How to be a Long Term Person in a Short Term World: Methods for Living an Ambitious, Authentic

199 Pages·2017·0.67 MB·English

by  Michael Motta

Contents
Introduction
Part I: Creating a Long Term System
Ch. 1: Assess Current Trajectory
Ch. 2: Brainstorm Aspirations
Ch. 3: Conceptualize Goals
Ch. 4: Determine Your Resources
Ch. 5: Establish Your System
Part II: Living a Long Term System
Ch. 6: Find Your Space and Time
Ch. 7: Guard Your Space and Time
Ch. 8: Harness the Pareto Principle
Ch. 9: Incorporate Long Term Practices
Ch. 10: Journal and Record Progress
Part III: Sustaining a Long Term System
Ch. 11: Keep the Balls in the Air
Ch. 12: Learn-by-doing
Ch. 13: Modify the System
Ch. 14: Negotiate with the Short Term World
Ch. 15: Optimize For the Long Haul
Conclusion
References & Recommendations
Glossary
About the Author
Dedication
How to be a
Long Term Person
in a
Short Term World
Michael Julius Motta, Ph.D.
What’s a Short Term World?
short term |ˈSHôrt ˈˌtərm|
adjective
occurring in or relating to a relatively short period of time: it might be a wise short-term investment.
world |wərld|
noun
(usu. the world) the earth, together with all of its countries, peoples, and natural features: he was doing his
bit to save the world.
Humans have always been short term thinkers and doers. And that’s a good
thing. If early humans hadn’t asked questions like “Where’s my next meal?” or
“Where will I sleep tonight?”, our species wouldn’t have lasted very long. Early
humans were short term people because they had no choice.
We, however, do have a choice. We needn’t concern ourselves with day-to-
day survival. Instead, we can concern ourselves with the year-to-year and the
decade-to-decade.
Yet so few of us do. Almost everyone we know has aspirations they will
accomplish “someday, when I have more time.”
A sad truth of the human condition: Most people die regretting things they
thought about doing but never actually did.
Another sad truth: Each of us thinks we are the exception.
Why?
We were born into the world created by those early, short term humans. Path
dependency set in, and we’ve been on that course ever since. Without realizing
it, we were conditioned to neglect our long term interests for short term benefits.
Path dependency explains much of the world around us. It occurs when
previous decisions, made in response to now-extinct problems, irrationally limit
responses to existing problems. The term is primarily used by political scientists,
historians, and economists to describe public policy and market decisions. I
won’t wade in that water here. In this book, I’m interested exclusively in how
path dependency in the world creates path dependency in our lives, and more
importantly, how we can resist it.
Gravitational Pull
Society judges people not by their long term pursuit of highly-personal goals,
but instead by their short term pursuit of goals more societally acceptable. The
world expects us to be short term and is surprised when we aren’t. When we act
long term, we get strange looks and a million other signals from society telling
us we’re living life all wrong.
It feels comfortable to swim with the tide and walk the well-worn path. We
see people we love and respect doing the same.
But somewhere deep inside—I’m sure you’ve heard it—a voice says that
we’re settling, chickening-out, wasting our precious, fleeting lives.
A small sampling of statements we hear, see, and say every day:
“I called, but you didn’t answer.”
“Did you see my Facebook post this morning?”
“I texted you an hour ago. You didn’t reply, so I figured I’d call to make sure
everything’s OK.”
“Why didn’t you like my Facebook post yet?”
In these pages, I argue that we must ignore these signals. A refusal to blindly
conform to the short term world’s expectations is the best thing we can do for
our long term happiness and self-fulfillment. This book is for those who want to
break their dependency and forge their own path.
Who’s a Long Term Person?
long term |ˈlôNG ˈˌtərm|
adjective
occurring over or relating to a long period of time: the long-term unemployed | the long-term effects of
smoking.
person |ˈpərs(ə)n|
noun (pl. people |ˈpēpəl| or persons) a human being regarded as an individual: the porter was the last
person to see her | she is a person of astonishing energy.
A long term person (LTP) is someone who actively resists the gravitational
pull of the short term world and takes strategic actions in pursuance of long term
goals, and who does so consistently.
Of course, we can’t leave the short term world behind, nor do we want to.
Much of the short term world is fantastic. The ability to be spontaneous and live
in the moment, these are some of the best parts of the human experience. As are
silly hobbies, bad fiction, and the latest apps. Not to mention that life often
requires us to be short term. We must put food on the table tonight, not a year
from now.
I’m arguing that it’s time to take the next step. It is time to recognize our
ability (our gift) to pursue our long term interests alongside our obligations,
without having to abstain from the short term world’s fruits.
Even if life leaves little room for long term actions, we can almost always
make the “little room” a little bigger. If you add up today’s “room” plus
tomorrow’s, and the next day’s, and the next… Eventually, you’ll accomplish
something big. Really big.
Simple Math
Can you find 15 minutes a day? Yes, you can. If you can’t, then you’re not
trying hard enough.
15 minutes/day = 5,475 minutes/year
5,475 minutes/year = 90 hours/year
90 hours/year = more than 2 “full-time” work weeks
90 hours/year = more than 2 “full-time” work weeks
Over five years, that is an entire season of work.
Over twenty years, that is an entire year.
What could you accomplish in a year?
Can you find more than 15 minutes a day? I bet you can. If you’re willing to
fight for it, I bet you can find an hour or even more.
I’ll let you do the math this time.
Characteristics of an LTP
An LTP cultivates and develops three characteristics:
Discipline: Doing the long term work every day. Finding reasons, not
excuses.
Grit: Maintaining a long term focus even when society demands conformity.
Self—awareness: Discipline and grit without self-awareness risks making us
an LTP in the wrong direction. We must know ourselves and what we want from
this world before we can go out and get it.
You might be thinking: Okay, I’ll dedicate myself to each of these things. But
first I have to—
No. There will always be a short term thing you must do “first.” Always.
The bottom line is: Who we are in the short term is who we become in the
long term. Unless we align our day-to-day, week-to-week actions with the
month-to-month, year-to-year person we want to be, we will not become that
person.
If you can’t do it today, you won’t be able to do it tomorrow, and if you can’t
do it tomorrow, you never will.
A long term person starts today.
A long term person starts now.
Read This Book
Patterning your life around other’s opinions is nothing more than slavery.
—Lawana Blackwell
Absorb what is useful. Discard what is not. Add what is uniquely your own.
—Bruce Lee
The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.
—Stephen King
This book might be a waste of time for you. Probably a bad thing to say from
a marketing perspective, but it’s true. There are some people who instinctively
live long term. Are you one of those people? If so, that’s amazing, and I can’t
help you. In fact, I’m envious of you.
For the rest of us, it isn’t so easy.
Aside from the rare and fortunate described above, I imagine there are four
other types of people reading this sentence:
You make serious efforts to realize long term aspirations and are relatively
productive. Still, you sense there is room for improvement.
You use to-do lists and such to help balance obligations and pursuits.
However, things slip through the cracks and/or something always gets in
the way of your ability to think and act long term.
You are totally new to the ideas in this book, but you feel an itch. You
know you could be performing better.
No itch to scratch. You stumbled upon this book.