The 50th Law (with 50 Cent)

deeper look at the source of problems, a wider perspective on the
overall context of the situation, and a look further into the future—
including the consequences of our actions and our own long-term
priorities.
As we go through this process, certain options and explanations will
begin to seem more logical and realistic than others that grabbed us in
the moment. We add to this the lessons we have learned over the years
about our own patterns of behavior. In this way, though we cannot re-
create the full effect that time has on our thinking, we can approximate
it. Most often the passing months give us even more information and
reveal better options for us to have taken. We are manufacturing this
effect in the present by widening what we consider and opening our
minds. We are moving up the mountain. Such an elevated perspective
can calm us down and make it easier for us to maintain our presence of
mind as events unfold.
Although this stands as an ideal, we must admit that such a
perspective is rare among us humans. It seems to require an effort that
is almost beyond us. The reason for this is simple: short-term thinking
is hardwired into our system; we are built to respond to what is
immediate and to seek out instant gratification. For our early human
ancestors, it paid to notice what was potentially dangerous in the
environment or what offered an opportunity for food. The human
brain as it evolved was designed not to examine the full picture and
context of an event but to home in on the most dramatic features. This
worked well in a relatively simple environment and amid the simple
social organization of the tribe. But it is not suited to the complex
world we now live in. It makes us take notice mostly of what stimulates
our senses and emotions, and miss much of the larger picture.
This has a decided impact on how we view the potential pleasure or
pain involved in a situation. Our brains are designed to make us notice
what could immediately harm us in our surroundings but not to pay
great attention to other dangers looming in the future that are more

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abstract. This is why we tend to give much more attention to
something like terrorism (immediate pain), which certainly deserves
our scrutiny, than to global warming (distant pain), which in fact
represents the greater danger since it puts the very survival of the
planet at risk. But such a danger seems abstract in the present. By the
time it becomes not abstract at all, it might be too late. We tend also to
grab for things that offer immediate pleasure, even if we know about
the negative long-term consequences. That is why people continue to
smoke, drink, do drugs, or engage in any self-destructive behavior in
which the destruction is not immediate and dramatic.
In a world that is complex, with myriad dangers that loom in the
future, our short-term tendencies pose a continual threat to our well-
being. And as our attention spans decrease because of technology, the
threat is even greater. In many ways we are defined by our relationship
to time. When we simply react to what we see and hear, when we swing
from excitement and exuberance to fear and panic at each new piece of
dramatic news, when we gear our actions toward gaining as much
pleasure as possible in the moment without a thought for future
consequences, we can say that we are giving in to our animal nature, to
what is most primitive and potentially destructive in our neurological
makeup.
When we strive to go against this grain, to consider more deeply the
consequences of what we do and the nature of our long-term priorities,
we are straining to realize our true human potential as the thinking
animal. And just as short-term thinking can be contagious, one
individual who embodies the wisdom of the farsighted perspective can
have an immensely positive effect on the people around him or her.
Such individuals make us aware of the larger picture and reveal a
mind-set that we recognize as superior. We want to imitate them.
Throughout history there have been various icons of this wisdom to
inspire and guide us: Joseph in the Old Testament, who could see into
the hearts of men and foresee the future; Socrates of ancient Greece,
who taught us how to be less foolish and more consequential in our
thinking; the brilliant strategist Zhuge Liang of ancient China, who
could predict every movement of the enemy; leaders such as Queen
Elizabeth I and Abraham Lincoln, renowned for the success of their
long-term strategizing; the very patient and prescient scientist Charles
Darwin, who finally exposed the effects of deep time on the evolution

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of all living things; and Warren Buffett, the most successful investor in
history, whose power is based on his farsighted perspective.
If possible, avoid deep contact with those whose time frame is
narrow, who are in continual react mode, and strive to associate with
those with an expanded awareness of time.