Opinions: Why do people prefer short-term mentality over long-term?

[GrigoriySidelnikov]

Let's discuss:

1) Why do people prefer to align their actions with the mentality of getting things done on the short-term scale. The obvious reason is that they want something done sooner. But are their expectations realistic?

2) How long is the long-term scale? Do people avoid it for legitimate reasons? 3 years to achieve something great is probably not a long period of time, in comparison with shooting for many short-term goals that have lower return rate, during that same period of time.

[Ceoarob]

Path of least resistance.

Road of the least amount of energy expenditure.

The best quote I've ever heard about long-term thinking vs short-term is this:

"Short-term feel good usually leads to long-term feel bad"

-AR

[sorter]

I doubt it's as conscious as you make it sound.

Upbringing probably has something to do with it. If your parents impressed on you the importance of planning by words or example, than you might tend to plan.

Although, to counter my on argument, my brother bought land at a young age and built a house, had children etc.
I've never wanted to be "tied down" by a mortgage or children.
I've missed out on some things because of that, but I like how my life has turned out.

Maybe it's a matter of karma.

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[VinceG]

It's cognitive. We're simply programmed to value immediate gains.

There's also an element of uncertainty. Long term behavior is often difficult to quantify, forcing us to choose short term gains over it.

[Mounds]

Bah... Vince beat me to it.
I agree, it's hard wired. Imagine your living like an animal, as we did not that long ago. You simply would not care what's going to happen within a couple years. Hell, you probably wouldn't be thinking about this time next week!
I actually think that's part of the reason we procrastinate. Looking longterm, we can see that something would be nice to have. We can even come up with a reasonable timeline to achieve it. Then when we try, we just stop because there is no immediate return. You pretty much have to fool your brain into thinking it's achieving things left and right (take a huge goal and break it into a dozen small goals. Way easier).
Anyhow, I'm done rambling.

[sorter]

Rich people can afford to indulge their short-term impulses
and fritter away their money, but generally they don't.
They build houses, families and engage in lots of long-term stuff.

The more I think about it, I'm not sure short-term is preferred over long-term.

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