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Have you ever asked yourself the question, “why do I do something that I know is bad for me?” Or if we turn it around, “why don’t I do something that I know is good for me?” I believe that it is because the immediate responses to those actions reward the bad behavior, and punish the good behavior.

Take my wife’s baking for example. She can bake like the best of them and her peanut butter cookies with mini Reese’s cups in them taste amazing! I can never have just one and it is making my mouth water right now just thinking about them. What is the immediate reward if I eat them? Sweet, soft, chewy sensation that brings instant euphoria.

And just as fast as that euphoria comes, it goes away and now I am left with a craving for more when I didn’t really need one in the first place. But if I know this cycle will happen, why is my mouth currently watering just thinking about it? Why has my body trained itself to crave these delightful, sugary sweets?

That is because habits and the human body are trained on immediate response feedback loops. My body knows that whatever action I just did produced that positive result. Therefore, it says to itself, “if I do that again, I will get another positive result.”

There is one major problem with this phenomenon. Most, if not all, actions that produce euphoric responses are bad for you in the long run. And the opposite is true most of the time as well. Most, if not all, actions that produce less than fun responses, are good for you in the long run.

Changing Rewards

I have tried and failed many times to create habits that I know are good for me in the long run. For a while, I couldn’t understand why I didn’t stick with those actions long enough for them to become habits.

Then I realized that my reward structure for those habits was not encouraging them but discouraging them. I tried to wake up before work to exercise. I’d snooze one too many times and then try to squeeze a workout in. Not only did I have a poor workout session, but I was always late for work too.

Instead of exercising before work, I now do it right after work, but the act of exercising wasn’t fun or rewarding for me right away. So, I had to figure out a way to reward myself immediately afterward to train my body to equate exercise with something good. Now right after I finish my exercise session, I pour myself a protein shake and eat some dried fruit.

You might be thinking, “How is that a reward?” but to my body it is. There is more sugar in craisins (dried cranberries) than there is in mini Reese’s cups.

Ocean Spray Craisins: 29grams of sugar per serving size of 40grams = 0.725 grams of sugar per serving size grams

Reese’s Miniature Cups: 14grams of sugar per serving size of 26grams = 0.538 grams of sugar per serving size grams

That means if I have a proportional amount of craisins as mini Reese’s, I would actually be having more sugar (natural vs artificial). I also know that I will be having 10x the fiber and 0g of fat in my handful of craisins too.

My body already knows that sugar is good (my wife’s cookies took care of that 😊). Now it knows that exercise is a good action because every post-workout my body gets that (healthy) sugar rush.

Delaying Rewards

Some of the most beneficial things in life usually take a long time to come to fruition. A classic example is saving money for the future. Everyone knows that the earlier you start saving the more money you will have later in life. The following chart is a great example of that:

John starts saving at 22 and stops right before his 31^st birthday. Jane starts on her 30^th birthday and stops right before her 51^st birthday. Even though Jane put in $21,600 more than John she ended up with $14,006 less on her 51^st birthday. That’s a $35,606 difference!

Most people generally understand this concept and can see how saving early is so impactful. But what if we thought about all those early years that John saved his compensation bonus, delaying his reward until later in life, we see how much of a bigger reward it can be.

Jane used her bonus early in life, had fun, and enjoyed herself. Then when she realized she needed to start saving, she did what her friend John did. She couldn’t catch up to him by saving the same amount even though he stopped saving at age 31.

Jane’s immediate response to spending her cash bonus on herself was a nice reward of enjoyment and satisfaction. John’s immediate response to saving his cash was… nothing. He didn’t get hurt or sad or depressed. He just continued to live like he always had thinking that he never had that money in the first place.

Then, once he knew his nest egg was big enough, he could go and spend that cash bonus on himself, for the rest of his life! That is delaying rewards for the good of your future self.

While John was saving all those early years, he probably rewarded himself in a different way. Maybe John patted himself on the back and said “these smart decisions will pay off in the future.”

I bet he rewarded himself with a peanut butter Reese’s cup cookie. 😊