Financial shortsightedness is a condition whereby you experience difficulties seeing clearly the consequences of financial decisions you are about to make. Financial shortsightedness is a very common condition and it afflicts both young and old.
Gone with the wind
When you suffer from financial shortsightedness, you are boxed in within the moment. All you consider are immediate consequences. You spare thoughts for what happens afterward – 1, 5, 10 years down the line.
Most of the things we spend money on are here today, gone tomorrow. If you fast forward to 10 years’ time, virtually everything you own will disappear. That includes your phones, clothes, shoes, and cars. The only possession that may be left standing is your house, if you are not a tenant. That means most of what you spend money on has no long-term value. In a few year’s time, it’s all gone with the wind.
Financial shortsightedness is curable
The cure for financial shortsightedness is pretty simple. Change the way you think. Change the way you look at things. It is also known as a paradigm shift. Reading the book ‘Thinking for a change‘ by John Maxwell helped change the way I think. I came to realize there are different kinds of thinking that fit different situations. If all you respond to is what is right under your nose, you keep missing signs of danger flashing on the horizon.
You need to realize that all you see is not all there is. There are other views if you change where you are standing. What you see affects how you respond. You cannot pressurize me to do what I don’t want to do after I have put on my glasses and seen the consequence far off. I am okay with you being upset with me having seen the danger in giving in to your demands today.
It is the ability to see far that helped me stomach the consequences of actions I am taking today which may be unpopular with some.
The future is predictable
Seeing into the future is not as difficult as it seems. When you see the sky start to grow dark at midday, you know a storm or rain is not far off. If you see a boy and girl playing hanky panky, you know the cry of a newborn is 9 months ahead. If you go on a road trip with an empty tank, there should be no surprises if you run out of fuel along the way. When you spend all you earn today, there should be no surprises tomorrow if you are stranded financially.
If you have lived long enough, you have enough data to understand what happens when you take a particular course of action. Linking the effect to the cause is not rocket science. Sowing and reaping is a fundamental laws that cannot be broken. Any time you see reaping going on, look behind far enough and you will see where sowing took place.
That knowledge should guide the seeds we sow today. We need to put aside our financial shortsightedness and examine the long-term consequences before we take action. Delaying gratification can hurt. Telling a loved one no hurts. It is a good hurt. It purifies the soul and keeps the main thing the main thing. There is a time and a season for everything. When you mix up the timing, you suffer pain down the road.
Photo: gfsprivatewealth.com
