Delayed Discounting

I was looking through the April issue of Real Simple magazine, and read something that piqued my interest. The article was talking about organizing and the excuses we use to prevent it from getting done. When we lack motivation, it involves a psychiatric principle called delayed discounting (something I had never heard of). According to the magazine article, delayed discounting means: "if it takes a long time to reach a goal, you value that goal less than if you could reach it quickly -- making it harder to get started."

This makes sense for dieting, exercise, saving money, or any other long-term goal -- it can be difficult to start on the right path. The long time it takes to reach the goal frustrates us in a way, because we don't see quick results. The delay causes us to discount the worth of the goal. Unfortunately, organization of our home falls victim to this principle. Just some food for thought...