The Surprising Power of Playing The Long Game w / Creative Director H Hassan
We as humans too often push ourselves past our limit. We constantly feel rushed, overwhelmed, and perennially behind. Because of this, we keep our heads down, focused on the next thing, and the next, without a moment to breathe.
But it’s important to break out of this endless cycle and create the kind of interesting, meaningful lives we all seek.
It’s about doing small things over time to achieve our goals—and being willing to keep at them, even when they seem pointless, boring, or hard.
Today, more than ever, many of us are distracted by short term outcomes of everyday thing. We build our lives on these ‘temporary hacks’ and get excited about the next career hack, quick money-making scheme and making our fortunes now.
The bad news however, is that with this easy come mentality we actually have more to lose in the short term.
And when things don’t work out, we actually loose twice — which can cost both money and time. And it can take twice as long to recover.
In our hyper-productive, hyper-fast world it’s easy to get distracted on the short game, feeling stressed and pressured to just win the day. But your not always going to win every day.
A better approach is to play the long consistent game — aiming to make progress every day, week or month without rushing the process.
Playing the long game.
Playing the long game means paying a small price today to make tomorrow easier.
From the outside, the long game looks pretty boring:
Leaving the party early to make sure you get some sleep
Eating healthy, instead of eating junk
Investing in your relationships every day so you have a foundation when something happens
Going for a walk rather than binge watching Netflix
Spending less than you make..
… and countless other examples.
The long game isn’t really debatable. Everyone agrees, for example, that in order to get ahead we should spend less than we make and invest the difference.
While you won’t become a millionaire overnight by spending less than you earn, you’ll never become one if you spend more than you earn.
The first step is the hardest. You have to be willing to suffer today in order to not suffer tomorrow. This is why so few people play the long game.
Life is a long game, and you want to protect your investments and make the most of your time by focusing on the bigger picture - lifelong progress. Slowly leveraging the power of daily or weekly increments.
It’s one of the only ways to accumulate big wins over time whilst enjoy life in the present. If you want to make a massive impact on your future success, focus on building better habits that can help you gather wins without getting overwhelmed or feeling stressed all the time.
Conclusion
Every action is a step toward the short game or the long game. Playing the long game means different things for different people at different stages of their lives, but one thing is certain: if you want success in anything that lasts, start by building a lasting foundation that can help you accumulate the small wins over time.
A good place to start is with things that compound: knowledge, relationships, and finances.
Long-lasting success is a journey, it takes more than a quick win or single sprint — it’s a marathon and that takes consistent effort. The process may be boring or challenging, but it works.
It’s easy to feel like you’ll never be able to catch up or get ahead by slowly making progress but the truth is that playing the long game is truly the only way to win.
Take your time.
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