Long Term Thinking During the Pandemic
Summary:
During the pandemic, we had to flex different muscles. And they were valuable muscles. But if that’s all we’re doing all the time, that is a problem. If you are continually thinking short terms, it means first of all, that someone is setting the agenda. We need to set a direction and move in that direction.
Transcript:
Speaker 2
Yes, you take it as you go. We didn’t always have g p s that was mapping it out for you. You kind of had to go, ok, i man to go this far, and then we’ll see if there’s any detours, and then we’re gong to go this far and so on. Absolutely ye. Man. And you mention the pandemici i don’t often liket. I guess i’m over it now. There was, there was a season there where i was just like, i’m not talking about the pandemic on my show. I want these to be evergreen. But i think at this point, the pandemic and referencing it is going to be like referencing nine 11 to a certain extent. It’s always going to be there historially, and
Speaker 1
is thing people did a thing.
Speaker 2
So so it doesn’t matter. And i think it’s almost a place where we can kind of reference that we all went through it and or are going through it, and it’s, you know, life lessons. But i think what was very clear to me during the pandemic, especially in the beginning, was that many of us immediately shifted to short term thinking and got into that rut of short term thinking for thela couple o years now, because it’s all suddenly right in front of us, and what am i going to do right now? For right now verse is long term thinking. So let’s break this down a little bit. I mean, what are the big major differences, for somebody who’s not aware of this? What are the symptoms of short term thinking? And what are the benefits of long term thinking?
Speaker 1
Yeswell, i think you’re making a really important point er, which i agree with. During the pandemic, we had to flex different muscles, right? And they were valuable muscles. It was like, ok, can you adapt to change? Can you be agile? Can you pivot on a moment’s notice? I mean, those are good things for all of us to be able to do. And yet, if that’s all we’re doing all the time, that is a problem, because if you are continually reactive, if you are continually thinking short terms, it means first of all, that someone is setting the agenda. Now, in a literal sense, during the pandemic, it was the pandemics setting the agenda, which, you know, you kind of just have to play it as it lays. But broadly speaking, as we think about life, like email, for instance, right? It would be very easy for most professionals to spend their entire workday answering emales and well, that is productive, e in the sense of doing a thing. I think we can probably all agree that it’s not ultimately productive, because it’s not following your agenda, your priorities. It’s just doing stuff other people are telling you to or, you know, what they what they’re asking. And so ultimately we need, i believe, to shift to long term thinking, because it is about putting a stake in the ground and saying, i understand that sometimes things are not going to work out the way that i intendd or on the time line that i intended. I understand i might need to change things, but that doesn’t mean that i am prohibited from setting my own goals, from setting my own intentions. Otherwise we’re literally a jelly fish in the water, just, you know, the waves washing us up wherever. And i don’t think anyone really wants to their life like that. Over the long term. We need to set a direction and move in that direction. And that’s, i think, the fundamental difference about long term thinking. It’s its two things. It’s, number one, identifying where we want to go, even if we recognize that we might not know the path, or the path might change. And number two, it is asking ourselves, this is one of the most important questions in strategic thinking. What can i do to day that will make to morrow easier or better? Yes. (TimeĀ 0:07:47)