Setting the right time-frames is the only path to greatness.
Inc.com:One of my mentors once told me that he thinks entrepreneurs today focus so much on starting up, they have no idea what it means to finish. We were talking about running a company on short-term goals, rather than long ones. I think that's some of the best business advice I've ever heard - that you have to put your energy into a long time frame, rather than opting for a quick payoff.
A startup isn't something you just build overnight, and grow a little bit, and then abandon or sell. If you walk into it with that attitude, the chances are - you'll fail completely. Because you won't be creating anything intended to last. You might as well spend your time building a sandcastle beneath the tide mark, because it's all going to wash away.
When I talk to founders, I ask them to think about what I call their lighthouse goals. The goals that are so important to them, so huge and earth moving that they'll serve as a guide for their business and life. And almost invariably, the goals that they pick will be long-term goals that will take years of work to achieve. Once they realise that, they start to understand that it's only businesses who are making a long bet that ever create truly great products.
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