Life and work can at times prove to be exceedingly difficult, as the past year plus has shown, and we can all be forgiven if, in our current circumstances, we look not towards the future but the next moment of relief. All the platitudes about tough times making for tough people are well and good, but they’re easier to offer from the outside rather than during a trying period. Let’s face it, this period of uncertainty is seemingly ever-ending. In these circumstances, it’s easy to see how people can make decisions aimed at the short-term amelioration of their problems that might work against their long-term interests.
Short-termism isn’t something unique to any subset of individuals or limited to the professional sphere; we’ve all made our share of terrible impulse decisions, and if we’re lucky the ramifications weren’t too bad down the line. Procrastination is in a way a decision with the immediate future in mind — we kick the can down the road, knowing that we’re simply delaying the inevitable, and at a growing cost for every hour or day of delay. But in our distress, all that matters is that moment and finding some, even temporary, relief.
Every decision has its consequences, however, and a series of decisions made with the goal of getting through the day or the week can put you in a bind for the months and years to come. Problems are always going to seem easier to solve at a later date, or big decisions easier to make in a couple weeks’ time, but the truth is that unless you’re genuinely waiting for more or better information or clarity, a delay won’t serve to help, and could even make things that much worse.
Perhaps the decision at hand is hard, and the short-term pain potentially acute, but your leadership position never guaranteed that the decisions would be easy. Quite the opposite, in fact; seeking to be a leader almost certainly guarantees you the occasion to make hard decisions that sacrifice immediate comfort for longer-term gain. It’s not easy, but leadership isn’t meant to be, and the smart leader is able to keep the bigger picture in mind at all times. My personal mantra has always been to start with the end in mind.
Leadership, however, is a human undertaking, and like every human endeavor is subject to our weaknesses and failings. Sometimes the pursuit of a quick and easy fix to an issue is more alluring than the prudent decision, or perhaps no action at all might seem the easiest path to take. Certainly both offer more immediate gratification and the possibility, deluded as it might be, that the issue might resolve itself. But the bill always came due, eventually, and all our mistakes and short-sightedness will come back to haunt us in time. The times where I have wavered from the path and ignored my gut feeling in favor of a near term win or even an idea that short-cuts the norm, it’s not gone well.
We don’t need to invite those troubles on ourselves, however. We’re capable of that sort of faulty and wrong-headed thinking, but we’re not subject to it with an active choice. The easy decisions (or non-decisions) are certainly tempting, but we can choose to not give in; if anything, we owe it to the people relying on us to rise above that kind of thinking to do the hard but necessary thing. After all, you could find anyone at your company to fill your role if the job was simply making the easy choice time and again! For me, I have to sit with difficult decisions and map out the pros and cons, taking into account the short and long-term impacts. And, I consult with my mentors and advisors, specifically asking about whether I am sacrificing longer term benefits for a short term gain.
If not for the sake of the people relying upon you, consider the disservice you do to yourself in ignoring or making decisions that harm the long-term prospects of your venture. Failing to solve a problem leaves the potential for that problem to compound upon itself leaving you in a far worse situation, and without the possibility of deferring action to a later date.
Fortunately, most of us have the potential to forestall that potential fate. As much as we’re just trying to hold everything together during the hardest period in recent history, we can’t neglect the future of our company. Plus, those problems we see today have a way of persisting or popping back up, if not properly dealt with within a reasonable timeframe. So as much as we may want to escape our current predicament as quickly and easily as possible, we should be cautious that our mistakes aren’t revisited upon us, and at a greater cost. #onwards.
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April 08, 2021 at 08:30PM
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The Perils And Pitfalls Of Short-Term Thinking - Forbes
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