How to Make Better Long-Term Decisions!
This week’s video is about the emphasis on the short-term versus the long-term consequences of your actions; in other words, about impulse control.
What’s the difference between short-term and long-term thinking?
The answer is:
Short-term thinking is about the present or immediate future.
Long-term thinking is about the distant future.
Informed people know that dealing with the present and future is like talking about baseball and football.
While they are both measures of time (like baseball and football are both sports), living in the present and future require completely different skill sets.
Financial people in organizations frequently play with the numbers to make things look like they want them to look; for example, they place a huge emphasis on short term profits. This is often at the expense of the long term health of the organization.
The same holds true for people in their non-work lives. For example, if you go on that big trip now, you may not have enough money for retirement.
A helpful way to think of the difference in living in the present vs. in the future is:
Living in the present is about living IN THE MOMENT.
Living in the future is about planning how you will exist when you are old.
Some Techniques to Make Sure You Consider the Long Term when Making Decisions:
What is your mission in life?
Recall our blog post on figuring out your mission in life. Mine is to generate positive energy into the universe.
Without a mission, you can’t distinguish whether actions you take are good for the long haul towards your mission.
Be Wary of The Company You Keep
There are some people who are all about instant gratification and the here and now: they are short-term thinkers. If you hang out with a lot of these kinds of people be wary of not being influenced by them.
Dealing with People
Managing by your personal values is the perfect way to ensure decisions not only solve short-term problems but are also are aligned with your long-term goals and objectives.
Use It or Lose It:
(1) Create your mission in life.
(2) Be wary of the company you keep.
(3) Learn how to deal with people.
When to Use It:
Whenever you are making a decision you need to weigh the short-term vs. long-term consequences.
What Do You Think?
Have you ever made decisions where you focused on the short-term at the expense of long-term success? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
Until next time, behave and as always…Prime Your Pump!
–Howie
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I agree that it is important to plan for your future if you want to live an independent satisfying life in your retirement years. I agree that avoiding bad company and structuring your life is a great plan.
Holy Crap!! You hammered this one, at least from my perspective. I learned long term planning from my father, and even to me as a young teenager, it made perfect sense. As soon as I started working full time, I began saving for “the future” even though at that time I had no idea what the future meant. I previously told you of what I refer to as my ‘major life decisions’. That basically summed up my long term planning, which in retrospect (and I’m not bragging, but being realistic) has worked out beautifully. The results are better than I expected.
But yes, periodic “what the hell” type of flings are necessary, like a weekend in Vegas where we take in a show, have a nice dinner, and play the slots, which we are doing in March. The end of January we flew off to Sarasota – never been there before. I attended a convention, Joan got together with an old friend that moved there a few years ago. We relaxed, moseyed around, and totally enjoyed ourselves. Yep, my first attempt at the Gulf Coast. I previously lived in Cocoa Beach (worked at the Cape), and have explored the Atlantic coast from Saint Augustine to Palm Beach.
If more people followed your advice, personal bankruptcies would disappear and credit card companies would go out of business.
OK, so now I have reached the milestone of the big “seven zero”. Are there still long term goals that can apply to me. Hell Yes!! Stay in relatively good health for the next 15 to 20 years, attend my grand- daughter’s high school (and hopefully college) graduation. Maybe even see her get married.
Life is good, and the future awaits. I’m the second mouse and I got the cheese!