Finding a Long-Term Perspective in a Short-Term World

The immediacy of our culture in commerce, relationship, and finance is strictly focused on the short-term. Those investments in the future seem to get lost in the noise of today.

That’s why we run up debt individually and as a nation – because we don’t think about the future. And that’s why divorce is coursing its way through our society, because we aren’t thinking about a lifetime venture.

Chris Patton, who blogs at Christian Faith at Work, recently wrote about gaining a long-term outlook in a short-term world.

“Our thoughts should be focused on the eternal perspective, not on the temporal worries of this life,” he said. “Instead of worrying about our retirement or the travel we are going to enjoy, we should instead be focused on impacting other people for eternity …”

Social networking by nature is all about the now, and our fascination with Twitter and Facebook seems to have sucked the air out of the room regarding contemplation.

“Somehow, we need to learn to stop allowing our minds to be occupied with the stream of material desires, social status, and career success,” writes Chris.

I’m wondering how this can be applied to my workplace. Everything there seems to be focused on current results. The long, slow steady progress toward a goal has been replaced with rapid-fire daily performance, revenue, and productivity reports. The investment in people that wouldn’t see fruit for months or years has been replaced by expendable human capital.

What’s your experience? Are you, your family, and your employer looking to the future?

Read Chris’ entire post here.

Post by Newsletter Editor David Rupert. Image credits to be found in the accompanying gallery.