Ep. 15 - Easy choices, hard life. Hard choices, easy life.

Easy choices, hard life. Hard choices, easy life.

I’ve been thinking about this quote from Jerzy Gregorek for the past few weeks. I continue to see it pop-up in my life in varying circumstances. We all long for the easiest path. The path of least resistance. And although strategic laziness is beneficial at times, the majority of great outcomes are the result of hard decisions. Hard choices = easy life. Here are a few examples.

• What’s easier, continuing to watch Netflix or exercising? Netflix, of course.
• Staying in a mediocre job or quitting and pursuing entrepreneurship/your dream? That mediocre job - always.
• Playing it safe, or taking large, calculated risks? Playing it safe, obviously.

Everyone knows that exercising is more beneficial than watching Netflix. Entrepreneurship will always outperform a mediocre job. And exposing yourself to unlimited upside with limited downside risk is a path to having skin in the game, and creating wealth.

So why don’t we do it? Society continues to make easy choices and forgoes hard decisions at the expense of their well-being. The short-term discomfort may be too intense for some. Or, there is the mentality of 'there is always tomorrow'.  The other choices, or the ‘status quo’, is therefore easy. It keeps people comfortable, until it doesn't.

Humans are notoriously bad at thinking for the long-term. We are creatures that crave instant gratification. This mindset is damaging. Damaging to our health, our mental well-being, and the community in which we live.

Think about government officials and ‘economists’ when they attempt to predict economic performance and the future of climate change. First, they're always wrong. Second, in order to cover themselves and 'act' in the long-term, they set metrics that are decades away. You hear things like this; “we’ll be carbon neutral by 2040.” Bullshit. The executives at the company/government organization are charlatans. They will divert to the easy choice. The choice that will benefit them the most in the short-term (shareholder value or re-election). And, after their term is over, they won't even be around in 2040. They have no skin in the game. They're empty suits.

It's human nature. We want instant gratification. We look out for number one. And in this process we usually end up damaging our future selves and the environment we live in.

How I've attempted to avoid this trap

I fall victim to the short-term mindset often, but I try to snap out of it just as quickly. I've reframed my mindset to look at life as mini-games, and games which never end (i.e. long-term). I used to look at goal dates. Retirement by age X, million dollar net worth by age X, successful business in X amount of years, and so on. This thinking had me consistently chasing easy wins, or looking for the easiest possible route. Which I learned will fail 99% of the time.

Since adopting this new mindset my life has completely changed. I'm no longer in a rush, but I've also never been closer to my goals. However, my goals have been evolving as I do. They're more fluid now. When thinking in games, what used to feel like years away, or my '5 year plan', came true in under a year. Many of these goals that were met were the result of starting Elevate Financial. Starting a company was anything but easy. It's a great example of hard choices providing asymmetric returns.

Make hard choices and focus on the long-term. Play long-term games, with long-term people. It's much more fun, it removes you from that rate-race mentality, and will help you achieve your dreams 10x faster, whatever they may be.

Focusing on the process is hard. Focusing on the events, quick wins, and mediocrity is easy. Make hard choices, play the game, and reiterate.