Matthew Kelly - The Long View

THE LONG VIEWAlso By Matthew KellyThe Dream ManagerOff BalanceRediscover CatholicismWhy am I Here? (a childrens book)The Four Signs of a Dynamic CatholicThe Seven Levels of IntimacyPerfectly YourselfBuilding Better FamiliesThe Book of CourageThe One ThingThe Rhythm of LifeA Call to JoyMustard SeedsThe ShepherdTHE
LONG
VIEW Some Thoughts About One
of Lifes Most Important Lessons MATTHEW KELLY THE LONG VIEW Copyright 2014 Matthew Kelly Published by Beacon Publishing All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. Printed in the United States of America.[1] ISBN (Hard Cover): 978-1-937509-88-0 Dynamic Catholic and Be Bold. Be Catholic. and The Best Version of Yourself are registered trademarks of The Dynamic Catholic Institute. For more information on this title and other books and CDs available through the Dynamic Catholic Book Program, please visit: www.DynamicCatholic.com The Dynamic Catholic Institute 5081 Olympic Blvd Erlanger Kentucky 41018 Phone: 1-859-980-7900 Email: On May 17, 2014, Matthew Kellyreceived an honorary doctorate fromXavier University and was invitedto give the commencement speech.In the days and weeks that followed,we received an endless seriesof requests for a copy of his remarksthat day.

This is his address to theClass of 2014.THE LONG VIEW This is my advice: Learn to take the long view. Most people overestimate what they can do in a day, and underestimate what they can do in a month. We overestimate what we can do in a year, and underestimate what we can accomplish in a decade. Whatever it is you wish to succeed at in life, personally or professionally, few skills will serve you better than the ability to take the long view. I say learn to take the long view because it is something that has to be learned, for we are constantly surrounded by a short-view mentality in todays culture. For if we wait to reach for it until the day we truly need it, we will find ourselves grasping at air. What is the long view? It is a particular brand of wisdom that takes into account the effects that something will have not only in the present but also far into the future. The Native American people of the Iroquois have a way of making decisions that powerfully demonstrates the long view. The Native American people of the Iroquois have a way of making decisions that powerfully demonstrates the long view.

When faced with a decision they ponder this question: How will this proposed course of action affect our people seven generations from today? It is a beautiful example of taking the long view. One that is in stark contrast to the short-view thinking that our own political leaders seem entrenched in. When was the last time any of our political leaders considered how their decisions today would affect our people more than one hundred years from now? And as they are our representatives, we must conclude that they are entrenched in short-view thinking because we the people are entrenched in the short-view. There have certainly been plenty of self-interested politicians in the history of the world which means that ultimately if enough of the voters demand that our political leaders take the long view, they will adopt it, even if only out of self-interest. The list of people who have succeeded because they took the long view is long and varied. Most people are fascinated with the success that taking the long view leads to, but few people adopt it for themselves. Take as an example the investing philosophy of Warren Buffett. While I disagree with Mr. While I disagree with Mr.

Buffett on a great number of things, I cannot dispute his success as an investor. He is arguably the greatest investor of all time and at the core of his success is the long view. Since 1964, Berkshire Hathaway under the leadership of Buffett has never underperformed the S&P 500 over any five-year interval. If you were given the opportunity to invest ten thousand dollars with Buffett in 1964, and you had the discipline to keep that money invested, by the end of 2012 you would have amassed more than fifty-eight million dollars. Buffett takes the long view and his success is astonishing. The subject of investing leads us to an immensely practical example of how taking the long view can have an incredible impact on your own life.