Playing the Long Game

Hi, I’m David and my mission in life is to prepare people for the future of work.?

In this week’s edition of the newsletter the theme revolves around playing the long game, which is following the road less travelled by turning down what feels good now in favour of what we think will set us up for a better life later on. We will likely need to put up with criticism from those around us who are playing the short game (those who take shortcuts in life and do one-sided deals), who might tell us that we're boring or that we’re missing out. However, playing the short game is net negative, the longer you play it the harder things get and the more difficult it will be to reverse its negative effects since they tend to be hidden.?Below are some insights and thoughts that will help you avoid playing the short game, and instead focus on playing the long game and reaping the great rewards that come with it.?

Timeless Insight

“All returns in life come from compound interest in long term games.” – Naval Ravikant?

Today, more than ever, many people are distracted by short term outcomes. They build their lives on temporary hacks that do not stand the test of time instead of actionable habits, routines and principles that can be repeated over and over again. They are more excited about the next career hack and quick money-making scheme. If you use a similar approach you have more to lose, because when things don’t work out you lose both money and time, the latter taking twice as long to recover. A better approach is to play the long game: making incremental progress over long stretches of time and staying patient, not rushing. Whether you are compounding money, relationships, or skills, time is your greatest asset. So, if you want to increase your chances of success in the game of life, build better habits and learn to play the long game. And always remember: success is a marathon, not a sprint.?

Food for Thought

It’s easy to overestimate the importance of luck in someone’s success and underestimate the hard work, consistency, and patience that is behind any so-called ‘overnight success’. Too often, we convince ourselves that success is just luck, when it’s actually very far from it. Success is not about getting lucky. It’s about sticking to something for a long period of time, moving slow and steady, and building momentum. Success is about playing the long game.

Just like investing in the stock market, our efforts can compound over time too. This means that if we consistently make small increments each day we will reap major results if we are patient enough. That is what it means to make progress slowly, to play the long game. However, playing the long game doesn’t come easy, because, as Shane Parrish writes, “You have to be willing to look like an idiot in the short term to look like a genius in the long term.”

I believe that’s one of the main reasons so many people play the short game. To save face. Nobody likes to look like a fool in front of one’s family members, friends, and co-workers. The other reason people play the short game is because they lack patience and conviction. Everyone wants to win, but there is a difference between trying to win the moment and trying to win the decade. The latter requires doing hard things today that make the decade easier.

It’s easy to overestimate the importance of winning the moment and underestimate how it can cost you the ultimate goal. It’s a daily battle to focus on your ultimate goal, and not on the quick wins that lead to nowhere. If you play the long game, you stop optimising for today or tomorrow and start thinking ahead to the second-order consequences of your decisions. That might make you less efficient in the short term but much more effective in the long term.?

Playing the Short Game

The short game is intermittent. It’s as if Sisyphus pushes his huge boulder halfway up a hill, gets tired, lets it roll down the hill, and says to himself, “I’ll come back and do this tomorrow.”

Immediate and visible benefits seduce you into playing the short game. You win today but lose tomorrow. The short game is taking advantage of your counterparties. The short game is spending more than you earn. The short game is not sleeping as much as you need to. The longer you play the short game, the harder things get. Just as the accumulation of tiny advantages makes the future easier, the accumulation of tiny disadvantages makes it harder.?

If you take advantage of people, they won’t want to work with you in the future. If you follow a get-rich-quick scheme, you will end up back at zero. If you overcharge your customers, they’ll leave. If you don’t invest in your relationship, you will come home to an empty house. Only when the costs become too large to ignore we realise that we played the wrong game. But by then it will be too late for us to reverse them and we won’t be able to change course.?

Playing the Long Game

The most successful people in any field play the long game, which isn’t particularly notable. It doesn’t attract a lot of attention. In fact, from the outside, the long game looks quite boring:

• Leaving the party early to make sure you get enough sleep;
• Eating healthy food when everyone else is eating junk food;?
• Going for a walk or to the gym instead of watching Netflix;?
• Spending less than you make and investing your savings.

The first step in the long game is the hardest. You have to be willing to suffer a little today in order to make tomorrow just a little bit easier. And you have to be smart enough to know that just because you can’t see the tiny advantages that accrue doesn’t mean they are not there. As James Clear writes, “A good choice may go unrewarded for a long time. The greatest rewards are delayed. Things don't really take off until years later. Keep working. Be patient.”

The long game allows you to compound results. The longer you play, the bigger the rewards. The question 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. For example,? everyone knows that to get rich we should spend less than we make, invest the difference, and then wait. However, very few of us resist the temptation of a get-rich-quick scheme.?

Every decision you take is a step toward the short game or the long game. You can’t opt out and you can’t play a long term game in everything. You need to choose what matters to you.?

Article of the Week?

Playing The Long Game: Dorie Clark’s Strategies For Success

Caricature of the Week

Source: Condé Nast

Thank you for reading and keep on growing!

David

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