5 Reasons to Have a Long-Term Mindset

Nurturing slow-growing roots of intention is likely to endure beyond overnight success.

Francesco Cantone/Shutterstock

Lately, I’ve noticed how technology affects me, and I’m not pleased.

Many things I do are now faster and more convenient than ever. I can be entertained instantly, learn something with a few clicks, and coordinate with others with ease. While these are positive changes, I’m afraid that I’ve let the technological worldview become my default way of thinking.

I find myself wanting everything to be as easy as it is on my phone. It’s the illusion that life can be as smooth and frictionless as a touchscreen.

But the real world doesn’t work that way. The very best things in life require a long commitment in the same direction. Without a long-term view, we’re fighting against reality at every step, and it’s no wonder that so many of us retreat to the comfort of our phones.

A Call for Patience, Love, and Worthwhile Endeavors

I call for reclaiming patience and a love for slow, worthy work. It’s a call for everyone, regardless of age. Here are some benefits of considering an old-school way of life:

1. Realistic Expectations

Examples abound of people improving their lives in one great fell swoop. The internet spotlights such people, and we idolize their seeming overnight successes. I used to obsess over this kind of thinking, hoping to rapidly reach my goals, but it made me restless and annoyed at anything that took time.

Unrealistic expectations can sometimes propel you to work harder and take more risks, but often leave you disappointed. It’s best to align yourself with realistic goals and accept that good things take time to create—enjoy every bit of progress, no matter how small.

2. An Enjoyable Journey

One fantasy I’m prone to is that if I work insanely hard for a short period of time, I can attain my dreams and breathe a bit easier after that. I call this the grind-and-glory fantasy.

It’s one thing if you’re close to a goal and need one final push, but this mindset is particularly silly to adopt from the beginning. Such thinking suggests that you don’t enjoy the activity for its own sake and want nothing more than to be done with it.

I can’t imagine anyone sustaining that path for very long, or that it would lead to flourishing or success. When you adopt a long-term plan for your life, you’ll be pushed to choose things that you can imagine doing for a long time—and nudged in the direction of making them enjoyable.

3. No More Shortcut-Seeking

Long-term thinkers don’t waste their time with quick fixes. They chuckle when they see people temporarily moving faster in life than they are, only to pass them at some point later on. Few shortcuts are worth the time, and they are often a trap.

Can you imagine a shortcut to raising great kids, building a strong marriage, or becoming an accomplished musician? Of course not. Each of those things takes time, and the first bit of business is to settle in for the long run.

4. Lasting Creations

In nature, there’s a general rule that the faster things grow, the shorter they live. Bristlecone pine trees, on the other hand, grow less than an inch per year, and they can live up to 5,000 years.

When I was a young boy, my father planted a long row of Leyland Cypress trees along our property line. We watched in amazement as they grew three to four feet a year. Sadly, they all started dying in about 15 years, not far from their normal lifespan.

One takeaway for humans is that things built with care over long periods of time are more likely to last. This is the Lindy Effect at work, which suggests that the best predictor of longevity for any non-biological entity is how long it has been around. Let’s build with care and leave the future a legacy of our best contributions.

5. Deeper Relationships

If you consider dabbling in something, or just trying it out, you’ll have less incentive to invest in the community—whether it’s attending a church, writing a blog, or living in a neighborhood. One of the downsides of our modern world is an unwillingness to commit to places and tie ourselves down. But I think that, in fact, commitment is one of life’s great pleasures.

In a long-term mindset, people are more than “connections” or “contacts”—they are individuals we know and care for. Ironically, some of the most successful partnerships arise when we stop looking for them and treat everyone as though we plan to be around for a while.