Seth’s rules – act accordingly

Seth Godin (sethgodin.com) is a prolific author who writes about ideas, helping us to think about changing the way we do things. His pithy blog posts have a huge following. If you don’t have the inclination to receive a short daily email from him, his blog is with worth dipping in and out of for inspiration.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/

Here’s a post by Seth that I like. It reads like poetry.

 

The short run and the long run

It’s about scale. Pick a long enough one (or a short enough one) and you can see the edges.

In the short run, there’s never enough time.

In the long run, constrained resources become available.

In the short run, you can fool anyone.

In the long run, trust wins.

In the short run, we’ve got a vacancy, hire the next person you find.

In the long run, we spend most of our time with the people we’ve chosen in the short run.

In the short run, decisions feel more urgent and less important at the same time.

In the long run, most decisions are obvious and easy to make.

In the short run, it’s better to panic and obsess on emergencies and urgencies.

In the long run, spending time with people you love, doing work that matters, is all that counts.

In the short run, trade it all for attention.

In the long run, it’s good to own it (the means of production, the copyrights, the process).

In the short run, burn it down, someone else will clean up the problem.

In the long run, the environment in which we live is what we need to live.

In the short run, better to cut class.

In the long run, education pays off.

In the short run, tearing people down is a great way to get ahead.

In the long run, building things of value makes sense.

Add up the short runs, though, and you’re left with the long run. It’s going to be the long run a lot longer than the short run will last.

Act accordingly.

The outline of two footsteps
Don’t just stand there. Act accordingly.      (photo by schan)
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