This message from Bethany Leone, managing editor at Heat Treat Today, shares some thoughts on savings, delayed gratification, and how these concepts apply to the work of Heat Treat Today.
This article first appeared in November 2023’s Vacuum Heat Treat print edition. Feel free to contact Bethany Leone at bethany@heattreattoday.com if you have a question, comment, or any editorial contribution you’d like to submit.
Managing Editor
Heat Treat Today
I like having savings. Monetary and more: a fully secure retirement fund; my grandmother’s aunt’s antique bookcase; a bottle of well-aged Italian wine; and a stash of dark chocolate. But “savings” are funny animals. They are one of many things in life that are a blessing to enjoy, but the flip side of them always reveals a moment of saying no, and often multiple times since savings happen over time.
It’s worth noting that this action of delaying gratification is not a universally appreciated principle. There are good reasons to be wary. Sometimes delaying gratification (or saying no) obscures the need to recognize a good, true decision that one should make in the moment; other times, it makes us focus on long-term goals to an inordinate degree that we fail to appreciate the fleeting joys life gives us in each day.
However, I see these reasons as the worst distortions of applying this principle: The whole purpose of delaying gratification is to live in a way that increases one’s ultimate ability to be fully grateful in the pursuits of this life — day to day, lifelong, and eternal. Daylight savings just ended in the U.S. on November 5, which means the one hour that we said no to using back in March we now cashed in on by sleeping in an extra hour! Well, that’s how I have been using this savings plan. Yet, my life norms (I work from home at a computer) aren’t benefited by the “daylight spending” that happened during the dark months. The fact is, saving that hour of sleep in March only guarantees that my sleep rhythms are thrown off drastically at least once a year (usually twice).
At the time of writing this editorial in September, I wondered, what if I “saved” differently this year. Rather than cash in on the hour this fall, could I save those extra 60 minutes every morning until March 2024, and use them for independent pursuits? This savings plan means saying no to that relished November day of sleeping in, but it means a half a year of an extra morning hour all to myself . . . and no thrown off sleep rhythms.
(Yes, I know there are readers out there who have cracked the system and may already — willingly or culturally — avoid daylight savings. Make room: I’m jumping on your bandwagon!) This realization — that (a) this daylight savings plan isn’t working for me, and (b) I could do something about it — was more profound than it should have been. Maybe it looks like optimizing my inbox by streamlining current e-newsletters and incorporating additional points of information so that I am effectively staying on top of trends.
Heat Treat Today’s media message is that people make better decisions when they are well informed, and our mission is to provide helpful, relevant information to ensure North American manufacturers with in-house heat treat are well informed every day. Whether you subscribe to just the Heat Treat Daily and receive the Heat Treat Today print publication or stay on top of your industry’s trending technical and news highlights with a monthly Heat Treat Today industry e-newsletter, you are saving resources that — we believe! — will give you an edge on the industry.
But just as with my realization of daylight savings, take a second to consider how you will be cashing out. Save what matters, not what appears to matter to everyone else.
Find heat treating products and services when you search on Heat Treat Buyers Guide.com
