Delayed gratification

Happy Monday to you all!

It's great to see things getting back on track. People are enjoying the sunshine and kids and families are getting back to the sports fields. Personally, I led my first soccer practice in a long while this past week. It was fantastic! I was grateful to be able to coach and could tell the kids were grateful to have a little more sporting structure and be around one another in an environment they are passionate about. This week I have a summer camp to run and plenty more fun to be had for all involved. It sure was worth the wait. Speaking of which, today’s blog will focus on DELAYED GRATIFICATION:

Delayed gratification, describes the process that the subject undergoes when the subject resists the temptation of an immediate reward in preference for a later reward.

The opposite of this is INSTANT GRATIFICATION. If you read last weeks blog and Alec’s story, you would have noticed how hard he worked in order to arrive at the point of a success that felt incredible. Years of hard work and persistence allowed him the end product of being a collegiate soccer player, captain and conference champion.

It really is true, good things come to those who wait. I remember being on campus at the University at Buffalo in my sophomore year, after a successful freshman year at West Texas A and M University. My scholarship would not only afford me the opportunity to come out of my undergrad degree debt free but also gifted me smaller rewards along the way such as housing, books and food. Now I never had a car back home in England, nor did I have my first car until 2010 at the age of 25. Regardless, it was my first major purchase of a laptop at UB in my sophomore year that reduced me to tears. I don’t know why, it just happened. It was silly really but I guess it was a proud purchase and a big deal for me. A silly small reward to reassure myself that I was doing ok, not brilliant, for my dream of being a professional and representing my country was dwindling. The years of hard work however had brought me to this point and my emotions recognized that in a proud and positive way. Although this was pretty neat, it was just a small step towards bigger things. I remained humble, trained hard and got my work done in school. A couple years later I had graduated ​with a degree in Sociology and landed a coaching job in Michigan thanks to one of my former coaches and good friend Stu Riddle. I had reached out to Stu in a bit of a panic. My student visa was up and I needed a one year extension on my visa for work experience. Luckily things worked out and I found myself moving to Michigan and coaching youth. 

At the age of 25, my vision and dreams had changed a lot. No longer was I pursuing a contract. Instead, I was soaking up experiences in different places and learning my new, slightly adjusted trade as a coach. Although still hungry to succeed, my newfound goal was to give back to kids through developing them in and out of soccer, have a family, a nice car and a nice house....to be continued...

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Final Thoughts

In closing, it is important to keep focused on what you really want in life. Next week will continue along the same lines and bring to a close this section on delayed gratification. Last week I shortened my running distance and complete one 4 mile run in 30:00 and two 2 mile runs. My two mile is down to 13:18. Still a long way from the days of 11-12 minute two miles but progressing these past 8-10 weeks from a steady 10 minute mile over distance and building myself up over time. The tiny rewards feel good along the way to success. The picture below was from my front flower bed. The roses had been down and out all winter and most of the spring. I saw delayed gratification in this sense too and the final product of this rose flower is truly beautiful! Keep on your steady path and until next week Summit Up! You've got this.

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quote for the week

 “How often is not the prospect of future happiness thus sacrificed to one’s impatient insistence upon an immediate gratification.”

Marcel Proust

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