If something you do today doesn’t have a long-term benefit, then it’s probably not worthwhile to do it. If you can’t easily articulate how this action benefits you in the future – and by future, I mean months and years down the road – then it’s probably not an action worth taking.
When I sit down for a meal, my short-term brain is telling me to eat lots of whatever the most delicious thing is, but from a long-term perspective, that’s a terrible thing to do. That approach is not a good choice in terms of long-term benefit; in fact, it’s a long-term disaster. The better approach is to eat a variety of foods, but only eat until I’m not hungry any more and then stop. I can sure sample some of the tasty stuff, but there’s no reason to eat too much of it. Most of the pleasure comes from the first few bites, anyway, and when that feeling of hunger goes away, there’s no reason not to sit down the fork.
When I go into a bookstore, my short-term brain is telling me to buy several books – I’m an avid reader, after all, and books are wonderful things! From a long-term perspective, though, that’s not a very good choice. While I do gain long-term access to that book, I’m spending money for it and I’m also going to have to consider how to store it. Thus, it makes far more sense to instead choose to buy only books that I’ll read many times over or refer to regularly. How do I know whether I’ll read a book many times over or refer to it regularly? I check it out at the library first. That way, I don’t have to spend money on a book that isn’t necessarily near and dear to my heart.
When I’m thinking about how to spend my evening, my short-term brain is telling me to veg out and do some web surfing or check out social media. From a long term perspective, though, that’s going to have almost no benefit at all. I’m far better off spending that time with my wife and my children to build family relationships, or spending it going to a community event where I can build social relationships and community standing, or spending it taking an online class where I might learn something, or spending it reading a challenging book to stretch my mind, or spending it exercising and improving my long term health outcomes and physical appearance, or spending it doing household chores that will spare me time later on when I don’t have an evening to spare.
The second principle is similarly simple: doing something with an eye toward the long term does not mean being miserable today. It does mean, however, that you might have to dig a little deep and try things in a different fashion.
For example, making a shift in your spending choices might feel miserable at first, but the key is to just try lots of different strategies for spending less money and seeing what actually works for you. Does store brand hand soap work well for you? Do you actually even notice the difference? What about making cold brew coffee in your refrigerator and then heating it up in the morning instead of stopping at a coffee shop? There are lots of little things you can do. Some will work and some won’t. However, simply trying some of them has a nice long term benefit, because if you discover a more cost effective way of doing things or discover that you weren’t actually getting much value out of an expensive way of doing things, you’re winning in terms of the long term financial race.
Making a shift in terms of what you eat might seem miserable to some, but the true key to sustainably improving your eating is to try lots of different foods that are good for you and see what things you really like and really don’t like while still enjoying many of the foods you currently like. More than anything, it means slowing down and paying attention to your body, and putting the fork down when your body is no longer signaling “I’M HUNGRY!!”
Making a shift in terms of how you use your free time might seem miserable to some, but, again, the key is to find things that you enjoy and leave you fulfilled, whether it’s fulfillment in the moment or a true sense that you’re building something great for the future. If you do something in your spare time and you’re not fulfilled… what value does it have? Find something that leaves you feeling fulfilled and makes you feel like you’re building something bigger than the moment, especially when you can also find joy in that moment. You’ll almost never go wrong.
The third principle is also invaluable: Constantly evaluate your choices and don’t be afraid to criticize yourself as long as it points you toward improvement. Absolutely no one on earth is perfect at this kind of thinking. We’re all wired to be short term creatures, dating back to our savannah days when we were under constant threat of attack from animals and rivals and the threat of starvation. We thought short term because we had to, and those that were wired for it were the ones that survived.
Today, we don’t have to think in those short term ways (in fact, we probably shouldn’t), but we default to them anyway because that’s how we’re wired. Sometimes we simply slip up and follow that short-term route.
The difference between success and failure isn’t that you always put your future self first, but that you step back and think about your moves, ask why you’re making them, and try to think of ways to make them better.
There are a number of strategies that work well for this.
One great strategy is to think about your day-to-day choices while commuting or doing other things that might not require all of your concentration. Just run through things you do all the time or have done recently and evaluate their impact on your future self. If you don’t like that impact or you can’t see any positive impact, then ask yourself whether there was a better way to use your time or energy or focus or money.
Another great strategy is to journal. Simply put aside several minutes each day to actually go through your day, think about your best moves as well as your worst mistakes, and then evaluate them a little bit. How can you make that “best move” into a pattern? How can you do better in terms of your “worst mistake” so that you don’t repeat it? The act of writing things down on actual paper is a great way to stir thought.
I find that any technique that can help improve your focus is a good thing. Cell phones are a constant focus destroyer, so I often turn my cell phone off completely and don’t carry it with me all the time. When I’m working on a task at my computer, I turn off as many potential distractions as possible. I also put aside time each day for mindful meditation, which is basically what I consider to be a “bicep curl” for my ability to focus on the moment and the task at hand.
Trent Hamm, entrepreneur
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