Fast forward thinking

What seems impractical, risky & nonsensical can turn out to be extremely practical in hindsight.

What difference does it make in the next 5-6 years? A brilliant question to judge if what you are doing NOW is or isn't the right thing to do.

If you go by the chaos theory or the butterfly effect, your simple decision now is bound to cause a huge difference in the not-so-near future, which (IMHO) in the human lifetime is 5-6 years.

We are aware of the short-term impacts of most of our decisions; buying that phone/house, changing a job or location, marrying that person, or taking that vacation which doesn't seem affordable now.

However, it is in hindsight that we realise why something wasn't a good decision, especially when we recall our decision 5-6 years later. Some examples off-the-cuff.

Doing something that you can't afford
If you decide to be practical and ‘NOT’ spend some 100,000 on your honeymoon (as it is 40 per cent more than your budget). However, six years from now, 100,000 is a cake walk for you (given your exponential career growth), you might regret not spending that 100,000 on your honeymoon now.

Now decide, do you want to go for that honeymoon that you can't afford!
One more, yelling at your child because she painted the wall with a crayon in the short-term will cost you a few thousands. However, fast forward six years, your yelling then has got her so scared that she ends up being a follower seeking approvals and not a leader who isn't afraid to try and fail.

Now Decide, you really want to yell at her!

Not doing something that you can afford
Another example would be a student not deciding to take a year drop to get into IIT/MIT/Harvard even though they just missed it by a small margin. However, fast forward six years and statistically speaking you see that the job that an IIT-ian is likely to do will be more valuable, interesting, and high-paying than his peers/seniors.

Now decide, is that year drop worth it!
What seems impractical, risky, and nonsensical can turn out to be extremely practical in hindsight. But yes, as most of you would have seen, we will end up with a pathetic decision if we aren't practical what happens six years from now.

So, now you know how to make a learned decision that will serve you well. Good luck implementing “Fast Forward Thinking” in your decision-making process.