Become a Long Term Thinker in a Short Term World

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A2A on Quora:

There are several things you can do to encourage a long-term mindset.

Learn history: Learning about history can broaden your perspective and encourage long-term thinking. In history, you can see how events unfold in different timeframes and recognize that sometimes the impacts of our actions have long-term consequences.

Study the history of social movements: Most social movements you study, such as the women’s suffrage movement, will illustrate that results often take longer than expected. The women who worked tirelessly for the right to vote passed away before that right was finally achieved. They took a long-term view of their efforts realizing that they would not be the beneficiaries of their actions.

Learn About the Long Now: The Long Now Foundation specifically encourages long-term thinking. As they state on their website: “Our work encourages imagination at the timescale of civilization — the next and last 10,000 years --
a timespan we call the long now.”

Read The Good Ancestor: For very specific tips on how to foster long-term thinking read Roman Krznaric’s book The Good Ancestor: How to Think Long Term in a Short Term World.​

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