Delayed Gratification
In 1965 a friend of mine dropped out of high school and went to work in a scrap steel plant in Portland. It was a union job and he made a little over $5 .50 an hour which was a lot of money at that time. His salary allowed him to purchase a car, get married and live in a nice apartment. I would have to listen to him go on and on about the benefits he received and why he was glad he dropped out of school.
The paths we took over the next 20 years would go in opposite directions. During that journey I would think about the path he took as I watched him buy his first new home and a brand new Dodge Challenger with no high school diploma. His income afforded him to get a divorce, remarry and buy another new home to replace the one he turned over to his wife and kids.
I finished high school and quickly joined the U.S Marines. I made $90 a month to start and 3 years later I was paid $220. Of course they provided my food, clothing, shelter and free medical care. Somehow it just didn’t seem to be the luxurious life style of my friend. To share a squad bay and head with 80 to 100 of my closest friends, all of whom were dressed the same and to dine in the epicurean atmosphere of the mess hall, was not quite the same lifestyle that the union afforded my friend. As my friend continued to gain seniority and make more money, it seemed unfair that I could only achieve an increase in my pay from promotions due to merit. Of course, if I wanted to extend my active duty tour in the marines for another 6 years, I would have received a signing bonus of a couple hundred bucks and a promotion to sergeant. I wanted something else. I wanted a college education. I got tired of being a 20 year old corporal saluting 22 year old Lieutenants and I realized that without a college education, I would be saluting 22 year old lieutenants for the rest of my life whether I stayed in the marines or became a civilian.
After my discharge, I attended college which took 5 years to complete as I had to work at night to pay for it. I had the GI Bill but it paid only me $130 a month. I laughed when fellow students would tell me how lucky I was to get a check like that every month. Of course, when I pointed out the fact that I was on active duty in the U.S Marines for 3 years, living on a Marine Corps base while they went to love in’s in Golden Gate Park it seemed irrelevant to them. To aggravate matters, I had to always defend the idea of the importance of college rather than working to all of my friends who by now were working in the trades and enjoyed the benefits of that the union afforded them.
College took 5 years to complete as I had to work to pay for my education. Each visit back to Portland, I continued to see how well my friend was doing and what a comfortable lifestyle he had. Though I never doubted the decisions I made, I did question whether or not I made the right decision when it came to making money. At 26 I had no savings, property or possessions. I did not even own a car. What made matters worse were the prospects of finding a job paying me more than an entry level salary at some company even with a degree.
I went to graduate school off and on for couple years until I entered the investment business with a national financial services company. This has been my occupation now for 33 years. I often think about the fact that without that college education with all its risk and sacrifices, I would not have been hired let alone be where I am today.
Delayed gratification is not an idea that I willing or knowingly would have embraced when I was young but somehow I correctly sensed that the road to success would require it. It didn’t take long for me to see how delayed gratification became essential for any accomplishments that I can point to in my life.
When I came home to attend my 20 year high school reunion, my friend and I sat together and sentimentally chatted about old friends and the course that our lives had taken. I had to sit silently once again while I listened to how well my friend was doing in life. As we sat and talked about our lives over the last 20 years, he regaled me with stories of how the union prevented the company from terminating him and how his seniority continued to increase his income. By now he was making over $50 dollars an hour with paid vacations, sick pay and paid holidays. Working over 40 hours per week brought him time and a half and on holidays he was paid double his usual hourly rate. I didn’t disclose to him what I made but I realized sitting there that not only did I make than $50 more per hour but easily estimated that I had surpassed him in total earnings since 1965 and that now there was no way he was ever going to catch me. I had hit that income growth inflection point that merit brings, where the sloping curve of higher earnings becomes a straight line rather than a curve and climbs rapidly up towards the upper right hand corner.
The ability to succeed and surpass others is not simply based on talent or chance. Without the vision to see the goal clearly, motivation becomes tough and the attrition rate climbs higher as people tire and begin to step off the path to that goal. Delayed gratification was the hardest principle to maintain as sacrifices, impatience and discouragement can easily seduce one to take an easier and softer way. I must have learned that in the Marines. I found my time in the corps made me tough as I had to patiently wait for 1096 days for the gratification of being a civilian again. If I could do that then I could do anything.
1 Response