The short term game

Everyone suffers from some kind of vision deficiency. Some look to the future and neglect to see the immediate world around them, some are stuck looking in the past, and some of us can see nothing beyond the few feet around us. It’s an amazing human condition, that so many of us today look at the short-term, seeing only a month or so to a year in advance, beyond that is haze of questions and uncertainty--something many of us elect to ignore. As a businessman, looking into the future is an absolute must. The long term goal is something that weighs heavily in my mind at any point in time. My employees and their families rely on me to keep my business afloat and sailing. Instant oatmeal businesses go as quickly as instant oatmeal.

There are some things you can never prepare yourself for, of course, and that requires experience and judgment, but for almost everything else there’s a solid contingency plan. It takes more than spur of the moment action to steer a business into its prime, and it certainly doesn’t happen overnight. One of the hardest things people have to expect is how much time and effort it takes to build anything. Being fueled by indecision and being unable to settle and commit to a career or job will halt your professional growth and you’ll find yourself unable to anchor in any field. Living in a moment-to-moment world has neglected to teach us the values of patience, investment, and commitment. A culture that constantly hunts for the next best thing can hardly be used as a foundation necessary to build a company that can prosper when faced with hard and testing times. A company, like many people, cannot bounce from product to product or service to service. Short term thinking may bring a headrush when it starts, but people may find themselves blindsided when the market starts to course-correct and the cost of materials and wages start going up. The businesses that survive are ones who go for the long term play.