Why You Need Instant Gratification, According to Science
Many of us have goals we want to achieve, whether it’s healthy eating, more exercise, more books, or other things we think we should be doing. Usually, when we think about working towards our goals, we imagine making heavy sacrifices along the way—waking up early to go to the gym, spending extra time cooking, and so on. But if your actions don’t have some form of instant gratification, it probably won’t last.
As Wendy Wood , a professor of habit formation at the University of Southern California, told Knowable Magazine last year, “the reward for forming a habit should be immediate.”
Habit formation is facilitated by the neurotransmitter dopamine.
As Wood explains in his book Good Habits, Bad Habits: The Science of Making Positive Changes That Last Forever , the reason we need instant gratification to form a habit is because our behavior is reinforced by the neurotransmitter dopamine , which is part of our brain. reward system. When our brain releases dopamine, it results in an immediate sense of satisfaction that encourages us to repeat the action again.
That quick burst of dopamine is why we’re reaching for that pint of ice cream even as we’re trying to eat healthier, or watching the next episode of our favorite Netflix show, even as we’re trying to get more sleep. When it comes to ice cream or our favorite TV show, the reward is immediate, which encourages us to repeat the action, while the reward from eating healthier or getting more sleep lasts longer. Since these goals do not bring immediate rewards, we struggle to achieve them, even if we are motivated.
To build a habit, build instant gratification into action.
According to Wood, we spend about 43% of the day on activities without thinking about them. Many of these habitual behaviors we are not aware of as such. However, these learned behaviors are necessary for life. As Wood writes:
The reality is that exercising control inherently drains us, leaving us feeling tired, stressed, and overwhelmed. Control also represents the opportunity cost. We can only respond to a few things at once, and by controlling one thing, we are bound to lose sight of others that may be important. Habits, by virtue of their location deep in the rudimentary machinery of our minds, are relatively cheap. They buzz with little to no bandwidth.
If we had to make a conscious decision for every action we take, we would burn out within a week. Instead, we rely on habits to keep us moving forward, which are often triggered by the environment. We wake up in the morning, which kicks off our coffee brewing habit; we get home from work, which starts our habit of cooking dinner. It is enough to repeat these actions, and they will become automatic.
As Wood writes, “A habit occurs when the contextual cues are sufficiently connected to the rewarded response to become automatic, to melt into that hard-working, quiet second self. That’s all. Signal and response.
How to build instant gratification into your goals
Because habits are so automatic, this means they can be difficult to change or create new ones. That’s where instant gratification comes in, and there are several ways to do it.
For example, if the goal is to exercise more, you might find a way to make it fun. I spent a year as a high school teacher with grueling commutes to and from work, and the only way I could exercise was to wake up at 3:30 in the morning to exercise on a stationary bike. The only way I was able to turn it into a habit was that it was the only time I could watch episodes of my favorite shows.
Watching an episode of my favorite show when I hardly had time to do anything for myself was a reward that eased the pain of waking up at a ridiculously early hour. This was enough to turn into an automatic action. Within a few months it got to the point where it became so automatic that half the time I was on a bike and cycling before my brain figured out what I was doing.
There’s no shame in adding a little instant gratification to your goals. In the end, the idea is to reach them, and this is the best way, according to science. So go ahead: find a way to make that goal more satisfying.