Can Delayed Gratification Really Be a Financial Superpower?

You see it, you want it, and your brain just shells now.

But what if resisting that urge?

Is the superpower that unlocks your financial freedom.

I want you to stick with me 'cause I'm gonna show you how

to use it on today's show.

Hey there.

Welcome back to your Daily, financially Confident Christian.

I'm Ralph and it's great to be with you again today.

I really appreciate you giving me just a little bit of your time every day.

We continue our question answering that big question, how can I become

a financially confident Christian?

And we're continuing in our series beyond the Budget, literally

looking to find financial freedom through intentional living.

And if you've been keeping up with the show yesterday, we

define what is your enough.

If you miss it, I'm gonna encourage you to go check it out 'cause we're,

today we're gonna take it a step further and today we're gonna talk

about can delayed gratification.

Really become a financial superpower.

Yes.

I'm gonna teach you a superpower that you didn't even know that you had.

And I can already hear you grumbling right now.

As you're listening, you're thinking, delays, Ralph, come on.

I don't need another delay.

But here's the thing, you gotta understand.

You've got goals.

You've created goals, you have savings goals, you've got a

goal maybe to pay off debt.

You've got financial goals you're trying to hit.

Then all along comes that surge and that sale, that new release, that social event,

and you say to yourself, I want it now.

I need it now.

I gotta have it now.

The problem with that impulse, it derails budgets, it wrecks them

because it takes away that planning.

A lot of times it adds debt because guess what?

You weren't budging for it.

You weren't planning for it.

So how you gonna pay for it?

Well, I'm gonna put that credit card down, Ralph, and unfortunately, in the end, it

truly does steal your progress because you've broken away from those goals.

Now listen, I'm not gonna tell you that instant gratification doesn't feel good.

It sure does.

Been there, done that.

I talked about that with the watch.

There's a lot of things that.

I've talked about on the show that, or that instant gratification,

that quick dopamine hit.

But if you really think about it, it feels good.

Yes, but it feels good briefly.

But after that feel good goes away.

You're just left with this long-term frustration.

You're right back in that cycle that you've been working so hard

to break free from, and it becomes just a major financial roadblock.

As I said, it's like that story I shared the other day about that luxury watch.

I wanted that instant gratification.

I wanted to be seen with that watch, but where did it leave me?

See, here's the thing.

You gotta understand something about our culture.

We live in a culture that says Buy now, pay later.

It's all around us from car lots.

Buy here, pay here.

You know, anytime you go shopping for a major appliance, hey, you don't

have to pay for that for a year.

Zero interest, put it on your credit card.

We take all kinds of payments.

That's the culture that we live in, and we've gotta be hypersensitive to that.

We've gotta develop this superpower that I'm talking about today.

God's word calls us in a completely different direction.

God calls us to self-control and God calls us to diligence.

Just look at the word.

Look at the book of Proverbs, chapter 21.

Verse 20 says this, I use this on the show all the time because it's so

appropriate for intentional living.

It says this and the house of the wise are stores, but the foolish, the vows all he

gets, what's the word telling us there?

the house of the wise, those people who are smart, they're storing up,

they're making provision for the future.

But the foolish, and I don't like calling anybody a fool, but what does

it say here in the, in the scripture, but the foolish devours all he gets.

So that speaks directly to that.

Im pulsation that that desire to go get more and more that buy now, pay later.

Take it one step further.

Let's move on to Proverbs chapter 13, verse four.

It says this, the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.

Think about that.

Would you like to have your desires fully satisfied?

Well, what does the scripture tell us?

We need to be diligent.

See the thing this superpower, this idea of delayed gratification.

It really builds three main things.

It builds discipline.

It makes you have discipline.

You think about where your money's going, you're making intentional decisions.

It builds wealth because you're looking at what you're storing, like the, like

the scripture talked about the why store.

And in the end, with that discipline and that wealth, it's building peace.

And isn't that what we're all searching for?

Because it's faith in action.

It's trusting God's timing over those impulses.

So now you're probably thinking, oh, great, Ralph, I agree with you.

How do I harness this superpower?

What can I do?

How do we make this superpower work for me?

Well, I've got the solution, and it's really kind of simple.

I'm just gonna encourage you to create what I call a deliberate pause

between the want and the purchase.

Redirect that urge, those urges.

I'm gonna tell you about how to do it here in a second.

I'm gonna share some examples with you, but redirect that urge towards

those long-term goals that you work so hard to set up and maybe you're

working so hard to get to every day.

It's gonna be a four step process.

I'm gonna tell you the steps and we'll talk about some examples.

Step one is to identify one want.

These aren't needs.

I'm not talking about things that you need.

I need food, clothing, and shelter.

These are wants, I want you to identify just one need, or excuse me, one want.

Then delay it.

I want you to delay it by step two.

Setting a waiting period, whether it's two days, you know, 24 hours,

36 hours, 48 hours, whatever that is, you set that waiting period.

We talked a little bit about that yesterday, but then the next

step is really the crucial part.

And that's when you, when you're feeling that urge, when you're fighting

that urge, the way you battle that your superpower, that cape that

you put around you like Superman.

You visualize that bigger goal that you're working towards, what does

that goal look like for you to have peace, to have savings, to put away

for retirement, have that emergency fund set aside for that vacation.

And the problem is those impulse sps are just getting in the way of that.

And so once you've done those three things, you've identified that one want,

you wanna delay, you set the waiting period, you visualize the bigger goal.

You just turn it around, your superpower redirects that urge to something else.

Lemme give you an example.

So let's say for example, you saw this $75 designer hoodie online,

heavy influencer's wearing it and you don't really need it, but, oh, I, I

gotta have this, I really want it.

So again, we've already determined it's not a need, it's a want determined.

