Your circle of people and time should always be expanding
Summary
- A baby has a very small circle. It only knows itself, and it only knows right now. But as it grows it starts to consider others in its decisions, and to think longer and longer in the future
Details
- Our cicles should keep expanding such that we are able to consider many people in our decisions, and to consider a much bigger period of time
- The bigger the community we affect, the better
- the longer we are able to think in time the better
- This principle can also apply to ideas, planning, knowlege, and our knowlege of individuals
References
Quotes
A toddler wants what they want. Right now. Or a tantrum ensues.
As we mature, we expand our circles. Instead of focusing on just ourselves, we consider our family or our neighbors. Over time, we realize that traditional boundaries of caste or class or geography are not real but imaginary, and so we productively include more and more people in our “we.”The expanding isn’t merely a good feeling. It’s also a practical and effective way to create culture and possibility.
Strategy helps us see that now is also easily extended. We can include yesterday and tomorrow in our experience of what’s right in front of us. As we grow up, we learn that investing in tomorrow is smarter than always insisting that we get something today.
The Iroquois Confederacy lived by a simple principle: “In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.”
Strategy challenges us to make each circle bigger. The circle of us can grow and include the people we interact with and the community we hope to lead.
And the circle of now embraces our relationship with time. Effort in the short run creates the conditions for the long run we’d like to live with.
Who do we want as leaders, neighbors, or co-workers? Selfish tantrums are for toddlers. When we expand our circles, we are able to step into the possibility of better. While the smallest circle of now is this instant, some people plan a week ahead while others imagine their life or the life of their kids.
The difficult part around long-term change is simple: that sort of effort is not now enough for most people.