One of the results of living reflectively is that one's life-patterns are revealed. That has certainly been the case for me over these last few weeks. I actually think that one of the reasons I have not written for a while is because I have come up against my own life-patterns and have not been happy with what I have found. I will have initial spurts of movement, but I lose momentum quickly. In all honesty, it is embarrassing to be doing a blog about living intentionally, and then see a life-pattern of starts and stops and minimal progress. I have even had moments of thinking of stopping this all together because it is too embarrassing to be saying I am going to do "this" and then, in three days, it is forgotten or sabotaged (by me).
I mentioned in an earlier blog that I felt like the undisciplined child that wants what I want when I want it. Ever since I got that image in my brain, I see it happening over and over again. I have a hard time focusing on a long-term goal when I have a possibility for immediate pleasure or satisfaction. How do I set goals for the next forty years if I can't take those baby steps of growth today?
So, my awareness of my weaknesses - especially my lack of ability to delay gratification - has been at the forefront of my thoughts. So, I was especially tuned in for what I learned this week.
DELAYED GRATIFICATION
Every weekday morning, in my Nuskin business, we have 30 minute calls by leaders in the company. Most of the calls focus on areas of personal growth (one of the qualities that attracted me to this business). Last week, I listened to a call about "delayed gratification". The woman who was talking is a Marriage and Family Therapist, active in the business, and also a participant in the famous Stanford Marshmallow Study. This was a study started in the 70's with 4 and 5 year olds. They were given the option of eating the marshmallow right then, or waiting until the researcher came back in the room in 15 minutes. If they waited, they would get two marshmallows. Here's a video of the experiment (very funny!)
The speaker's point was that if we only focus on satisfying our needs in the moment, we will fail to achieve some of the great things we aspire to. It was a challenge to stay the course and grow with the trials of building a business so that we could have the rewards that would come with a matured organization.
I needed to hear that message. Not only for my business, but for my life. I seriously doubt that I would have made it through the 15-minute wait for the marshmallow. Another bit of information that the woman shared on the call was that the children in that experiment had been followed for over thirty years. What they found was that the children who were able to wait were also very successful in life. The ability to delay immediate gratification had long-term value! Not only that, but the prefrontal cortex of their brain, which helps us set goals and pursue them, was larger in these children. Some of that growth may have been the result of learning how to delay gratification at an early age (I am sure there are genetic components to this, but Nature-Nurture is probably a component of all this.)
AGING AND THE BRAIN
When I read that the the goal-setting part of the brain was larger in these children, it made me wonder if that part of the brain might not work as well as one ages. So, I did a little research and - sure enough - that is one of the parts of the brain that does shrink as one ages. Performance is clearly effected by age. In other words, as we age, our ability to be goal directed and stay on task deteriorates! So, some of my struggles may come with the aging process. That is the bad news.
Now, for the good news! Studies show that exercise slows down that deterioration. Also, diet, good supplementation and a glass of wine a day are helpful in keeping our brains from aging. These are all areas that I have been strategically working on!
I want to write more about that in the next blog. While aging is inevitable, it can be slowed down if we implement change.
So, that's enough for now. I have been putting off getting a snack for the last two hours. I think I will go have it now! :-)
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