In this episode of the Elevation Recovery Podcast in the video above, Matt Finch discusses the concept of Hyperbolic Discounting, the act of discounting future delayed gratifications in favor of short-term gratification.
We all have the tendency to default to this train of thinking. Because of this, Matt provides tips and strategies to delay gratification in order to have a healthier recovery and lifestyle in the long run.
Table of Contents
Hyperbolic Discounting
Get ready to learn why addiction is so hard for most to recover from… Hyperbolic Discounting! An invisible force that blocks advancement from addiction to recovery.
We all have to some degree a default brain wiring of Hyperbolic Discounting, which leads to a strong innate preference for instant gratification.
Instant Gratification
Instant (or immediate) gratification is a term that refers to the temptation, and resulting tendency, to forego a future benefit to obtain a less rewarding but more immediate benefit.
Evolutionary Advantage
Hunters and gatherers were focused on daily survival.
There was no option to eat the pig today or put it in a Pig 401K and in 40 years receive 100 pigs.
Dopamine Nation
Modern society provides easy, inexpensive, and fast access to instant gratification in many forms, such as the internet, TV, junk food, sweets, alcohol, drugs, pornography, social media, and much more.
FOMO
Habitual checking of phone or other devices for news updates, new videos, new social media posts, etc. due to a strongly programmed Fear of Missing Out (FOMO).
Psychologist Shahram Heshmat’s 10 Reasons Why Instant Gratification Is Hard to Sidestep:
-
A desire to avoid delay
-
Uncertainty
-
Age
-
Imagination
-
Cognitive capacity
-
Poverty
-
Impulsiveness
-
Emotion regulation
-
Mood
-
Anticipation
3 Examples of Instant Gratification:
-
Urge to indulge in a brownie and milk instead of a healthy snack
-
Desire to hit snooze on the alarm clock instead of getting up early
-
The temptation to drink wine at home in the evening rather than go for a nature walk with a friend
3 Ways to Get Better at Resisting:
-
Empathize with your future self
-
Precommitment
-
Break big goals down into small chunks
Don’t Feel Bad if You Give in a Lot!
Technology and social media have made it much more difficult to delay gratification than ever before!
The antidote… Delayed Gratification.
The ability to have whatever we want in an instant WEAKENS our self-regulation muscles.
Goal achievement requires self-awareness and the ability to delay gratification in favor of more desirable rewards at a later time.
While self-regulation may not be at the top of most of our lists of strengths, it is within all of us. It can grow, like all other strengths.
5 Delayed Gratification Worksheets:
-
Avoidance Plan Worksheet
-
Reward Replacement Worksheet
-
Self-Directed Speech Worksheet
-
If-Then Worksheet
If you have any comments or questions, please post them below. And take good care of yourself.
Hi Matt,
As I stated in the email title it’s 2024 and your opiate addiction research & support page along with God’s incredible mercy allowed me to break free from a 7 year pain pill dependency. I still find myself for lack of a better phrase ” gob smacked ” that I was so blind, so ignorant to let myself fall into the evil opioid way of NOT living.
First of all, I guess on the outside looking in, a now 55 year old, Sunday School teaching, Church pianist, Mom to 2 biological children raising 3 additional children of my Sister’s, would look like a pill user. (please pardon my Grammer & sentence structure in advance there’s just so much I have running through my head) So not on the ” exterior ” was I your typical representation of someone in a growing diabolical crisis. But on the ” inside ” the mechanics of my dependency was nearly copy & paste to your story and so many others that have fought to walk away.
In June & Nov 2017 I had 2 rotator cuff surgeries ( due to being rear ended in April 2017) to which at that time for post surgical protocol & pain management all I had to do was call an RX. Line every 2 weeks to get another 40 percocets called in. So so wrong that Drs. allowed (at that time) such unrestricted access to such evil brain damaging medication.
The stage was set… I like you found that the poison made me super energetic, more engaged , just more ” on top of it all “. Soon that every 2 weeks 40 supply couldn’t keep up, and I had a house keeper that told me if I ever ” needed anything or ran low ” she could get me extra. That’s when the whole demonic last 7 years took off in a never imagined even conceivable run of ruin. I work as a high end antiques dealer so the money could keep up, at that time and for years even. In 2020 when the pandemic hit…and everything got stupid with getting into Drs. Etc. I heard of Kratom. And from Feb-Aug of 2020 was into using Kratom. I was so stupid and ignorant… only reading that Kratom acted very similar to opiods..similar effects…similar relief. In August of 2020 I just thought I am kinda done with this stuff…had no freaking clue when the horrors of Kratom withdrawal set in that it was indeed the Kratom. I seriously thought I was having a panic and anxiety ridden nervous breakdown. It took 5-7 days for it to dawn on me- holy jeepers stopping Kratom caused this horrific ordeal. Took about another week to get through that and I stupidly told myself ” my God I will just to back to RX pain meds ” they have never put me in a place like this ” Looking back now… I see oh yes…oh yes indeed the RX poison did put me there I just had not realized it. I sware on my life and all that it dear to me, I totally was blind and ignorant to what this toxic evil poison does to your brain. I completely 100% understood believed at the time ” it’s RXd medication it is safe it is okay Drs are prescribing it to people..you just dont have the time to hassle with all the Dr appts./pain clinic hoops Etc
” it’s the way you are getting it (buying it from this housekeeper) that is all wrong. But it’s amazing the lies we allow ourselves to believe when we are controlled by a toxic brain poison.
