Long-Term Vision or Short-Term thinking

One of the reason why we cannot attain mastery is because we hold a short term view on almost everything. 

We don't want to wait to see the results of our actions. We want tangible outcomes; right now. Our default setting is - 

actions (input) = result (output). 

We don't want to factor in time here. 

One reason for this behavior is that we crave for certainty. We feel that there is no guarantee that working patiently on something over a long period of time will result in something rare & beautiful. 

The marshmallow experiment is an apt example to prove this. However, we need to fine tune it to fit our case. In the experiment, the marshmallow is the prize for patience. There is no long term grind expected from the child. 

If we are building something, we lay one brick at a time. And we do this joyfully over a long time. We start with a plan and we do have a framework. But we focus on laying this one brick that is in our hand!