I got a lesson in delayed gratification today. The idea behind delayed gratification is the  ability to resist something in the present in order to get a better reward in the future.

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I recently won a very small scholarship to help with summer tuition.

Good News:

I then received an update saying the amount had increased. This is great since more scholarship money is always better!

Bad News:

The amount was now being awarded during the fall semester instead. This was not so great news because I had to cover the amount not paid by the scholarship.

While I was happy to get more money, it would have been really nice to get the original amount now and the ‘bonus’ later. Now I am being taught a lesson in delayed gratification because the amount is larger in the future.