From: Ron Friedman, Ph.D. <ron@ignite80.com>
Date: Fri, Sep 24, 2021 at 7:05 AM
Subject: How to Be a Long-Term Thinker
To: <stevescott@techacq.com>
When you think about it, every choice you make comes down to happiness now or happiness later.
Take going to bed on time.
On the one hand, watching another episode of Ted Lasso will grant you immediate happiness. On the other, waking up well-rested and refreshed will bring a happier tomorrow.
In most cases, choosing happiness later leads to wiser choices, greater success, and more wealth. We all know this. Yet we can still do a vastly better job of consistently optimizing for the future.
But how?
That's the topic of Harvard Business Review contributor Dorie Clark's new book, The Long Game. Dorie is a good friend and a gifted writer. Her new book is engrossing, sorely-needed, and wise.
To celebrate the release of Dorie's book, I invited her to share a few of the key insights in this brief interview. I hope you find it valuable.
Dorie, in your new book, The Long Game, you argue that mastering long-term thinking is an essential skill for getting ahead. So what's the secret? How do you train yourself to become a long-term thinker?
There are three key components in becoming a long-term thinker.
The first is clearing enough white space so you're able to think about the future. Long-term thinking doesn't require an inordinate amount of time – but you do need some time, and many of us are so jam-packed, we literally never get a moment to step back and reflect on some basic questions about our priorities.
Second is to focus on what matters – to you, not to others or what society says is the right choice. Of course, we all have bills to pay, but that doesn't mean work has to be thankless. We can all identify small ways, over time, to work toward learning new skills or exploring interests that are meaningful to us and may become professionally relevant.
Finally, we need to 'keep the faith' and persevere through rejection and gatekeepers, because inevitably on the path to meaningful long-term goals, there will be detours. It'd be far more surprising if there weren't! Far too many of us cede power to other people and their opinions. If one person – even five people or 10 people – tells you "no" or that something isn't good, that doesn't mean you should give up. It just means they're blocking the door, so you may need to find another window to climb in.
A key challenge to staying focused on long-term goals is that busyness warps our thinking. You believe it's not just technology and the ubiquity of work that makes us busy -- it's something else. What is it?
It's true we all have too many meetings and too many emails. That part is obvious. But there are also hidden reasons why we may find ourselves – again and again – committing to too much and feeling overwhelmed.
Silvia Bellezza of Columbia Business School and her colleagues have done interesting research about the fact that in many Western countries, especially the U.S., busyness is correlated with high status and being "in demand." Many of us may subconsciously worry that freeing up our schedules would telegraph to others that we're not actually that important. Even worse, we might begin to feel that way ourselves – or be forced to deal with emotionally uncomfortable questions like, Am I in the right field? Are my actions leading me toward the goals I want? Should I be doing this task at all – and if not, what *should* I be doing?
In many cases, just keeping our heads down and working ridiculously hard is easier than grappling with those existential issues.
An interesting approach you identify for staying on track is learning to apply "strategic patience". What is strategic patience and how do you get good at it?
I've never been a fan of "patience" – at least, the way the term is commonly used. So often, it's a way of telling people to back off and shut up: Just be patient, it'll work out. I always thought: How do you know?!?
I'd rather have more control over my destiny, but I recognize that some things do take a while to pan out. We can try to speed that process up, but for meaningful, long-term goals, the process really might take months or years - or even decades. So we do have to be patient in that respect. But we don't have to be passive.
That's why, in The Long Game, I write about what I call 'strategic patience.' It's understanding that things may take a while, but also actively creating hypotheses about what you expect will happen, testing them, and adjusting as necessary. You're not just sitting back: to the greatest extent possible, you're controlling what you can control and making things happen.
You can learn more about Dorie's new book right over here. You can also take Dorie's self-assessment on becoming a long-game strategic thinker here.
All the best,
Ron
Ron Friedman, Ph.D.
(Speaking) www.ignite80.com
(Books) Decoding Greatness | The Best Place to Work
(Twitter) @RonFriedman
(LinkedIn) Connect
My goal is to help high achievers get more done in less time. If you'd prefer not to receive any more emails with science-based tips for becoming happier, healthier, and more productive, please use one of the following buttons:
Receive fewer emails | Remove my name | Update my contact information
No comments:
Post a Comment