Delayed gratification and marshmellows

I don't care for marshmellows ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ Have you ever heard of the Marshmellow test? I've been thinking a lot about delayed gratification lately and it reminded of this test. Basically, some scientists gave some kids a marshmellow. They said, if you can wait a little while to eat this marshmellow, we'll give you two. If you can't wait, you'll only get this one. Some kids ate the marshmellow right away. Some kids waited until they brought another marshmellow. As crazy as it sounds, this is one of the most important scientific studies every conducted when it comes to success. See, after these kids did or did not eat these marshmellows, they followed them through their life to see how successful they ended up. They came to a conclusion - the #1 indicator of success was a person's ability to delay gratification. Were they willing to delay short term rewards to get bigger long-term rewards? I've been thinking about it a lot in my own life lately because I'm in a interesting position in life. I've had a relatively high level of success for someone my age. To get to this point in my life I've delayed a lot of gratification. I've been willing to spend lots of energy getting good at things that wouldn't pay me for awhile. When I first got into copywriting I hand copied sales letters for an hour per day...even though I wasn't making a dime from it. I read countless books and studied all the best copywriters. Even though I had a "high paying" gig teaching tennis lessons for $70 an hour at age 22, I took a copywriting job paying $20 per hour. Why? Because I knew it would pay significantly more down the road. I knew I was developing a skill that had no income ceiling. As a tennis coach I'd never make more than $100 an hour. And if I wasn't physically on a court, I wasn't gonna get paid. With copywriting I could write something once and get paid for it over and over again. Now I charge $2,000 per hour for consulting. And I generate 6 figures a month from my business. People buy stuff from me while I'm sleeping, while I'm playing soccer, while I'm at the gym, or at the bar. All because I was willing to delay gratification. But now that I've achieved a certain level of success in the business realm, I've found that I'm worse at delaying gratification. I expect success in other areas to happen almost instantly. And that's just not the reality of how the world works. To become truly great at something takes time. I recently started my new comedy YouTube channel and I want it to blow up immediately. But the reality is YouTube takes time. No matter how good your videos are, it's a slow build in the beginning. I can post a video on Instagram that gets millions of views. But on YouTube it's a different beast because the channel is brand new. So I have to remind myself that I have to be obsessed with the process, not the outcome. I need to create consistently without getting discouraged by lower views than I get on other platforms. I need to continue to create for the sake of creating, not for the sake of views. That's where success comes from - patience and delayed gratification. Which is why I'm actively working on removing immediate rewards from my life.That way I can rebuild my Delayed Gratification muscle. I delete instagram a few times a week to rewire my brain from the instant rewards and dopamine of social media. I'm meditating. I'm going on long walks with no podcasts or headphones. I'm putting my phone in a different room while I write. All those little wins add up to rebuild my ability to do things without needing immediate rewards. Sometimes the best thing that can happen to you is that success doesn't happen immediately. It builds your foundations. It teaches you patience. That's why I'm excited about this YouTube journey. I'm not using my existing audience to speed things up. I'm not running ads to try and put kerosene on the fire. I'm just creating good shit and being patient. It's tough, but it feels like exactly what I need right now. Maybe you want things to happen faster than they're happening right now.That's ok. The only thing that can stop you from getting what you want is YOU. Don't get in your own way. Don't give up if you don't get immediate results. Stay the course. That's what I'm thinking about these days. Hopefully it was helpful. Talk soon, Ian "delay it" Stanley P.S. If you want to build a skill that can pay you for life...I recommend learning how to become an email copywriter. My 90 Days to Freedom program will show you how to make $5,000 to $10,000 a month or more doing that. But it's not overnight success. Some people land clients in the first 10 days. Some people take 90 days to start making anything. Some people make nothing because they don't actually do anything. If that intrigues you at all, check it out. [ Click here to check out 90 Days to Freedom]( Sent to: {EMAIL} [Unsubscribe]( Almost Passive Income, 13359 N. Hwy 183, Ste. 550, Austin, TX 78750, United States