Here is a great article on delayed gratification. It describes a longitudinal study that eventually became known as The Marshmallow Experiment. The study itself is pretty fun and even funny. Children are put into a room and told not to eat a marshmallow put in front of them. They are told if they resist, they will be given a second marshmallow. The amount of time they resist is measured and recorded. But the really interesting part is the follow-up studies that showed the students that were able to delay gratification longest were much more successful (at least in some aspects of their lives) later on in life.
I have been confronted with an opportunity to exercise the quality of delayed gratification in my own life. I do not imagine the kids in that experiment thought too much about the why of their situation, but I have found I often let that get in my way when it comes to my work life. I think it must be pride more than anything else that causes the problem. When I am given a task, it is really nice to know where that task fits into the bigger picture and who the results of my work will be used. When I do not know those things, it is harder to put my head down and work.
The problem with that is I am frequently ill served by not just putting my head down and doing what I have been given to do even though I have no view to the end goal. It is like all the laborers in Matthew 20 who all got paid a penny even though each worked a different amount of time. The hard part for me is that it is absolutely not necessary for me to know. This is not my problem and I should not make it the problem of the people for whom I work. My employer should not suffer in any way from diminished output on my part just because I think I need to know certain things or be valued in a different way. There should be no complaints, but, more than that, there should be no consideration or attitude of complaint. I signed up for the penny and should do the work, have a great attitude and leave it at that.
Incidentally, this has nothing to do with my day job.
Betty Blonde #335 – 10/28/2009
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