Most people tend to overestimate what they can get done in a single year. They drastically underestimate the changes they can make over a decade.
I used to be someone who was in a huge hurry for results. I'd start something and expect to see progress after just a few days. I'd pick up a skill and hope to master it in two short months. Every New Year, I'd set a ton of goals. I'd sign up for countless online courses and try to learn all sorts of so-called useful skills. But I was always chasing quick wins. The moment I hit a snag or a bottleneck, I'd throw in the towel. In the end, I seemed to have learned a lot. I was just scratching the surface of everything. A year would roll by. I'd feel like I hadn't grown at all compared to where I was the year before.
Does a decade sound like an eternity to spend on one thing? The sad truth is, so many people fixate on short-term gains. Ten years later, they're still left with nothing to show for it.
I recently read Invent and Wander. It's a business management collection of Jeff Bezos's writings, the founder of Amazon—the largest cross-border e-commerce platform in the US. The book says companies shouldn't be obsessed with short-term profits. Sticking to long-termism is the way to keep creating value for shareholders and customers. It's the way to keep a business competitive for the long haul.
Long-termism is more than just a way to do things. It's a value system. It matters a lot for our personal success—whether that's in our finances, careers, or daily lives. The top achievers in every field? Without exception, they're all long-termism practitioners.

I. What Is Long-termism?

Long-termism isn't about mindlessly killing time. It isn't about moving at a snail's pace either. It's about focusing on long-term value. It's about doing the same small, meaningful things over and over—things that build up over time, that give you compound returns.
Bezos puts it plainly. Long-termism means "building everything around long-term value." This idea has guided every big decision Amazon has ever made. Back in 1997, in his first shareholder letter, he said clearly: "The fundamental measure of our success will be the long-term value we create for shareholders. It will come directly from our ability to strengthen and extend our market leadership."
He also had a classic take. "The stock market is a voting machine in the short run and a weighing machine in the long run." He thought businesses should focus on things that won't change over the next 10 to 20 years. Things like customers wanting high-quality, cheap products, great service, and fast delivery. Most companies only care about short-term profits. Amazon is different. It always puts customers first. It sticks to maintaining long-term cash flow. This way of doing business is what made customers keep coming back. It's what cemented Amazon's spot as the industry leader.
For regular people, repeating compound-effect activities is the key to growing steadily and succeeding in the end.
Read for just 20 minutes a day. You'll finish at least 15 books a year. The things you read will slowly build a solid knowledge base in your head. They'll form a clear way of thinking. Later, when you face big decisions, all that reading will guide you;
Work out three to four times a week for a decade. When your peers start feeling old and worn out, you'll still be full of energy. You'll look years younger than them;
Put a small amount of money into a stable investment every month for ten years. When those who spend every penny they earn are stressed about money, you'll have a nice nest egg. You can use it to chase bigger goals.
But you have to tell the difference between mindless repetition and meaningful compounding work.
Reading without thinking is a waste of time. Copying inspirational quotes over and over doesn't count as long-termism either. True long-termism needs your real effort and focus. You have to think deeply about what you do. You have to summarize your experiences. You have to look back on your mistakes and fix them. Mindless, mechanical repetition? That's got nothing to do with long-termism.
At its heart, long-termism is about delayed gratification. It's the opposite of chasing instant pleasure and quick gains.
The world is full of temptations—fun things to do, tasty food to eat. If you spend your youth indulging in all that pleasure, splurging on luxury stuff, you'll end up with nothing. That said, I'm not against having a good time. Some timely fun is definitely needed. But you can't go overboard. Most of the time, you have to give up small joys to go after bigger, long-term goals. You have to make sacrifices to get greater rewards later.
Delayed gratification goes against our basic human instincts. Over 90% of people can't do it. If you can beat this weakness, you'll already be ahead of 90% of the crowd.

II. How to Practice Long-termism

To practice long-termism, first you need to figure out your long-term goals. Then you stick to them until you succeed. The road ahead will be full of challenges. But these mindsets can help you stay on track.

