Where have all the “early risers” gone?

We see it all around us. Its ubiquitous, it’s everywhere, you can’t look at a single scene from our daily existence without running right into it. You’ve most likely fallen victim to it more then once. It can be equal parts help meet and hell. It is also, in my opinion, one of the primary reasons that we have witnessed such a precipitous decline as a nation these past several years.

What is it? It can be called many names. Short cut. Expedience. Convenience. But at it’s core it’s the same….wanting optimal results with minimal effort.

It can be very simple and with minimal consequences. Something that comes to mind might be a fast food dinner. It’s understandable that time is at a premium and that we can’t expect a five star meal without the effort. Yet we still want to get a good meal and keep our figures. These circumstances span a whole litany of ’30 Minute Meals’, Home-Style Deli’s, and frozen meals. Yep, we all want to feel like we are having aunt Betty’s blueberry pie but we don’t want to put in the time or hours to get it right.

But things can get far worse when the stakes are raised. And this is what has me worried about where we are heading. Here are a couple of examples to illustrate the point:

• I see so many people who look to ’swing from the fences’ when it comes to finances. As a result you see so many schemes that are marketed as low risk- high reward. The whole lottery mentality has replaced the notion of slowly building up a nest egg.
• This extends to companies. I see a lot of small firms and venture capitalists who have 3-5 year plans. They want only to fatten up a company to the point that it can be taken to the market and sold. So in essence they want 30 years worth of income for 3 years worth of work. I understand that those that take the high risks need the high rewards. But I’ve been a part of several of these companies and the greater emphasis on the short-term (getting a company ready for the sale) has greatly and negatively impacted the company’s long term viability. (I wish I had some statistical evidence to validate this claim.)
• I even see this with larger more established companies. Long term goals are completely ignored because short-term expectations need to be met. Programs that will pay great dividends down the road are sacrificed in order to meet the Wall-Street EBITDA expectations for that quarter. A vicious cycle ensues as companies have to find increasingly creative, and sometimes unethical and unwise, ways to keep up with investor expectations.
• Perhaps no world is more soiled then the realm of politics. One of the strange ironies however is that we excoriate the politicians for actions that many of us practice in our own private lives. Politicians operate at the behest of the latest opinion poll and pander for votes by adding wasteful pork to our public spending. Our budget is shot to hell and no current politicians have the courage or leadership to do the necessary things to getting things back on track. Not when it would mean that you might short change a powerful lobbyist or offend one of the hands that feed you.
• It’s not just business. It extends to popular culture and relationships as well. It seems like everyone is pandering for their 20 seconds on You tube. Nothing can top the instant gratification that comes with the thrill of seeing your senseless exploit viewed by 200,000 anonymous viewers or colleagues, or potential employers. The dark side of this primal urge is revealed when we see people denigrate, humiliate, or scandalize others for the sake of the temporary notoriety. This is yet another case in which people are willing to sacrifice the long-term efforts required to build an honest reputation for the thrill being talked about.

I could go on and on with more examples of people or organizations that have stunted the natural gains that come through hard work and labor by making short sighted decisions. I have lived long enough to where I can successfully measure the ebbs and flows of societal progress.
In talking to people and organizations I am able to observe motivations. Sadly these motivations generally don’t include things like group benefit. It is a lot ‘parts not looking to sum up into something greater’. Short cuts are being taken at an alarming pace. Self interest has never been higher. Effort has never been lower.

Crap…I better not continue for fear of setting off the apocalypse. I believe that at our roots we are all great. But I hope that we realize that before our situation becomes worse, our purchasing power further diminished, and our “light on the hill” has been extinguished by the economic and military prowess of China or the moral superiority of some other culture or form of government.