Hyperbolic Discounting “Now or Later”

I struggle with this bias very often, as I’m sure many of us do. I call this cognitive bias the “Now or Later” model because the definition of this bias is literally, “Given two similar rewards, humans show a preference for one that arrives sooner rather than later.”

$10 today or $11 in 5 days?

A slice of cake today or abs in a year or two?

Are you going to prioritize ‘Now or Later’ ?

I would say this is very difficult to fight in certain circumstances, as it is truly scientific:

“According to research from Princeton University, there are two areas of the brain: one that is associated with our emotions and the other with abstract reasoning. As you might have guessed, the emotional part of our brain responds positively to instant gratification. When given the choice of cake now or broccoli later, this part of your brain pushes you to choose the cake. The logical part of your brain, though, tries to reason with you. It might tell you that broccoli is better for your long-term health and that you really don’t need to eat that chocolate cake. The emotion and logic-based parts of your brain are constantly in a battle, trying to show you why you should choose one option and not the other.”

I personally believe that in the choice between instant and delayed gratification, delayed gratification seems to be most valuable as later can compound, later has an interest, while the present is fleeting. The only times when instant gratification may trump delayed are in times of emergency.