're quick to give up. Worst still, they sometimes blame others for their failures. This is one of the reasons I'm always very skeptical when someone claims that a given work at home opportunity is a scam. A lot of times the reports are accurate. But there have been plenty instances where it's just that folks weren't able to make an opportunity work for them. So now they're bitter and looking to blame everyone else but themselves.
It's these type of actions that keep us from our dreams. I always discuss how mindset and taking action are the key to success. But I think I should add delayed gratification to that mix. Because many people who have become successful in life have been able to do so because they stuck it out through thick and thin. They were able to see the light at the end of the tunnel when everyone else just saw darkness.
You may be in that dark tunnel right now and ready to give up. But I'm here to tell you DON'T! Don't give up on yourself or dreams. I've been in this industry since the early 90s and consider myself a serial failure. But the difference between me and most people is that I never gave up. Sure I made adjustments. But I always knew that eventually I would succeed and I was willing to wait for that success even in the face of criticism and doubt. Here's another example of this. A farmer will plant a seed in dirt that may look barren to everyone else. They'll tend this dirt by fertilizing and watering it. For a while the dirt seems unchanged. But the farmer isn't phased by this. The farmer knows that in time that dirt will give rise to a bountiful crop.
Sure enough in a few weeks time, that dirt has produced plants that bear food! But imagine if the farmer lacked delayed gratification? A lot of us would be real hungry right now if they lacked this skill! Let it marinate and give some strong thought to where you may be starving in areas of your life right now because you lack delayed gratification. Recognize where you have gone wrong and make a change.
In any event, hope this was useful. If not, I'll make up for it with the leads I've listed below. lol
Monday 4/05/2010
– Customer Service Representative
– Player Service Representative
Tuesday 4/06/2010
– Writer
– Writer
Wednesday 4/07/2010
– Customer Support Representative
– Editor
– Online Marketing Specialist and Content Writer
Thursday 04/08/2010
– Blogger
– Customer/Technical Support Specialist
Recommended Instant Work At Home Opportunities
Work At Home With Amazon.com (Data Entry, Typing, etc)
More Job Leads
HomeJobStop.com (Membership based site)
Hey Eddy!
I work daily with MTurk thanks to your site, so I felt like I should share this.
Currently, there is a translation job on MTurk that has been available for several days. There doesn’t seem to be anyone working on the HITs, most likely because there are so few qualified people on the site. The job is to translate a few Korean phrases into English. It pays 1.00 per every few phrases, and there are over 1,000 HITs. Very good pay for the amount of work. So, for someone that is bilingual, this HIT would pay out a LOT quite quickly. Hope this can help someone!
Cayla
Hi Cayla,
Thanks for sharing the lead on Mturk. I’m glad you’ve had success with it and you’re giving back. Thanks again.
Hey eddy,
Good post as always. I feel I’ve been using the method of delayed gratification for the past four years or so. All I have is my old Gateway I bought in 02, a 1980’s tv, and $40 printer (which works very well for it’s intended use). But more importantly I’m thankful I have a place to live. Afterall there are people living in tent cities right now. Many of them have more skills than you would think too and don’t really belong there. I totally get what your saying though. This sort of thinking requires great patience. The best part about it is that when you FINALLY get what you want through hard work and perseverance, it’s so much better than if it would have just been handed to you on the spot. Hey if you need to donate any of your gadgets I’d be happy to oblige lol Seriously, thanks for your thoughts.
Excellent article about delayed gratification! Just what I needed today. So many work at home/have your own website, etc. sites promise instant wealth. Some even say you won’t be instantly rich, might need a week’s worth study before you can put their program into effect and then…Bingo! Riches will knock at your door! Baloney! I’ve been working for months trying to make my own website, break into affiliate marketing.
First the website…”okay, you now have made your site but you need a name. Go to xxxx.com to register you site name. Site’s not working? You need to upload your files.” What files? How?
I’ve had to learn, am still learning, a whole new language, the language of computerese to know what to do next. I’m in the process of setting up my first e-store and it is frustrating. Thanks to a couple of friends I’ve made at Wealthy Affiliate who have answered questions and helped me with downloads, I’m on my way. Slowly but surely. If I had quit my little job at Walmart so I could enjoy this “instant wealth” a few months ago, I would be standing in the bread line and walking everywhere!
Thanks for letting me vent and once again, good post today on delayed gratification.
Gina
Great word eddy!! Very inspirational and so true. I believe that to be the problem as well. Now a days people give up too quickly on their dreams and then just stop believing all together. Working from home is definitely a dream that can come true. I look at you and you are my hope that yes i can do this. If eddy did it, why can’t I?
And great job restraining yourself from going to the apple store!! It makes more sense to get the better version! I’m sure it wasn’t easy for you to take that 10 minute drive but you got through it! Good job!! =)
Thanks Dee!
I think you hit it on the head about people just stop believing all together. This is just a catalyst to inaction. So you’re absolutely right!
By the way, I went to my local apple store this week and was playing with the iPad in the store. I had to get the hell up out of there. I was so close
to leaving with one. lol
Amen Gina!
You definitely understand what I was getting at. Thank goodness you had enough sense and delayed gratification to know not to just quit your job based on ridiculous promises.
I’m very happy to hear you’re working hard and are being patient. Because ultimately this will lead to your success. I’m also especially proud that you’re taking advantage of the buddy
system at WA and actually taking advantage of the other like minded folks there. You’re on the right path with the proper mind set and that can only lead to good things. So thanks for sharing with us!
C.S.
LMAO. Good one. You’ll have to wait online behind my family for the gadget donations. Last time it caused a bit of a fight because certain family members were upset because they claimed some family members were getting double donations while they never received one. lol But seriously you’re absolutely right though. You have a lot to be thankful for in terms of having a roof over your head. I think too often we take a lot of that stuff for granted. So it’s good you do appreciate it. It’s amazing how so much of happiness really all boils down to mindset things such as appreciation, patience, etc. Thanks for chiming in as always.