GO FOR THE GOLD

GOING FOR THE GOLD

I was on the phone for over an hour with an agent from my pension plan. I needed some paperwork that was delayed because of the coronavirus. The agent was super helpful, and after several tries, she got the packet sent in an attachment that I could download and print. I thought I was finished, but as I read the paperwork, I couldn’t find anything about the extra amount I was promised. I was bothered, but since I was so tired, I wanted to wait until the next day to call back.

Jane could see that I wanted to quit, but she also knew I wouldn’t be able to let it go. I would be worried and irritated and grumpy and probably wouldn’t sleep well, thinking about it, so she urged me to call them back right away. I didn’t want to do it. I wanted to quit, but I knew she was right, so I called, and in a matter of a few minutes, everything worked out great.

Today, I found an interesting article about how and why people want to quit things right before success. The author talks about how culture has changed over the centuries, but our brains haven’t.

“Why we quit (often right at the tipping point of success)” by Jay Parekh

“Success doesn’t suddenly come barreling down on you all at once. Though it does tend to sneak up on you, without you noticing, if you’re putting in the work everyday.

That is exactly the hard part, because our brains tend to overestimate immediate rewards and underestimate rewards in the future.

Why is this?

Current evidence suggests that modern man first evolved at least 200,000 years ago. Our brains have remained unchanged since then.

Imagine the world when man first emerged. In this world dominated by predator and prey dynamics, man’s priority was the present moment. The hunter gatherer lifestyle fared much better when immediate rewards such as shelter, food and sex were given priority.

Fast forward to our modern world, and most of our day to day activities are geared towards long term rewards. Eg. we work at our jobs to get a paycheck at the end of the month, we exercise today so we can look better in the future, we invest today to prepare for retirement.

Scientists believe that this shift towards long term rewards in our world first started with agriculture, some 11500 years ago. However, its only recently in the last 100-200 years where the majority of our behaviors that have a profound effect in our lives (such as school, college, a career) are geared towards rewards which are far off into the future.

Today we live in a world where actions that benefit us long term are more valuable than those that benefit us immediately (in most cases).

However, our outdated brains still view the world as it always has – in the exact opposite way.”

The author goes on to say that because our brains tend to want the instant gratification still, the only way to do something about it is to re-train our brains. That’s what the Bible teaches us too.

When Moses died, Joshua had to lead the people of God. In the very first battle, God taught Joshua about the benefits of pushing all the way through to the end.

God told him how to take down Jericho and get what God intended for him and his people. But the way God told him to take the city was rather grueling. He and his whole army and all the men, women, and children too, had to march around the city for seven days, around and around, not saying a word, and then on the seventh day he had to march around seven times and then blow the trumpets and shout. Don’t you think those people got tired going around and around for seven straight days? Just think of how their feet felt, for one thing. They had to get up at dawn every day too. The children probably were rowdy, and they were instructed not to say anything, so you can imagine what it must have been like for those poor parents. So many aches and pains. And never mind that it seemed like a pretty silly way to capture a whole city, right?

But Joshua led the people in God’s ways, and the people followed. They all pushed themselves to the very end, without quitting.

“And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they rose early about the dawning of the day, and compassed the city after the same manner seven times: only on that day they compassed the city seven times.

“And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, ‘Shout; for the Lord hath given you the city.’

“So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city” (Josh. 6:15-16,20).

When we get to the place where we feel like quitting on something we really want, let’s kick into high gear and make that extra effort to get to the end. God’s rewards are always worth it.

Love, Carolyn