What does it mean to play the long game? To borrow a sports metaphor, it means skating to where the puck is going, not where it’s been. In a more concrete sense, it means thinking ahead on a scale of years, decades, or even longer. It means understanding the extraordinary power of compounding—how tiny steps can add up as time passes. It means being willing to delay gratification today in favor of a bigger payoff later. It means understanding second-order effects and unintended consequences.
