now & later 🍬

Welcome back to Sugar Cereal - your favorite breakfast for the brain!

This week’s bite? Impatience, indulgence, and why the now always wins.

Let’s dig in. 🥣

Ah yes, it’s almost time to load up those new year’s resolutions!

If you’ve ever set a goal to save more by cooking at home only to DoorDash burritos that same day…this one’s for you.

Why do we swap long-term goals for short-term treats? A fun human behavior called temporal discounting. Our brains have a preference of smaller rewards now over larger ones later.

We tend to discount the value of things the farther away they are in time.

The main reason? Our caveman brains evolved for immediate survival, not long-term investing, clean eating, or flossing.

In a 1990s study by Leonard Green and colleagues, participants had a choice: wait for a guaranteed $1,000 in the future, or take a smaller reward now. Surprisingly, the longer the delay, the more people opted for the instant cash…even if it meant walking away from the bigger prize.

The further away the reward, the less people wanted to wait. And regardless of age, participants from young kids to older adults preferred the now over the more.

To add another fun layer, the more uncertain or stressed we feel, the worse this effect becomes. That’s why decision fatigue and burnout often leads to retail (and GrubHub) therapy.

Want to outsmart your own brain? Try these tricks to hack the now/later dilemma:

🔒 Lock Up Your Impulses
To make 2026 your goal-crushing year, try policing yourself. Use tools like savings automations, website blockers, or an accountability buddy.

👀 See the Vision
Visualization is super-powerful. Print out a photo of the vacation you’re saving for. Put a sticky note on your credit card with the words “Do I really need this?”

🙏 Trust the Process
If you’re building a habit (writing, running, meal prepping), tie the good feeling to starting instead of finishing. Immediate rewards win in your brain’s book, so give it one.

Temporal discounting might be how our brains are wired, but it’s not a death sentence. With a little understanding and mindset finessing, you can beat the game.

Stick with it long enough to see it through. You’ll feel less impulsive, more aligned, and one step closer to a full piggy bank.

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