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There are different timeframes of success, where what might give reward right now, might cost rewards in the future. Not only this, there are different interpretations of timeframes themselves, where what might be considered long term for one, is considered mid or even short for another. The way we see time, is going to impact on our behaviors and therefore, our outcomes. 

Some of these things are pretty obvious that they aren't going to return results fast, like going to the gym to lose weight or put on muscle. Going once isn't going to make much impact, even going for a week or two, but consistently over the space of a couple months, and gains can be seen. And then, using the same example, combining it with other aspects like improved diet, can speed the results, shortening the timeframe for visible return. I say "visible" because even after the first session, there might be some kind of emotional return, which brings up feedback loops.  

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The feedback we get from our actions are a big part of whether we are going to continue or quit with a particular behavior. Again using the gym example, the pain felt on day one is a feedback that might not be pleasant, but for the seasoned gym-goer, that same pain is something that is a motivating factor, as they have learned to enjoy it because it indicates that they are making progress on their long-term goals. When the pain is missing, they *miss the pain.*

*Pain* is an interesting factor, because in general without it, we tend not to pay much attention or, we tend not to make any changes in our lives for the better. Pain is a reason to act, and only when there is enough pain will something happen. For example, if a business has a challenge that costs them $50k a year, but the cost to solve that problem is going to be $30K a year, they might choose to do nothing about it. However, if the challenge is $100K a year and the cost to overcome is $30K, they might consider it worth it. The pain has to be big enough, and the benefit difference wide enough, in order to act. A minor inconvenience can be ignored, especially if there are other things that can be focused on instead. 

Unlike businesses though, we as individuals are much more "in the moment" in the sense that we heavily favor short-term rewards, even when we are looking for long-term gains. If our short term actions align with accomplishing our long term goals, all is well, but they rarely do, because there are many other immediate actions that bring larger immediate rewards than that of the long term vision. It is like favoring the taste of food over the value of food. The immediate reward of good flavor is stronger than the immediate feeling of eating for long-term health. Similarly, the strength of short-term feedback of buying, is stronger than the feeling of good done by saving, or investing. 

We have been conditioned over the last decades to be hyper sensitive to the way we feel in the moment and to focus on the moment itself. This means that we are going to value the immediate rewards far more strongly than the mid and long. It is the path of least resistance, but it adds increasing resistance in other areas of our life as we move further into the mid and long term future, which inevitably becomes our present. Saving now might come with a little pain, but having nothing later in an increasingly expensive world inflicts a lot. 

But, just like we aren't good at predicting compounding interest into the future, we are just at bad at predicting how we are going to feel in the future conditions of our life. We don't realize how much compounding impact our actions have now on our later state, and because we favor the immediate "taste good" wins over the *good for us* wins, we are on average going to have negative impacts on our potential, realizing less and less of what we could have, had we invested more into building our future position.

In general, people tend to take the position that there is always more opportunity tomorrow, and put things off. While true if making it to tomorrow, this doesn't account for the loss of potential opportunity from our actions today. Everything has an opportunity cost, and every action takes energy. How much energy that action costs, and how much it returns, depends on what it is, what it compounds against, and how long it impacts on the situation. If we maximize short gains, we might get a larger return immediately, but if that return doesn't add value over time, a mid to long term action performed now will out perform it eventually. 

And, of course, the other aspect of this is that when favoring short term behaviors and rewards, there is a lot of volatility, meaning that a lot of decisions need to be made, a lot of actions taken and, there is a lot of variation in the outcomes. The cost of this is not just the loss of potential return, it is also the mental and emotional weight that can come with it, as for most people, it returns lower peace of mind. Lots of small wins perhaps, but at what cost?

Aligning our immediate actions to our future goals can be difficult, because a lot of the behaviors and habits needed require a lot of repetition and consistency, without a lot of immediate reward. But perhaps the more difficult part, is that they live in a marketplace of opportunity and choice, with a lot of what is on offer offering far greater immediate emotional return, even if they compete with our future wants and needs. 

We talk about the "attention economy" as if it is a new thing, but *all economies* rely on attention of one kind or another, especially the economy of the individual. The only thing we really have to spend in order to accomplish our goals in life is our attention, and if we spread it too thin, or apply it in places that conflict with our mid to long term wants in order to satisfy our immediate desires, we are going to run into debt, or at the very least, not make the gains we might require for our ow wellbeing. 

Our lives are made up of an immeasurable amount of links of actions, with each impacting on the next to create many chains into the future, with them all twisting together to make a lifetime. It might not seem like it matters much what we do right now, but the quality of the next link is going to be affected, and the quality of every link to come also. 

We can't change the past links in the chain, but right now, we can strengthen the next. 

Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]


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