T I m e m a n a g e m e n t

Long Time Perspective
Dr. Edward Banfield of Harvard University conducted more
than fifty years of research into the attitudes and behaviors
of high-performing people, both in America and worldwide.
He identified one special quality that seemed to separate the
high performers from the low performers. He called it “long
time perspective.” Banfield found that high performers took
the time to think far into the future, often ten and twenty
P R O J E C T F O R W A R D , L O O K B A C K W A R D
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years, and to develop absolute clarity about where they
wanted to be in their lives and work at that time. They then
come back to the present and make sure that everything
they are doing in the moment is consistent with where they
want to be in the future.
This is a powerful technique that you can use, too.
Project forward one, two, or three years, and imagine that
your life situation is ideal in every way. Create a clear mental
picture of what your work situation would be if it were per-
fect. From this vantage point of the future, look around you
and describe your ideal life and work situation. Then, ask
yourself if what you are doing right now is consistent with
the creation of your ideal future.
From that future vantage point, look back at yourself, to
where you are today, and see the steps that you will need to
take to get to where you want to go. This “back from the
future thinking” is a practice of many top executives.
Make Better Decisions in the Present
For example, a young woman decides that she wants to be
very successful in business in her adult life. With this clear
long-term perspective in mind, the individual works many
extra hours to get excellent grades in high school so that she
will qualify for a good college. In college, the individual takes
harder courses and studies much longer than her peers to
graduate as close as possible to the top of her class.
As a result of many years of hard work and study, and
putting off the immediate gratification of parties, sports,
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and social life, the individual graduates at a high level from
a prestigious university and is then hired by a large company,
where she has the opportunity to get paid more and pro-
moted faster than classmates who were not really thinking
about the future at all.
When you are clear about where you want to be some-
time in the future, it is much easier for you to make better
decisions in the present. The rule is that long-term vision
improves short-term decision making. You have heard the
saying, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will
get you there.”
The habit of developing long time perspective is quite
powerful. By projecting into the future and looking back to
the present, you will often see steps that you could take,
and mistakes that you could avoid. This exercise will help
you to crystallize your values. It will give you the internal
tools to organize your time and activities so that what you
are doing today is moving you toward the creation of your
ideal future.