We live in a society that demands instant gratification. Whether it’s through online shopping, gambling or porn, we all want something yesterday.  A recent study showed that our inability to forgo a smaller reward now for a larger reward in the future may depend on how trustworthy the person perceives the reward-giver to be, but what if the reward giver was in fact you!

“When is comes to success in all facets of life, what we achieve is directly related to what we believe.”

If you believe that you will never be wealthy, that you’ll never be loved or that you’ll never change the world for the better then you won’t, because in this mindset you don’t trust in your own ability. You will always go searching for the quick wins, instead of taking the time out to invest in yourself now to reap the greater rewards later.

When it comes to delaying gratification, the Chinese Bamboo grower is the master. The Chinese Bamboo is well known for the fact that it spends five years in its growth period just developing its roots. The grower then has nothing more than a small shoot in the ground as the only visible aspect of the plant actually being there. Year after year the bamboo grower consistently waters the plant without anything to show for his labor. Only after five years, when the Bamboo has successfully laid down a solid foundation for growth can it shoot up to 25 meters high in a short amount of time.

So what lessons can we take away from the Chinese Bamboo?

A lot of the time when we aren’t seeing results, whether that’s financially, in our careers or relationships we have to remind ourselves that the effort, energy, resources and even our failures are helping to develop our own personal root system and are directly related to the success it feels we’re ready to handle. There’s a reason why most lottery winners return back to being broke.

Only by consistently investing in yourself, your mindset, your character and your habits will you be able to prime yourself for the success that will inevitably follow.

 “You can invest in the leaves of the tree or the roots of the tree, which one is going to pay off more and for longer?” – T Harv Eker

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