How Thinking Long Term Can Help You in the Short Term

There’s something I love about seeing long-term strategies pay off. It’s the delayed gratification, the strategic patience, and the commitment to a vision that can be decades away from fruition.

Apple's ‘Kids Can’t Wait’ Program

Take Steve Jobs in the 1980s, for example. At a time when personal computers were far from ubiquitous, he had a vision to put Apple IIs in every elementary and secondary school in North America. This wasn’t just about selling computers in the short term—it was about planting seeds for the future.

The thinking was simple but genius—if children grew up learning on an Apple computer, their families would eventually buy Apple computers for the home. And as these children grew into adults, they would have an ingrained familiarity with and preference for Apple products, making them lifelong customers.

To make this happen, Apple launched the ‘Kids Can’t Wait’ program, donating nearly 10,000 computers to schools across California. This was a bold move, especially for a company that wasn’t the tech behemoth it is today. It was an investment in the future, in a generation that would go on to associate learning, creativity, and personal computing with Apple.

Focusing on the Long Term

Fast forward to today, and Apple is one of the most valuable companies in the world, with a brand loyalty that other companies can only dream of. Much of this can be traced back to those early seeds of long-term thinking—fostering familiarity and trust from a young age, laying the groundwork for future loyalty.

Yet, too often, I see companies fixated on the short-term. Their focus is on the next quarter’s earnings, the next fiscal year, the immediate return on investment. They pour resources into quick wins and immediate results, neglecting to think about where they want to be in the next 10, 15, or 20 years. This short-sighted approach leaves them constantly scrambling for the next opportunity, without building the lasting foundations that lead to sustained success.

What they fail to realize is that long-term thinking doesn’t just shape the distant future—it informs what you do in the short term. When you know where you want to be in a decade, every move you make today becomes part of a larger strategy. You start building relationships, creating brand recognition, and making decisions that might not pay off immediately but will yield immense value down the line.

Community Building for Brands

Investing in community-building now might not provide an immediate sales boost, but over time, it fosters a loyal customer base that continues to grow and advocate for your brand. Likewise, creating valuable, memorable content today might not result in an immediate surge of traffic, but it contributes to a long-term brand identity that people will trust and turn to when they’re ready to make a purchase.

Think about the brands we admire today—Apple, Nike, Patagonia. These companies didn’t get where they are by chasing quarterly profits. They got there by playing the long game, by building relationships with their customers, and by creating products and experiences that stand the test of time.

So the question is: What seeds are you planting today for the future you want to create tomorrow?

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