We have all been there. We have all experienced moments,
days, or even weeks when the obstacles of the present raise our frustrations
which blur our vision of our individual big goals in life. However,
continuously thinking long-term allows you to see past the short-term issues
you are facing.
For one, thinking long-term allows you to see things strategically.
Everyone deals with issues. It is foolish to think that successful people have
gotten to where they are without any bumps in the road. The difference between
them and those who were not successful in reaching their goals is that highly
motivated people effectively navigate short-term issues while remaining
diligently focused on long-term goals and opportunities. It takes discipline,
but if you want to find motivation that is not easily sent off track you must
think long term.
Ask yourself...Are you short or long?
Nothing can destroy the mind faster than failing to see
things in a long-term perspective. When we become too consumed on the
short-term obstacles and difficulties, we lose sight of the overall objective
we were setting out to accomplish in the first place. For example, salespeople
struggle with this all the time. It’s very easy to have a day that does not go
well. All it takes is for a few sales to not come off as planned, and
without any additional prompting, the salesperson can quickly descend into a
deep funk. In fact, ask any person in any job/career if they have had something
in their job not go as planned which made them fall into a funk. They will say
"yes."
What to do? STAY FOCUSED! If you don’t stay
focused on the long-term goal, you can very easily allow the results of a
single day to shape your mind for an entire week, month, or even quarter.
Students of history are the best at understanding the impact
of long-term thinking. History is full of lessons where the long-term
actions of an individual or group led to far better results than the short-term
actions by others. Apple would never be the company it is today if they
had allowed the defeats they had at the hands of Microsoft in the early days of
personal computing to shut them down. Oprah was once told she was "unfit
for TV." Steven Spielberg go rejected from film school three times.
Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team. Do you see a
pattern? In each of these situations it was long-term thinking and seeing the
big picture that drove them to push and push even harder. The lesson: the
most successful things do not come through luck or quick ideas.
Therefore, ask yourself... 
What is your long-term goal?
What are you doing to achieve it?
What are you learning from the short-term issues or obstacles
you face to help you stay on track long-term?
Great goals are not quick goals!! By keeping your
thinking on the long-term, you’ll be in a much better position to create
results that last and less likely to allow yourself to be derailed from
short-term obstacles. The pay off is tremendous and will be reflected in
your motivation during whatever you are doing now and what you do in the
future. Think long-term and think BIG!
