1. Impulse

2. Action

3. Instant gratification 

Let's take a look at why instant gratification may not be the kryptonite of our generation as so many make it out to be.

🍑🧵

Many of us struggle with the cycle of starting a new project, getting a hit of dopamine, and then losing motivation to keep working on it.

It's happened to me, it's happened to my friends, and I am sure it's happened to you.

A common theme among people I talk to is that we suffer from the "generation of instant gratification".

Never before has a society provided us the tools to explore an infinite number of creative endeavors at once.

I argue this isn't a case of instant vs delayed gratification.

I argue this is a case of not knowing when to exhibit self-control and delaying gratification for the long run vs when to let ourselves explore our short-lived, instant creativity to find our passion.

So, where did this concept of instant vs delayed gratification come from? 

In the 1970s Walter Mischel conducted what became a seminal study in developmental psychology.

Mischel offered 4-year-old children the chance to eat ONE marshmallow now...or to wait 15 mins and eat TWO.

A follow-up study found that kids who waited for TWO marshmallows grew up to be teens with greater:

🟠 self-control

🟠 academic & social competence 

🟠 ability to cope with frustration

🟠 ability to resist temptation

From this study flowed a massive body of literature analyzing and praising the foundational value of self-control to life outcomes.

It turns out that the ability to wait for things is a hugely important psychological resource.

In fact, this ability is so important that people who lack the self-control to wait for something they want face significant challenges in life.

Angela Duckworth found that self-control can accurately predict your:

🟠 Income 

🟠 Savings behavior

🟠 Financial security

🟠 Occupational prestige

🟠 Physical and mental health

🟠 Substance use

🟠 & (lack of) criminal convictions

Remarkably, your self-control has the ability to predict your success in life just as much as your intelligence or socioeconomic status

Read that again...

Seems a bit ridiculous right? 

How can something as simple as self-control be able to predict who will get a good job, or who will end up in prison?

It’s this far-reaching impact of self-control that has led psychologists, educators, policy-makers, and parents to emphasize cultivating self-control at a young age.

Given self-control is such a powerful resource it is no wonder we are leery of anything that challenges it.

You can shower yourself with withheld marshmallows and mindfulness training all you want...

As long as everything from chocolate, weed, and the next 100x token is a click away you're not only fighting an uphill battle, you're fighting an uphill battle with someone on your back.

So is it truly the kryptonite of our society that everything is at our fingertips?

I don't think it's obvious that instant gratification is all that bad for us.

There are two key distinctions to make here:

1) Self-control isn’t always good

2) Lack of self-control isn’t always bad

A lack of self-control sounds negative on its surface.

But what if I told you that research has shown individuals with lower self-control are more spontaneous, flexible, expressive of interpersonal warmth, open to experience, and excel in creative occupations. 

My point is this:

What counts is our ability to choose WHEN to exhibit self-control in spite of instant gratification.

We would benefit from developing the skill to choose when to hold back and when to chase that instant gratification.

The default of exhibiting self-control in everything is wrong.

We all have impulses.

Whether it be to invest in a new project that shows promise or dive into Twitter thread writing head first.

Impulses can be good. 

Impulses can lead to some of our most creative moments

Sure, every retweet, like, and follow provides instant gratification, but does that mean someone should stifle their creative impulses for the sake of self-control?

I argue, no.

If society ignored these impulses in lieu of delayed gratification we would still be trying to figure out how to make a wheel.

Yes, self-control correlates with a wide range of positive outcomes, but it may come at the price of spontaneity, and creativity.

The choice is yours!

Thanks, @DazaiCrypto for the motivation to finish up this thread! I've had writer's block on this one for a while!

You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/NaiveNectarine/hxfAUKG

Instant gratification: the kryptonite of our generation?

Would you rather find $20 or not lose $20?

Seems odd right? What if I told you the pain of losing $20 is psychologically twice as powerful as the pleasure of finding $20. This concept is known as Loss Aversion, and it could be holding you back.

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In this thread we’re going to look at 1) what is loss aversion? 2) the psychological factors behind WHY it happens, 3) individual and systemic examples of loss aversion, and 4) how you can avoid loss aversion to improve your investment decisions

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So, what is loss aversion?

Loss aversion is a cognitive bias that describes why the pain of losing is psychologically twice as powerful as the pleasure of gaining. I.e., losing half your investment in $CUM coin feels twice as bad as doubling it feels good.

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Now that we know what loss aversion is, why does it happen? Our neurological makeup, socioeconomic factors, and cultural background all contribute to loss aversion in distinct ways.

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Let's start with our monkey brains. In instances involving loss aversion, two distinct areas, let's call them "light strings", of our brain (see the GIF below if you want to understand why), start lighting up more than your grandma's tree on Christmas eve.