In April of 2023 we had a Missionary come to Church and speak of a near death experience he had as a 19 year old. He was in a motor bike accident on heroin that left him with a disabled walk…but laying there at the time of the accident he promised God that if someone found him and got him help ( his localle of the accident was very remote) He would get clean. This story just hit me…and I thought ok I am going to stop taking/buying pills. It’s not right YOUR NOT RIGHT- there is so much in the news about laced pills- people dying from fentanol etc. So I set out without doing any research. So I thought ok I will see what delta gummies can do…because by this point…. whenever I would not take the poison pills…anxiety and like fear would like overwhelm me. So that substitution was an epic fail could never get the dosing right..and I hated them. Back to the enslavement I went. Now at this point spending roughly $2000-$2500 a month for RX my ” friend house keeper” could get. I would admonish her ” Now listen a ton of people dependend on me ” ” you have to be sure these pills you are getting are safe ” She put one of her suppliers on speaker and she assured ” I am not that girl, I test all my pills ” well 2 months later she was dead. That’s when everything started to get even more sickening or I was starting to wake up. I ordered fentanol test strips off ebay. I just was like still not even able to see myself for what was happening…. my god Faye you are buying test strips….this was Nov of this past year…Holidays approaching, big family to tend to and have a great Holiday for..big busy time at antique shop so I knew I could not take the time to get free. Well late February of 2024 the anxiety and panic was starting to creep up like with Kratom. I thought this can’t be right my Rxs pills never cause this..but by this time I think my brain hit full tolerance I suspect even though I never kept track I was at a 100-120 mg a day of vic 10s or perc 10s whatever she could get me. It was falling apart fast…. so it this is where Mercy Of God and your site saved me. I had started researching about doing a rapid detox. But was not sure…then I you tubed a taper program and in finding that taper schedule found your Opiate Addiction Support page. I bought enough to make it for 4 weeks. I guess I kinda went fast with my taper cutting from my 100 mg to 60 mg in a 7 day period. Oh my gosh those endless sleepless nights… legs aching and so wresteless…. I found out about your Vit. C megadosing, ordered all the supplements from Amazon even ordered Heantos 4 and was able to go from 60 mg to 2.5 mg in aprx 3 weeks. Tapering 10% -20% every 3 days I think. I will say your interview with Garrett Gray was a pivotal point in my detox. I listened to that interview over & over. Started going to the gym at 2 am for the first time ever in my life. It was a game changer. I memorized his ” This is a New Day ” I can use it for good ….
I realized then these horrific withdrawals were due to brain damage I had inflicted on MYSELF because I let my soul/spirit get weak over the last 7 years. Took the quick way to feel energized & engaged. My brain then took over my soul & physical body. Somewhere someone said ” you must treat your brain like a dog ” or maybe that was something I came up with during those manic sleepless nights. The soul/spirit must be attended to first…then your brain will be subject to the soul/spirit then your body to the brain. When I was in active Dependency/Addiction my brain was controlling… and it was out of control because of the poison I was feeding it.
All of these points I now realize you so clearly define within the pages of your site. ” quick fixes instant gratification ” ” supplements work ” exercise is theeeeee best anti depressant ” ( why drs. not recommend a gym membership over a pill is profoundly beyond me or was at the time it began to make a difference fir me ) and it is sickening to me that our way of treating a short term opiod with a longer acting one to leave the sickening poisoning with the same power but label it as ” treatment ” you and iI both know it’s big pharma big money dare i say big government. Sick freaking scam.
I will close my story out…. I have been too long winded and I wanted to be brief…lol..didnt happen.
One thing I used to get to my mental persperspective to fall in line about pill taking… is I made myself HATE IT…. DESPISE IT. I made it as EVIL to me as child abuse elder abuse or the likes of dog figfighting. I had to mentally be revolted by it.
Still dealing with lots of guilt, shame and some like waves of PAWS. But DLPA to the rescue. I have to take about 1000-1500 mgs a day but hope to be reducing that. Do you have guidance on how long to stay on DLPA or what a taper would look like when the time is right.
*God*& your well researched site *God* the suppsupplements *God* the Gym membership *God* and my amazing family saved me from ME. I should note, this pill taking was not hid from my family ( immediate) because I was convincing them that it was not like I was getting high- never snorted nor shot up. It was an rx drug and I was in control. What a big big fat lie. That’s what I refer to it as ” THE BIG LIE ”
So just let me stop here….and THANK YOU WITH ALL MY SOUL, MIND & BODY for your tools that helped me to find my way out. I am so painfully aware many the more than not never get out. Die in it.
My best to you forever Matt Finch🌞
I apologize for being so long winded.
Just think still after all these years you are still helping save lives🌞
Faye
THANK YOU MATT!
WONDERFUL KNOWLEDGE TO COMBAT THE OPIATES
MISSING 3 LOWER BACK DISCS IN LOWER BACK AND 2 IN THE NECK AFTER A DRUNK DRIVER RAN INTO ME HEAD ON IN ’97.
LEARNED A LOT OF “TRICKS” OVER THE YEARS TO COMBAT THE PAIN ONE BEING OXIDATIVE MEDICINE. USE OZONE THERAPY( SOAK IN THE TUB WHILE OZONE IS BUBBLE THRU A TUBE WITH A POROUS STONE ATTACHED. ALSO USE IT IN A UTILITY NYLON BAG. JUST OZONE AT NIGHT WHILE SLEEPING. HAVE USED IT TO DETOX HYDROCODONE( VICOPROPHEN) FOR 25 YEARS! ALSO USE STABILIZED O2. AND 35% H202 AT TIMES.
I WANT TO THANK YOU FOR YOUR EXTRAORDINARY DEVOTION TO THE BETTERMENT OF HUMANITY.
ALL THE BEST,
BOB CARLISLE