Page 16 - ALIVE CODE

DARE TO BE A.L.I.V.E. - DON’T BE A D.A.S.H.

L

EXPANDING ON THE OF L-E-A-R-N

L = Living fully and balancing your long- and short-term goals.

Short-term goals are often pleasurable right away- immediately, right now,
today like eating, loa ng, or TV-watching. But later? Hmm, not so good.
Eating can make you unhealthy and fat. Loa ng doesn’t get your work done.
TV watching isn’t too creative. Short-term gains can easily lead to long-term
pains. Watch it.

Check out the consequences of quick and easy pleasures. To make yourself
happy without evil results means to look at the long and the short of what
you choose to do. Sure, by all means maximize your pleasures but not, also,
your future disadvantages.

If you focus mainly on short-term goals and immediate pleasure, you will
often harm yourself by overindulging in some addictive behavior like
procrastination. Like alcohol abuse. Like reckless gambling.

Shall you, then, focus only on long-term goals? Yes, if you want a safe but dull
life. Even then, you won’t be too safe, because death, illness, war, and
economic distress—for you, for me,, for all of us still occur. Save too much
happiness for tomorrow and you may not live to enjoy it.

ALIVE CODE suggests that you nd a balance that allows you to be happy
today and tomorrow.

Not either/or. Both/and. Compare the pleasures of the moment with the
likely pleasures and pains of the future. Will you often compromise? ·In a
word, yes.

To balance your short- and long-term goals, try making the long ones consist
of several short ones. After achieving each short-term goal, you can give
yourself some immediate reward. Even the biggest job can be broken down

into smaller ones and then be made easier and more satisfying to do.

ALIVE CODE
Page 15