Recently i was listening to a podcast and it was all about your perspective, how to change it to have different outcomes, positivity and mental toughness and it really got me thinking about my life and just life in general and how there are different perspectives of the game called life.
From the podcast i was able to come to determine that there are 2 games that all of us play in life.
The Short term game.
This is where you view things with an end, only apply yourself for a certain amount of time, where your willing to find how you can fast track the journey to get quicker results. The short game is putting off anything that seems hard for doing something that seems easy or fun. It offers visible and immediate benefits. The short game is seductive.
Why do your study when you can go watch the Next episode of Defending Jason?
Why wait to pay for a phone in cash, when you can put it on your credit card?
Why go to the gym when you can go drinking with your friends?
Why invest in your relationship with your partner today when you can work a little bit extra in the office?
Why always try your best if its just going to get belittled and be not good enough for someone?
Why learn something boring that doesn’t change when you can learn something sexy that impresses people?
Why bust your butt at work to do the work before the meeting when you can pretend like everyone else?
The effects of the short game multiply the longer you play. On any given day the impact is small but as days turn into months and years the result is enormous. People who play the short game don’t realise the costs until they become too large to ignore.
The problem with the short game is that the costs are small and never seem to matter much on any given day. Saving $5 today won’t make you a millionaire. Going to the gym and eating healthy today won’t make you fit tomorrow. Reading a book today won’t make you smart. Going to sleep on time tonight won’t make you healthier tomorrow. Sure we might try these things when we’re motivated but since the results are not immediate we revert back to the short game and gratification.
The Long Term game.
This is where it could literally never end. You don’t take shortcuts you put in the work day in and day out, you set the goals, you are realistic about what could go right or wrong and your willing to delay the gratification because you invest the time to go after the goals and things you want. The long game is the opposite of the short game, it means paying a small price today to make tomorrow’s easier. If we can do this long enough and remain CONSISTENT to see the results, it feeds on itself.
From the outside, the long game looks pretty boring:
Saving money and investing it for tomorrow
Not Drinking or leaving the party early to go get some sleep
Investing time in your relationship today so you have a foundation when something happens
Reading the book or studying
Doing your study before you go for a walk or to the gym
Going to the gym rather than watching Netflix
… and countless other examples.
In my opinion, so many people are willing to play the short game but very few are willing to play the long game. We see it far too often, that everyone wants what they want YESTERDAY.
It could also be in career, daily work life, family, relationships. Literally every aspect there is a short and long term game. You may be wanting that raise, or promotion, you may be saving for a car or you may be making changes in your family and relationships and you just want it to happen ASAP, right now!
We pass up success of others to being pure luck. He is where he is because of pure luck, or she looks like that and can do that because she’s lucky. Well, NO. He and she is not. They would of been playing a different game to you. Mentally and physically they have applied themselves to the long term game over the short term game and done what was needed to be done to get that success.
If you’re observant in your life what you’ll also notice is the people playing the short term game always want the results of those playing the long term game but only the smart ones will realise that a change in game will also change their outcomes!
In everything you do, you’re either playing a short term or long term game. You can’t opt out and you can’t play a long-term game in everything, you need to pick what matters to you. But in everything you do time amplifies the difference between long and short-term games. The question you need to think about is when and where to play a long-term game. A good place to start is with things that compound: knowledge, relationships, and finances.
Change the game to Change the Result.
Change your mindset. Change your life.
Cheers, Channy xo
