Short Term Quotes

“There are guys who grow up thinking they'll settle down some distant time in the future, and there are guys who are ready for marriage as soon as they meet the right person. The former bore me, mainly because they're pathetic; and the latter, quite frankly, are hard to find. But it's the serious ones I'm interested in, and it takes time to find a guy like that whom I'm equally interested in. I mean, if the relationship can't survive the long term, why on earth would it be worth my time and energy for the short term?”
― Nicholas Sparks, The Last Song

“We don’t like delayed responses, but businesses aren’t meant to be short-term.”
― Pooja Agnihotri, 17 Reasons Why Businesses Fail :Unscrew Yourself From Business Failure

“Tomorrow, your job is to change the world into a better place. Today, my job is to see that everyone gets there.”
― Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full of Sky

“[Clayton] Christensen had seen dozens of companies falter by going for immediate payoffs rather than long-term growth, and he saw people do the same thing. In three hours at work, you could get something substantial accomplished, and if you failed to accomplish it you felt the pain right away. If you spent three hours at home with your family, it felt like you hadn't done a thing, and if you skipped it nothing happened. So you spent more and more time at the office, on high-margin, quick-yield tasks, and you even believed that you were staying away from home for the sake of your family. He had seen many people tell themselves that they could divide their lives into stages, spending the first part pushing forward their careers, and imagining that at some future point they would spend time with their families--only to find that by then their families were gone.”
― Larissa MacFarquhar

“Our favorite holding period is forever. We are just the opposite of those who hurry to sell and book profits when companies perform well but who tenaciously hang on to businesses that disappoint. Peter Lynch aptly likens such behavior to cutting the flowers and watering the weeds.”
― Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway Letters to Shareholders

“One may suffer the long-term in order to grow in appreciation for the small things. For in short-term suffering, one only notices the large.”
― Criss Jami, Healology

“You will make better decisions once you begin thinking long-term rather than short-term.”
― Adam Smith

“Be willing to pass through a short term pain so that you can come out with a long term gain. Don't fear the horrible waves of the waters; just dare to cross and you get there!”
― Israelmore Ayivor, Daily Drive 365

“Never allow your short term temperament to affect your long term decisions.”
― Moutasem Algharati

“As a species, we haven’t evolved to plan 20 years into the future. As a rule, our decision-making is myopic, shortsighted, and lacks imagination. We’re heavily incentivized to seek rewards in the present, which can greatly cost our long-term Future Selves.

[If you don't] think and strategize long term, [you'll be distracted by the short-term.]
You’ll be caught up by endless distractions throughout your day.
Your decisions will be myopic.
You’ll cost your Future Self greatly, putting them deeper in debt in all ways.”
― Benjamin P. Hardy, Be Your Future Self Now: The Science of Intentional Transformation

“We are more fascinated today by statistical predictions of what the country will be thinking in a few weeks’ time than by visionary predictions of what the country will look like in 10 or 20 years from now.”
― Peter Thiel, Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future

“Ignoring the facts for short-term gain will almost always bring long-term pain.”
― Eldon Henson, Achieving your best day yet!: A more fulfilling career... a more impactful life

“I missed the crowds in those big stadiums, the flashbulbs, the roaring cheers - the majesty of the whole thing. I missed it bitterly. So did my father. We shared a thirst to return; unspoken, undeniable.”
― Mitch Albom, For One More Day

“Truly in the short term, there tends to be no consequences to our act of irresponsibility. However in the long run most of those kids we refused to pay attention to are now grown ups and are the fearful nocturnal visitors with weapons attacking the same neighbourhood, raping our daughters and wives, maiming our sons and husbands, turning our lives into a nightmare. Our response? Another blame game.”
― Sunday Adelaja

“Interest in temperament as an individual difference dimension of importance in one's behavior leads to reanalysis of both theoretical and methodological considerations relating to the construct.”
― Moutasem Algharati

“Elite athletes know something that most people don’t—adversity is the best thing that can happen to you. The competitors here at the Games know that humans only improve through adversity by embracing short-term pain.”
― Ben Bergeron, Chasing Excellence: A Story About Building the World’s Fittest Athletes

“The most damaging aspect of contemporary living is short-term thinking.”
― Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here for?

“The competitors here at the Games know that humans only improve through adversity by embracing short-term pain.”
― Ben Bergeron, Chasing Excellence: A Story About Building the World’s Fittest Athletes

“It is easy to underrate how long it takes to implement a new idea. Researchers estimate that it takes 30 years for a groundbreaking development to progress from initial idea to a commercially viable product.

Middle management often extols the value of short-term strategies that react to market circumstances. Kodak used short-term strategies to keep its analogue photography business going. But the expression 'short-term strategy' is in fact an oxymoron, because trying to reach short-term goals is not strategic by definition.”
― Oliver Gassmann, The Business Model Navigator: 55 Models That Will Revolutionise Your Business

“Laughing is a state of joy and joy is short-term. Laughing is synthetic happiness.”
― Vikrmn: CA Vikram Verma, Smiling Brahma

“Because we’re disconnected from our Future Selves, we opt for near immediate goals or dopamine hits. This short-term seeking ends up costing our Future Selves big.

[Example of this, from comedian Jerry Seinfeld]
Late at night, I think, “Well, it’s night, I’m having a good time, I don’t want to go to sleep. I’m Night Guy. Getting up after five hours’ sleep? That’s Morning Guy’s problem. Let him worry about that. I’m Night Guy, I’ve got to party.”
Then you get up after five hours of sleep, you’re cranky, you’re exhausted.
Night Guy always screws Morning Guy.”
― Benjamin P. Hardy, Be Your Future Self Now: The Science of Intentional Transformation

“Body built through shortcuts stays for a short term.”
― Vikrmn: CA Vikram Verma, Rep By Rep

“In December 2023, the Hawaii government was telling rental owners they were about to ‘drop the hammer’ or go ‘nuclear’ on short-term housing rentals on Maui, as several thousand wildfire victims were still living in hotels.”
― Steven Magee