Flywheel Mindset: Start with the End in Mind

Every goal is hard to get off the ground at first. But once you build momentum, it'll keep going on its own—faster and faster. It's like pushing a giant flywheel. You have to use all your strength at the start. But once it spins fast enough, it'll keep going just with its own weight. You won't need to put in extra effort.
This mindset tells long-termists to push through the tough early days. It tells you to keep going even when no one notices you. When you've put in enough work, those tiny little changes will add up to a huge breakthrough. After that, the rest of the journey will get much easier.
That's why you need to keep your goals front and center at all times. You need to always know what's most important to do right now.
From day one, picture who you want to be in three years, in ten years. Then just take the small steps needed to become that person. There will be so many moments when you want to quit—when progress is too slow to see, when things get hard. But you have to hold onto your goals. Don't let yourself get stuck in bad feelings. Don't let small things make you anxious or confused.
Take me for example. I want to make a living as a writer in ten years. So for the next decade, I'll write something every single day. I'll keep putting words down. I'll hone my skills little by little. I won't stress out because no one reads my work right now. I won't panic because I'm not making any money from it yet.
Tip: Take some free time to write down what you want your health, skills, and finances to look like in three, five, or ten years. That's your North Star. It'll keep you pointed in the right direction.

Compounding Mindset: Trust the Power of Small Steps

Let's look at a few mathematical expressions:
1.01^365 = 37.8
Improve by just 1% each day. In a year, you'll be 37 times better than where you started.
1^365 = 1
Keep staying in your comfort zone. A year later, you'll be exactly the same as you are now.
0.99^365 = 0.03
Slip back by just 1% each day. In a year, you'll be almost back to square one.
1.02^365 = 1377.4
Improve by 2% each day. In a year, you'll be over 1,300 times ahead of your peers. This is the magic of quantitative change leading to qualitative change.
Exercising for 10 minutes a day, reading 10 pages of a book every day, writing 300 words daily, and learning one new thing each day – if you repeat these seemingly small efforts enough times, they will surprise you someday in the future.
Tip: Pick one or two compounding activities—like reading, writing, or working out. Stick to doing a little bit of them every single day.

Sculptor's Mindset: Cut Out the Unnecessary

The core of this mindset is "removing the excess." Success is actually a process of subtraction. It's like carving a statue out of a block of stone. You have to chip away all the extra parts. You only keep what's essential to your core goal.
Long-termism doesn't mean clinging to one thing no matter what. It means sticking to the right things. This mindset helps you stay focused when life gets messy. It stops you from wasting energy on trivial stuff. It lets you put your time and resources into the areas that really matter. That's how you grow efficiently.
Tip: When you're not sure if something is worth doing, ask yourself: Will this matter in ten years? Use a ten-year timeline to make your choices. It'll keep you from getting tangled up in short-term distractions.

Seed-sowing Mindset: Focus on the Process, Not the Outcome

This mindset tells us focusing on planting seeds, not just waiting for the harvest. It's about valuing the action itself. Consistent effort will pay off on day—even if you can't see results right away. It's like planting a seed. You have to be patient and wait for it to grow.
Whether something succeeds or not depends on what you do and how you do it.
You can turn the process of doing something into a simple step-by-step plan—a SOP. Just follow the steps every day. Stay focused on the present moment.
You can also think of life as a garden. Your job is to water and fertilize it every day. You don't stare at it anxiously, wondering why the flowers haven't bloomed yet.
As long as your system is running smoothly, the results will come naturally.
Tip: Break your big goals down into tiny, easy tasks. Don't set a goal like "read 20 books a year" or "lose 20 pounds in a year." Instead, build small habits like "read 10 pages before bed every night" or "do 30 sit-ups every day."
Before I wrap up, I want to remind you of a few pitfalls to watch out for when practicing long-termism. First, don't fall for perfectionism. Getting things done is always better than chasing perfection. Second, long-termism doesn't mean plowing ahead blindly. You still need short-term feedback. It helps you adjust your direction. It strengthens your resolve to keep going. I used to think I had to wait until everything was perfect before starting. I thought I just had to pick a path and charge forward without looking back. But the truth is, you can never predict everything 100%. Sustained positive short-term feedback will actually motivate you to stick with long-termism better. It'll help you finally get the results you want.