play long games

A thing that hardly ever gets captured in people’s models of marketing is the value of being recognized several times over lengthy time periods, say 10+ years.

Meaning, if someone notices you ~5 times over 10 years – a couple of threads, a blogpost, a podcast, etc.

I believe that this is the most valuable sort of recognition to get.

And not much of it gets “captured” until say, 20 years out. It’s a different way of thinking. it still maximizes profits, it’s still “capitalist”, -ish, but it’s not tedious, boring, mindless, needy, desperate. It’s the cool calm confidence of playing long games for their own sake.

Anything that is built over many years is necessarily built from many different angles, frames of reference, through thick and thin, is robust, lasting, valuable. An additional bonus is that you end up associating with other long-game players, and you get to casually and deftly side-step short-game players.

There are some Very Cool Things that can happen when you’re willing to operate at this time scale, which is almost completely omitted from popular wisdom, popular consciousness. You can make the “impossible” happen. It was never impossible, it just takes time that most people don’t wanna take.

A single individual can plant a forest or carve through a mountain by themselves if they’re patient and persistent.

Play long games.