One thing, I want you to write it down, designer hoodie, $75.

Real simple.

I, I have this, I have this stronger draft.

I have a desire to go get this thing.

And I'm gonna encourage you.

Now, put a waiting time of seven days on that.

You can live without it for seven days.

So say, Hey look, I'm gonna put this on my calendar, designer

hoodie, $75 and I'm gonna put it seven days out on my calendar.

I know you might think I'm being silly, but just trust me on

this waiting time, seven days.

And then for the l little bit, you're gonna be fighting that urge.

You're like, oh, you know, do I really need to wait?

I've got the money.

You know, I, I could take money from here to do this.

But then you're visualizing that bigger goal.

And that bigger goal for you is building that three month emergency fund so you

can stop living paycheck to paycheck.

You, just a minute ago, you were thinking about how you gonna pay your bills next

week because the paycheck's kind of tight.

So visualize, take the moment and and visualize that full savings

account and no more financial anxiety.

And then the last part, that redirection, take that $75 that you wrote down.

Hey, that you were gonna spend on that designer hoodie.

Put it right into that emergency fund, and then I want you to just celebrate.

Celebrate skipping that hoodie as a step towards security.

Here's another great example.

A lot of us fall into this trap.

Maybe you're thinking, Ralph, I'm tempted to order takeout dinner for 38

bucks, even though I have food at home.

Say how many people can relate with that?

So again, write it down.

Friday night takeout 38 bucks.

Now in this case, I don't think waiting seven days, let's just

say I'm gonna wait 24 hours.

'cause we can always do takeout on Saturday night, revisit it tomorrow,

I'm gonna put it away till tomorrow.

And then you start to think, okay, what was my bigger goal?

Well, I'm trying to stick to my grocery budget and I'm trying to

save $200 a month by eating at home.

Well if, if I'm taking $38 and ordering out, guess what?

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out.

It's gonna cost you a lot less to go to the grocery store and get that stuff.

So you visualize those grocery seats under that budget, less stress

by months end, and then you just redirect that urge 'cause you're

still feeling that you redirect that urge and you make a fun meal from the

pantry ingredients you already have.

And then take that 38 bucks and put it in a savings jar for a planned

treat later on, maybe a date with your wife or something like that.

I got one more example I want to share because this one really hit home

close to home to me and that's why I wanted to put it in today's show.

A lot of people are sucked into this, this, this, this technological thing.

So here's, here's, here's Ralph talking.

I'm speaking for myself.

I wanna upgrade my phone, even though mine works fine.

That new one costs $999.

Now listen, if you're doing the iPhone, it's a little bit

more than that these days.

But anyway, write it down.

Smartphone upgrade $999.

Now this one, I'm gonna push out a little farther.

30 days, I mean, gimme a month, write it down.

Maybe it's not even even available for purchase yet.

Write it down.

Then I start to visualize what I'm trying to accomplish.

So maybe you've got a student loan, your goal, Hey, I really want to

get that student loan paid off.

I got $2,300 left to pay on that student loan.

And you start to visualize what it feels like when that loan is paid

off and you don't have that monthly student loan payment and that interest.

And then since you didn't buy the phone, you take $250 that you would've

paid up front towards that phone and send it to your student loan.

And guess what you just did?

You've just knocked $250 off of that $2,300 left to go, and you're

getting closer to meeting your goal.

And I'm just gonna encourage you right now, write a sticky

note, freedom features, and stick it to your current phone.

The freedom is greater than the features.

Now, you might be saying, Ralph, well, how does this help?

Well, here's the big thing that it does, and this is why it's such a superpower.

It interrupts that impulse.

It interrupts it right away because you say, look, I have a rule.

I listened to Ralph.

He said, gotta have rule in these things.

If it's a wine, what's my rule?

And by doing that, it builds strength and it builds focus because we

talked about what is your bigger issues, what are your bigger plans?

You're really building strength.

I can do this again and focus in on the long term.

And it turns those little desires that you have floating all around

you into true momentum because you're working towards your goals.

Let's pray together.

Father God, we just thank you for the wisdom and discipline that

you put into our lives, Lord.

And we confess, Lord, that we battle with this sense of instant gratification.

So we just ask that you would help us to pause, Lord, and help us to refocus.

But most of all, Lord, we ask that you would help us to trust in your provision.

You give us all we need.

So, Lord, strengthen our self-control and strengthen our vision to really see what

is important and let our spending reflect your priorities in our lives, Lord.

And we ask this with confidence.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

Listen, I said at the beginning, delayed gratification is your superpower.

So just think of these three things.

Pause, visualize, and redirect.

In the end, choose freedom over those fleeting pressures.

You can do this.

Now, listen, if today's episode has been impactful to you, or if this show is

helping you break that cycle of financial shame and really become that financially

confident Christian, I wanna encourage you to share the show with other people.

We've seen people coming to the show, and we need to have more

people out there listening to the show so that we can direct them

and we can help them and listen.

You can be a catalyst for that.

Just send them a text and say, Hey, I listened to this show.

You can check it out@financiallyconfidentchristian.com

or send them an email and say, Hey, you really want a new superpower.

I heard this guy Ralph.

He's talking about superpowers today.

Also, I wanna give you a copy of my book.

It's called Mastering Your Finances.

I'm gonna give it to you absolutely free.

It's just a short read, but it is a real great book to help you get started on

that path to mastering your finances.

You can get that@financiallyconfidentchristian.com

slash master.

Now, tomorrow we're gonna add to this superpower.

We're gonna talk about how to unsubscribe from the consumer culture.

Really start to protect your peace.

I'm gonna encourage you not to miss it.

Now, let's all go out there and be those financially confident Christians.

You can do this.

I truly believe in you.

Believe in yourself.

Stay financially savvy.

God bless you today, and you have a great day today.