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Light string # 1 is the amygdala. The amygdala is the emotional control center of our brains that deals with fear. When you see a watersnake swimming toward you (sorry for that visual) the amygdala lights up and produces a pre-conscious fight-or-flight anxiety response.

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When we lose money, the same amygdala that just lit up and shit itself at the sight of the watersnake lights up in the same way. This indicates that both fear and loss can trigger the exact same sense of anxiety and fight-or-flight.

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Light string # 2 is the striatum. One of the many things the striatum does is coordinate reward perception. When we lose $20, the striatum lights up twice as bright as when we win $20. Let me repeat that. The same dollar amount but twice the brain activity when we lose it!

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Socio-economic factors also play an essential role in one's disposition to loss aversion. High net worth individuals are generally less loss-averse than low net worth individuals. If you had $100 in the bank, losing $50 will sting a lot more than if you had $1,000,000. 

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Cultural differences between collectivist and individualistic societies also play a role. Individuals from collectivist countries such as China and Brazil are less loss-averse than their counterparts from individualistic countries such as the USA, Canada, and Germany.

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Individuals from collectivist societies are more likely to have stronger and tighter social connections, implying that if they make a bad decision and suffer a loss, they would be supported by their friends, family, and community.

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Individuals from these collectivist countries are therefore able to take chances without experiencing as many setbacks because of this support structure.

Where do we see examples of loss aversion in the real world?

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1 - Insurance

Loss aversion is the bread and butter of the insurance industry. The insurance business model relies entirely on people's need for security and their desire to avoid risk and loss, no matter unlikely that loss would be. 

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What do you see when you scroll through an insurance website?

A massive list of highly unlikely and costly outcomes that individuals may encounter if not insured. These lists prime us to recognize the potentially massive financial losses of being uninsured. 

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By highlighting these potential losses, individuals are more than willing to ignore the comparatively small monthly premium to be insured. Loss-aversion can explain the need to commit to an insurance plan, even if the losses listed are unlikely to occur.

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2 - Pest control

Weird example right? Let me explain.

When Brazil was afflicted with mosquito-borne Zika and dengue fever, the Brazilian gov't engaged a company called @Oxitec to tackle the problem. They came up with a brilliant but risky solution. 

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@Oxitec genetically engineered and bred mutant mosquitoes that would give birth to all-male, non-biting, and self-destructive progeny. This novel approach was extremely risky for Brazil to undertake, one which would have cost the country millions if not successful.

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The program was a massive success. It reduced mosquito larvae by 82% and decreased the prevalence of dengue fever by 91%. If the country’s epidemiologists and politicians had had a higher level of loss aversion, they might have never discovered this revolutionary solution.

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Unfortunately, more risk-averse nations, such as European countries, continue to lag in comparison to regions like South America and China. In the agricultural sector, Europe usually takes a more conservative approach with risk-averse regulations. 

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This loss aversion in decision-making bodies may prevent European countries from trying new emerging technologies for fear of risk and loss. Furthermore, it leads European countries to prefer less effective and less eco-friendly pest control options like insecticides.

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3- Financial risks

What about the investment world?

Using what we've learned about loss aversion so far, it can be assumed that an investor will more heavily weigh potential losses and failures than potential gains. 

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For what it's worth a lot of us DeFi degens may have the opposite problem but that's a thread for another day...

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When making an investment decision, one usually focuses on the risks associated with the investment rather than the potential rewards. A common philosophy among stock traders is that once you sell a stock, you should stop putting energy into tracking it. 

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This is because many people become hyper-focused on investments that lose money, ignoring investments that make money. 

This obsession with avoiding losses becomes apparent when deciding whether to sell a token at a lower price than you bought.

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People may not be willing to make this financial decision even if selling is the best option at the moment. Selling the token means realizing a loss and we hate realizing a loss far more than we enjoy realizing a gain. #HODL

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Now we know what loss aversion is, why it happens, and where it happens in the real world. This leaves the little nugget of a question "how do we avoid it?"

Let me give you two key strategies that have helped me immensely:

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1 - Framing 

The way a decision or choice is framed greatly influences the perception of loss aversion. Instead of saying to yourself "if I sell now I lose 20% of my investment", frame it as "if I don't sell now I will lose 90% of my investment" (extreme example).

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2 - Perspective shift

"What's the worst that could happen?" 

This is the simplest and easiest mental trick to tackle loss aversion. By forcing yourself to think about the worst possible outcome you can better rationalize if it’s worth making a decision or not.

