How long can you delay gratification?
Many of us avoid big projects, large initiatives or take on new opportunities because the payback, either financial, or more commonly, emotional, isn't immediate. This keeps our lives insignificant and our impact small.
Consider something as simple and effective as creating an annual marketing calendar. If your vision doesn't extend beyond this month's rent or today's mail carrier bearing insurance checks, creating (and implementing) an annual marketing calendar may seem a needless luxury.
This aversion to delayed gratification traps us in the urgent, consumed by the hottest fire licking at our heals. It's a common form of the isometric practice--expending massive amounts of energy, but not getting anywhere.
This week (or month), arise a half an hour earlier and work on something big! Something huge. Something whose payoff may be months or years from now. It's a way out of the mediocre status quo.
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