By Leland Pulley
It is easy to live on a day-to-day basis. The focus is on doing what needs to be done and getting through the day. Hopefully, there will be some time and energy left over to do a few things you want. Everyone has had such days. The question is, how often do we have them? When we experience them, how long of time period do we go without some better days in between?
There are lots of reasons why we exist on a day-to-day basis. Some of the more basic ones are the following. We have poor circumstances in our lives. There is lack of hope and optimism. There is little change. You merely go along and accept things as you have done in the past.
There are other more personal reasons for day-to-day living. Sometimes you simply get busy and time flies by unnoticed. Other times there are more demands placed on you and you strive to meet them before satisfying some of your own needs. Perhaps you are not feeling well on a particular day so you merely struggle through it. At times another person has negative interaction with you and you are bothered by this. You think about the incident during the day and your attention is turned away from more important things. Also, anyone can be caught in a bad situation that is unexpected and not your fault. This can dominate the whole day or many days. Some good examples of this are traffic jams, airport delays so a flight is missed, and an auto accident involving yourself or a family member.
One common and important reason for day-to-day living is short-term thinking. No matter how things are going in your life, short-term thinking only makes matters worse. It does not provide as many ways to improve your life and get out of your situation as long-term thinking.
Here are some illustrations of short-term thinking and its impact on your life.
- You focus on today primarily, with little planning for tomorrow.
- You get the news via television sound bites, rather than obtaining a more complete version of it through reading. You are partially informed, not fully informed.
- You find yourself reacting more to your environment, instead of acting or carrying out your own purposes. You are more a victim this way, instead of someone who can defend yourself or even bring about positive changes for yourself and others.
- You live from paycheck to paycheck, rather than have a budget, savings plan, and some financial planning for your future. If an unexpected bill comes up, you have a problem. The payday loan people love to charge you high interest rates.
- Relationships are more acquaintances than personal friends whom you can trust and share personal information with in confidence. Personal friends are there when you need them.
- Things are done too much on a spur of the moment basis, rather than having sufficient planning with goals and priorities, which adds structure to your life.
- Decisions are made without thinking them through carefully. You make a better decision when you use some time to think about it before deciding.
- You have a few sexual partners over the years, but never experience a happy and enduring marriage.
In contrast to short-term thinking, there is long-term thinking. Here the emphasis switches to longer time periods. You learn from the past, enjoy today, and plan for the future. You do not do things today that will produce bad memories tomorrow and lower the quality of life in the future. More perspective is needed for long-term thinking. You learn to see beyond the obvious, the immediate, and the little things of today. You make plans for tomorrow and carry them out so daily living then is better than daily living today. This is the real challenge. This is what gets you excited about life. You are more in control, while your circumstances and other people have less impact on you.
Long-term thinking requires more knowledge in various areas, as well as wisdom gained through experience. It utilizes realistic goals and priorities. It demands the sacrifice of some pleasure today for some gain tomorrow.
Both short-term and long-term thinking are needed to run your life in an effective way and be successful in your endeavors. The trick is to balance them so you can utilize both to your advantage. Whether you use one, or at times both, depends on the task at hand and the thing you want to achieve.
Here are some ways short-term and long-term thinking are mixed.
- Clothing – When you need an item of clothing, you go buy it. This is immediate and short-term thinking. If you are looking at the fashions this year and comparing them to your current wardrobe, then some long-term thinking is utilized. Do you need any clothes this year and are the current fashions suitable for you? Maybe they do not look good on you and it would be best to wait another year before replacing part of your wardrobe.
- Relationships – You are in a relationship with someone that satisfies some of your needs today. This is OK for now, but what about the future? Where is this relationship going? You can continue to live week by week in a companionship. If you begin to look with long-term perspective, you will seek adjustments in the relationship so it provides more to both of you in the future. This means more sharing, commitment to each other, fidelity, marriage, and even having kids together. Ultimately this leads to stronger ties and more happiness.
- Job – You are in a Monday through Friday, 8am to 5pm job that pays OK, but you are not able to save much money. There is no job training for a higher position, so you are stuck at a certain level in the company. You can remain here and let the short-term situation continue. Instead, you can begin to take classes or get job training in some way to eventually get a better job. This is letting long-term thinking govern the present.
We all need to think about what we are doing and why we do it. Both short-term and long-term thinking are needed. Learn to utilize both as you strive to improve yourself and your life. Then you will realize even more that short-term thinking supports short-term living, which emphasizes the present. Long-term thinking supports long-term living, which emphasizes the future. How you blend these two together will vary over the years, as your circumstances change. There will be periods in your life when short-term thinking is more dominant and other times when long-term thinking plays a more dominant role in your decisions. Be flexible and be smart. Then you will get the most life can offer you.
Review the various areas of your life. Are you living day-to-day too much? Do you need more long-term thinking? Determine what changes are needed and make them.
Key Words – circumstances, change, day-to-day living, short-term thinking, relationships, decisions, long-term thinking, perspective, wisdom, short-term living, long-term living
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