“The journey is long and far
You just look at the North Star
If you want a good body mind and soul
Enjoy the journey, don’t think about the goal!”
In the book called Algorithms to live by; The computer science of Human Decisions by Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths tells about delayed gratification!
Remember how you are doing something or going through tough times and someone tells you, “Don’t feel low, think about the reward!”. This research actually proves the opposite!
The Stanford marshmallow experiment was a study on delayed gratification in 1970 led by psychologist Walter Mischel.
In this study, a child was offered a choice between one small but immediate reward, or two small rewards if they waited for a period of time. During this time, the researcher left the child in a room with a single marshmallow for about 15 minutes and then returned. If they did not eat the marshmallow, the reward was either another marshmallow or pretzel stick, depending on the child’s preference.
In follow-up studies, the researchers found that children who were able to wait longer for the preferred rewards tended to have better life outcomes, as measured by SAT scores, educational attainment, body mass index (BMI), and other life measures.
The children were led into a room, empty of distractions, where a treat of their choice were placed on a table. The researchers let the children know they could eat the treat, but if they waited 15 minutes without giving in to the temptation, they would be rewarded with a second treat!
The surprising thing that the researchers observed is that some children covered their eyes with their hands, rested their heads on their arms, and found other similar techniques for averting their eyes from the reward objects.
Many seemed to try to reduce the frustration of delay of reward by generating their own diversions: they talked to themselves, sang, invented games with their hands and feet, and even tried to fall asleep while waiting – as one successfully did! And it was those children who did not think about the reward who actually got the reward in the end!
The results indicated the exact opposite of what was originally predicted and what is always taught to us! Apparently thinking about the reward actually increases the frustration and actually delays the gratification! The best results are obtained when you do not think about the reward! The results seemed to indicate that not thinking about a reward enhances the ability to delay gratification, rather than focusing attention on the future reward!
Basically it can be concluded that you must concentrate on your journey rather than the goal! As simple as that and when you do reach the goal or get the reward in the end then the feeling will be much more satisfying! As satisfying as listening to the symbol of religious harmony Bismillah Khan play his shehnai!
Now listen to his old notes and get a gratifying sleep!
Shubh ratri!
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