What to do about short-term-itus

I am undertaking an experiment.

Like lots of people, I can be prone to proximity biases. These happen in relation to time and space.

One spatial example could be a manager who needs a project done. Person A is sitting in their office (even if it's an online office), and despite Person B having more capacity and capability, they reach for the nearest person. So Person A it is.

And we see this playing out in relation to time all the time. Short-term thinking pervades our individual lives, our workplace and our world.

We stay in bed rather than get up and exercise.

Companies focus on quarterly profits.

It's easier to keep doing what we already do rather than tackle climate change.

Now I can't control all of those. But I was interested in becoming more aware of this bias in my thinking. So here is what I am doing.

I have three jars. The jar on the right is my long-term decisions jar. It starts the day with some glass pebbles in it, and the jar on the left (my short-term decisions jar) and in the centre (my transition jar) are both empty.

Every time I recognise I am making a short-term decision, like staying in bed for another half an hour, getting takeaway when I could easily cook, or not attempting the more difficult pose in yoga, for instance, I move one pebble from the long-term jar to the short-term jar on the right.

I could have chosen the long-term over the short-term. But I didn't.

Now I can get the short-term pebble back into the long-term jar by making two long-term choices. The pebble moves to the transition jar when I make the first long-term choice and back to the long-term jar with the second long-term decision.

At the end of the day, I see where things have landed.

Some days I need to get more pebbles out of the cupboard to put in the long-term jar. On other days, the short-term jar is empty, which is ideal.

Do I always remember to put the pebbles in? No. Do I notice every decision I make? No. But I am noticing more and more.

But it's not about the numbers.

It's about becoming conscious of the choices and decisions we make each day.

It's perfectly fine to make short-term decisions, but it's also a good idea to realise the choice you are NOT making, reflect on the implications and ask yourself if it aligns with what you value, and what is truly important to you.