How to shift into long-term thinking when you want everything right now.
This post was originally shared in my semi-frequent Learn Something New(sletter). To never miss info like this, join the party! 🥳
We suck at slowing down.
I can order groceries to arrive in an hour, google the answer rather than think about it, and generally assume that everyone’s successes listed on instagram or LinkedIn happened overnight… we’ve gotten really, really, really (REALLY) bad at understanding just how long things take.
We give our future selves a whole chunk of crap to do.
Raise your hand if you’ve ever decided not to do something tonight because, “you’ll get up early tomorrow and finish it.”
*Raises hand.*
So how can we shift from short-term gains into long term thinking? Thanks to Dorie Clark’s The Long Game, we’ll talk about just that!
Read on friends to learn about how to shift into a long-term thinking mindset.
Biggest whoa moment: We’re so stuck in “execution mode,” that we’re playing a game of whack-a-mole instead of thinking long term. One Management Research Group study found that 97% of respondents believe time for strategic thinking and focusing on long term opportunities is essential to the success of an organization. But another study found 96% of folks don’t have time to think strategically. Ouch. That’s a miss.
Put it into practice: Here are four things to help you shift into more long-term thinking:
Get clear on what it takes. Want to write a book? Great. It’s going to take about 12 months of effort. Want to run a marathon? Fantastic. If you’ve never run before, buckle in for 6 months of some hardcore mileage. Gunning for CEO? Cool. Unless you’re starting your own company…24 years is the average. This isn’t to discourage you from writing a book, running a marathon or sliding into c-suite. It’s to begin to comprehend that it’ll be a slog. We always like to think it’ll be faster for us. It… probably won’t. Sorry.
Set constraints. We fill the time we’re given. If you have to write 3 emails today, you’ll get ‘em done. If you have to write 3 emails sometime in the next month… they’re probably going out on the last day of the month (but you thought about them the whole time!) Create deadlines, map things out, and hold yourself accountable. If there isn’t skin in the game… it’s not happening.
Start small. We don’t jump from never writing to pumping out a novel - no matter how many movies I watch, apparently that’s not how it goes down. But, taking time to build the habit, the systems in place… you’ll start to see those wins over time. Even better, you’ll get to test the long term goal. You might discover your skills do not lie in creating fantasy worlds…and that you’re more skilled at reading about them. That’s okay!
Think in decades. We want to move quickly. It’s in our nature to scroll our way to satisfaction. But, when we think about a goal in big spans of time, we start to get more comfortable with the idea that there’ll be ups and downs - waves of actions, and moments of quiet. We can’t do everything, everyday, all the time. We can slow it down, and understand that we’re in it for the ride.
That’s it friends.
Are you struggling with goal setting? Thinking about long-term plans? Hating this email because you want to just GOOOOOO? Reach out.
Go deeper
Read the book yourself: The Long Game: How to be a long-term thinker in a short-term world by Dorie Clark
Join her newsletter: Subscribe
Listen to her Google Talk: How to be a Long Term Thinker in Short Term World