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I wanted to give a huge shout-out to @TheDecision_Lab for their amazing article that inspired this thread. Check it out here: https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/loss-aversion 

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For an overview of cognitive biases in investing check out this dope thread by @thedefiedge. I will be doing in-depth breakdowns of many of these biases in future threads so let me know what ones you would like to see!

https://twitter.com/thedefiedge/status/1490765231248838661?s=20&t=LhWPKWCVLxW07g7l72gtVw

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You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/NaiveNectarine/YKFM6Ut

Would you rather find $20 or not lose $20?

You might be burned out and don’t even know it. Recently, I’ve seen some of my favorite crypto accounts @Route2FI, @thedefiedge, @milesdeutscher, and @FantomFDN mention the importance of mental health in the DeFi world. I wanted to discuss this often overlooked space 🍑🧵

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As someone with an academic interest in this area, I wanted to dive into an often minimized and misrepresented battle that many of us face without realizing. Let’s start with something quite simple; I want you to picture someone who is BURNED OUT. What are you picturing? 

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If you are picturing the balding detective in your favorite crime thriller movie who drinks a little too much booze and pops a bottle of antacids every day, you’re probably bang on. 

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Unfortunately if you’re picturing the person in your office who generally seems happy, works a "normal" 40 hours a week, who’s job on paper seems perfect for them, you might also be right.

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Notice the stark difference in these two portraits? What if I told you these 2 people are equally likely to be suffering from burnout? The reality is that contrary to popular belief burnout is not binary. You aren’t classified as “burned out” or “not burned out”. 

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Burn out propagates over time and if you wait until you need a bottle of antacids every day to combat your stress induced ulcers you are already too late.

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So, if popping antacids every day is too late to catch burn out, how do we catch it earlier?

Let me introduce you to something I call the “burnout triad”. These three things are the defining characteristics of burnout and catching them early is important.

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1) Lack of energy – Some examples to watch for could be cutting workouts short or not starting them at all, not having the energy to cook a meal at the end of the day so you order in, not taking your dog for a walk when you know you should. 

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Notice I’m not talking about being so lethargic you can’t get out of bed in the morning or peeing in bottles to avoid leaving your bed. Don’t fall into the same trap of thinking “lack of energy” is an all or nothing phenomenon. These are signs to catch early.

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2) Lack of empathy – Empathy requires a massive amount of energy. When burnout siphons your energy, you have nothing left in the tank. Put simply you find it harder to care for other people or things. 

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You start developing a nihilistic and cynical view of the world. You may tell yourself that “stuff will get screwed up”, “there will be delays”, etc.

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While these all may be true, the difference is that you will start to think “If stuff is going to go wrong anyway, why I would even need to care in the first place?” This is slippery slope and one you want to actively fight against.

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3) Lack of fulfillment – This is the hardest one for people to grasp. The reason for this is that it is the most nuanced. “On paper my job is great, and I should love it”. So why don’t you? The answer is that fulfillment is not realized on paper. 

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Just because you feel you should be grateful for having a cushy office job where you work 40 hours a week, don’t work on weekends, are paid well, and have good benefits doesn’t mean you will be any more fulfilled in your life. 

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The reason fulfillment is the last member of the triad is because it is the most difficult to generalize to wide audience. What people find fulfillment in varies drastically. 

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Let me give you another portrait. While reading try to think of why Rebeca is feeling unfulfilled and at risk of burn out. Rebeca is a marketing manager who works 40 hours a week and makes $100k per year. 

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She sees that her colleagues only do about 20 hours of “real work” per week but take home the same $100k. Rebeca is putting in twice the amount of effort and getting the same reward, the discrepancy between effort and reward here places Rebeca at high risk of burnout. 

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Does this make Rebeca a greedy person? Of course not. She deserves to be compensated for the effort she puts in relative to her colleagues. She is unfulfilled because she knows she can easily coast on 20 hours of work and still take home the same amount of money. 

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Before anyone gets angry, I know that money does not lead to fulfillment, the point of this example is that feel fulfilled is through the alignment of effort and reward. When these are out of alignment we don't feel fulfilled.

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Burnout is one of the most minimized mental health challenges that people face because they simply think "it isn't that bad". However, the speed at which burnout can lead to a more serious mental health issue is staggering. Please don’t coast on “it isn’t that bad”.

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I want to leave you with this; one of the most important things to know about burnout is that it is not a competition. Just because you aren’t the most burned-out employee in the history of corporate America doesn’t mean you aren’t burned out. 

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Just because you work 40 hours instead of 80 hours a week doesn’t mean you aren’t burned out. Just because your job sounds great on paper and you thin you should be grateful to have it doesn’t mean you aren’t burned out. 

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Know what to watch out for in the “burnout triad” and you can break the spiral before you become the pill popping detective in your mom's next favorite Netflix mini-series.

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