The shorter your time scale, the more anti-conformity you become.

On achievement, time horizons, and why I will likely end up on a farm.

Hello guys,

Hope you are doing well. I’m doing okay, Alhamdulillah.

In all honesty, I’m quite tired. It’s 8:56 pm on Sunday night and this is the latest time I have ever started writing this newsletter. I’ve had one of those back-to-back-to-back weekends where there’s something to do at almost every point. Now I’ve ticked most things off my to-do list and am tired, sitting at my desk, and would probably rather spend this time reading the second half of Billion Dollar Whale.

Ah well.

While in the university, one of my closest friends used to dream of owning a farm. The rest of us, far more ambitious then, took it as banter. Every time we hung out and dreamt of the future, we would joke, ‘I can’t wait to visit T at his farm in 30 years. 😂’

Today, T appears to have thrown away his farming dreams. But interestingly it appyaz I am catching the bug. You see, the allure of living on a farm some distance away from civilization has nothing to do with farming. It has everything to do with being Ghaniy, free of need. Because when I think about why I many times spend a whole weekend doing everything except resting, it is because I am in numerous transactions with the world.

I currently play several games in which I’m receiving things from the outside world, and several games of giving things to the world. So I need the world. I need to connect with the people I connect with. I need to have many of the meetings I have. I need to take many of the calls I take. I need to learn from the people I learn from. I need to teach the people I teach. I even need to make the noise I make. 😂

It’s just what it is. I love my life, but I can’t help but wonder what it would be like to live on a farm as a man who is Ghaniy. To live in a sleepy town with a handful of pets, a library of books, and plenty of time. It will be nice I think.

Maybe more a farmhouse than an actual farm - image from theculturetrip

If the peace and boredom does not drive me crazy. 😅

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There is one thing I am thinking about today. Actually, two things but I’m running out of time.

Leggo.

Understanding your time scale

One thing I think about quite a bit is time. Old age scares me. Raising kids scares me. It’s wild because the few people I have told this do not relate. Maybe because there’s too much about these things I have no control over.

I like having control, or at least the illusion of it. If I put in effort A, I will get a result B. But as I see so often in the older people I interact with, the future (especially over a long time horizon) is entirely unpredictable. And I just don’t know what to make of that.

But that’s a separate discussion.

Today, I’m thinking about how decision-making is dependent on your time scale. My theory is that the shorter your time of reference, the more anti-conformity you become.

What do I mean?

I’m thinking in the context of someone who is part of a group, and yearning for some level of success that the entire group aspires to. If you have a long time scale and are willing to wait, you can afford to do things the way everyone does them - the right way. But if you are working with a short time scale, then you need to ignore everyone and be more radical.

It still doesn’t make sense?

Let’s take an example.

Say Ola is a 22-year-old recent graduate who just joined KPMG as an Analyst.

** Disclaimer: I know next to nothing about KPMG. Don’t assume anything here is factual.

Ola really wants to have a successful career with KPMG, and he sees himself someday becoming a Partner. Maybe even Managing Partner. When Ola looked at the young and talented partners he knew, he realized that the best of them became partners at age 32, after being promoted at least once in every 18 months since joining the firm.

So Ola quickly decides that he is going to be just like them. He must get a promotion every 18 months without fail. What might Ola decide to do? He might probably decide to arrive at work super early every day, noticeably present at 7:30 am. He might decide to consistently work late, being among the very last people to close out on a daily basis.

He might decide to join a number of workplace communities, contributing articles to KPMG’s research and volunteering on KPMG Annual Peace Day. He might decide to dress well, always looking sharp and client-ready. He might attend all work-related functions, trying to be noticed and build relationships. His boss’ boss lost her mother? Ola is at the funeral.

His Analyst friend in Audit is ill? Visit them at the hospital and help to take on their work while they recuperate. KPMG needs a team to organize the Christmas Party and end-of-year retreat? Ola takes an active position.

What do you think will happen?

I have no clue what KPMG’s criteria are for promotion evaluation, but my guess is Ola will probably get promoted in less than 18 months. And if he is consistent in these attitudes, he will probably make Partner at 32.

With his 10-year time scale, he achieves success.

Now, let’s look at Rebecca. Rebecca was in the same graduating class as Ola in the university, and they are both Analysts at KPMG.

But while Ola aspires to become a Partner 10+ years into the future, Rebecca wants to become a KPMG Partner in 18 months. She has thought about her life and has no interest in a long never-ending career or the numerous events, politics, or sacrifice that is required to make Partner over the next 10 years.

The question Rebecca needs to ask herself is, what do I need to do that will be radical but valuable enough to make the leadership team bend their rules?

And it will be nothing like the things Ola is doing. Because the things Ola is doing are planned, expected even. None of them involves radical change.

For Rebecca, she might decide to spend the next 12 months learning everything there is to know about cryptocurrency in Myanmar, and then build a crypto advisory business there for KPMG. If such a business line is non-existent and she’s able to use her expertise to bring in millions of dollars worth of clients, they will likely give her what she wants.

Or she might realize that KPMG’s internal knowledge resource center (KRC) is super inefficient and then spend all her time building a powerful tool that collates all the knowledge KPMG has acquired and uses it to solve difficult problems. If she builds this KRC into a Saas (software as a service) that governments and corporations are willing to pay huge amounts of money for, that can be her claim to partnership.

Rebecca might be even thinking about solving problems (and building value) out of weird ideas like an Audit practice for social media, insurance services for tweets, or Tax advisory for companies in space.

Back to the disclaimer. I have no clue whether these ideas make sense or what will fly at KPMG, but the point is that Rebecca cannot afford to think like Ola because their time horizons are so different.

Outside of Ola and Rebecca, I suspect the same thing applies elsewhere. Someone trying to become a multi-millionaire in two years cannot accept a McKinsey job. A fresh graduate planning to become a Professor in 18 months cannot afford to do a Ph.D.

The way you think about achievement becomes astonishingly different when you make large changes to the time scale you have in mind.

The shorter your time of reference, the more anti-conformity you become.

As you begin a new week, I hope you take out some time to think about the things you aspire towards and what your time preference is like. You just might need some radical changes to give yourself a fighting chance.

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I’m amazed at how many people say, ‘Yoo I read your newsletter, I love your newsletter!’ but I no dey see their name for subscriber list.

Love my newsletter by subscribing and sharing, edakun.

Hameed

** Jara content:

“It must be borne in mind that the greatest tragedy in life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goals to reach.” - Benjamin E. Mays

Have a great week. 💫