An Unequal Exchange

We spin our wheels for years because we keep trading what we want from life globally for a small pleasure available right here and now.

Why do we keep spinning our wheels?

One of the reasons we can go for years without feeling any real progress in our life is that we allow an unequal exchange into it.

That is when we trade the things we can get right here and now for the things we want to get out of life globally.

For example:

Globally we want a healthy, lean body — but right here and now we want fries and a burger.

Globally we want a happy relationship — but right here and now we want to shout all of our irritation into the face of the person we love.

Globally we want financial freedom and personal capital — but right here and now a new iPhone has just come out…

And it is like this in every area of life. We choose either a small pleasure now, or big impressive results later.

So to start making real progress in our life, we have to answer one question for ourselves: “What matters more to me? $10 now, or $10,000 in a year?”

Most people choose the pleasure right here and now, and so globally they spin their wheels and end up with that feeling of sitting beside a broken trough.

But as soon as strategic gain starts beating tactical pleasure, our inner sails fill with the fresh air of progress and we breathe with a full, happy chest.

P.S. Pursuing big goals with discipline doesn’t mean we do nothing at all that makes us happy in the moment. I deliberately fill my schedule with things I love.

I simply don’t let a harmful pleasure here and now throw me away from the life I want to live in the future.

So in which areas are you choosing the short-term gain over the long-term today?