Instant gratification

Instant gratification: the giving up of a future, better outcome for an immediate, lesser outcome.

This I-want-it-now mindset is a part of our very fabric from the day we're born. (How many of us know of a toddler who would give up a bag of chocolate later in the day, only to have a piece of chocolate now?) Unfortunately, this desire for the here and now only manifests itself in different ways as we age. Do we really break from the instant-gratification chains? Our immediate wants are only disguised by perceived rational thinking—thinking that justifies our give-it-to-me-now state of mind. And herein lies the lesson from the iron: the iron not only nudges us toward a future, better outcome, but it forces us to said outcome (teaching us valuable lessons along the way).

We all want it now: we want to be strong; we want to get fast; we want to lose weight; we want, we want, and we want. And we're willing to go to extreme, unhealthy measures to get the short glimpse of a result NOW (we also give up any glimmer of progress that we've made), only to hurt ourselves and hinder long-lasting progress. But the iron is slow. It's methodical. And, it's fair. It won't hand out desires; it only allows one to reap the reward of work that is well done. The iron takes its time to build, to mold, and to forge; not in a week, not in a month, and sometimes not in a year. It's our job to trust the iron and to trust the process. The iron is teaching us to shy our heads from instant gratification, and to instead embrace the methodical journey and reap our true desires that lie at the end of the painstaking road.