On May 10, on the subway, I got a text message from my wife congratulating me on my second work anniversary, and only then did it hit me — I had “only” been at ByteDance for two years. There’s a saying, “one year at ByteDance is three years in the outside world” (a popular joke about the company’s pace), and I deeply relate to it. Let me briefly record some of my recent scattered thoughts, as a summary of my second anniversary.
Roughly recalling the changes over these two years: weight 62Kg -> 58Kg, diastolic blood pressure 85mmHg -> 100mmHg, salary xx -> xxx. Two years isn’t long. At work I went through different businesses — education, e-commerce, internationalization — and came to understand the basics of project management, organizational structure, and team collaboration at a “big tech” company. To sum up: my physical fitness has declined, and my financial returns have gone up.
Compared with quantifiable metrics and data, my personal cognition and values have also changed somewhat.
Be a Long-termist
The keyword long-termism keeps showing up in front of me. At ByteDance’s 11th anniversary conference, Liang Rubo and Zhang Nan mentioned that the business needs “long-term thinking”; and at the previous “face-to-face with Dingkun, Zhenyuan, and Wenjia” session, Wenjia also shared his understanding and practice of long-termism.
As for long-termism, I honestly don’t understand it well, so I went out of my way to ask ChatGPT. If you’re curious, see Here’s what ChatGPT says about long-termism. In both work and life, I hope to keep practicing long-termist thinking.
Q: What does long-termism mean? >*ChatGPT Long-termism is an ethical viewpoint and decision-making approach that emphasizes considering and prioritizing the interests and well-being of the long-term future, rather than focusing only on present and short-term interests. It holds that we should take action to ensure that future generations can enjoy sustainable resources, environment, and living conditions.
The core idea of long-termism is that we should extend the impact of our decisions and actions into the future and consider the needs and rights of future generations. This means we need long-term planning and investment in issues such as climate change, environmental protection, resource management, and technological development, to ensure future sustainability and human well-being.
Long-termism stands in contrast to short-termism, which focuses more on immediate gains and satisfying current needs while neglecting future impact and long-term sustainability. Long-termism emphasizes the importance of long-term interests, holding that we should pay more attention to and consider the needs and rights of future generations, and therefore take more sustainable and responsible actions.
Long-termism has applications in many fields, including environmental protection, climate change, economic development, and public policy. It reminds us that our decisions and actions should go beyond immediate short-term interests and take future sustainability and human well-being into account.
Q: As an individual, how can one become a long-termist? >ChatGPT As an individual, you can take the following steps to become a long-termist:
- Examine your values and goals: reflect on and clarify your values and goals for the future. Consider how much you care about the environment, society, and future generations, and establish the importance of long-term interests and sustainable development.
- Raise your awareness of long-term thinking: cultivate an awareness of the future and of long-term impact. In daily life, think about how your decisions and actions affect the future, considering long-term interests and sustainability.
- Learn and understand relevant knowledge: deepen your understanding of fields related to long-termism, such as environmental protection, sustainable development, and climate change. Read related books, reports, and research to strengthen your grasp of long-termist ideas and sustainable development.
- Responsibility and action: recognize your personal responsibility and role, and actively take action to promote long-term interests and sustainable development. For example, reduce resource consumption, save energy, support environmental organizations, and participate in public-welfare activities.
- Long-term planning and decision-making: adopt long-term planning and decision-making in your personal life and career development. Consider future impact and long-term sustainability, and avoid chasing short-term gains. For example, choose a field related to sustainable development in your career, or factor long-term interests into investment decisions.
- Educate and influence others: share your understanding of long-termism with others to raise their awareness of long-term thinking. By educating and spreading long-termist values, influence others to act for long-term interests and sustainable development. Through these steps, you can gradually transform into a long-termist, incorporating long-term interests and sustainable development into your life and decisions. The key is to keep reflecting and acting, constantly improving your awareness and practice.
How can one practice long-termism in daily life? Here are a few suggestions for practicing long-termism that you can try in daily life:
- Set long-term goals: long-termism emphasizes a far-sighted perspective and goals, so setting long-term goals is very important. These goals should be challenging, measurable, and achievable, and can be broken down into a series of short-term tasks and plans. Write your goals down and put them somewhere easy to see, so you can remind yourself often.
- Keep learning: long-termists value continuous learning and self-improvement. Whether through reading books, taking courses, attending workshops, or talking with others, you can gain new knowledge and skills. Treat learning as a long-term investment, because continuous learning helps you better adapt to a constantly changing environment.
- Maintain a healthy lifestyle: a healthy lifestyle helps you stay healthy and energetic over the long run. Adequate sleep, a healthy diet, and moderate exercise can improve physical fitness, reduce the risk of illness, and boost work efficiency and productivity.
- Build positive relationships: building positive relationships helps you gain support and encouragement over the long run of life. Good relationships with family, friends, colleagues, and other social circles help you build trust, get help, and form more meaningful connections.
- Establish time management and priorities: long-termists should prioritize the tasks that matter most to achieving long-term goals. Build a schedule or calendar listing daily, weekly, and monthly tasks and priorities, ensuring you focus your limited time on the most important tasks. This also helps you keep a work-life balance and avoid excessive stress and fatigue.
- Keep improving: long-termists should continuously improve their work and life. This means constantly looking for opportunities and ways to improve, and constantly trying new methods and strategies to raise your performance and efficiency. It also helps you discover new opportunities and challenges, so you can achieve higher goals and dreams. In short, practicing long-termism requires lasting perseverance and determination, and constantly seeking and achieving long-term
Plans for the Future
I don’t have any particularly long-term (five-plus years) thinking or planning. Within the next three years, I hope to grow and accumulate experience in internationalization and management theory.
- Grow into a business expert in internationalization, able to provide professional advice and solutions for international business.
- Build up management theory and accumulate hands-on practice in large-scale project management.
In 2023 I will keep executing according to the plan in my 2023 OKR. As for the next three years, I’ll think about that at the end of 2023.
Life was like a box of chocolate, you never know what you’re gonna get。
Whatever happens, I’ll keep looking for a way to unify personal value, organizational value, and social value. Do what I love, love what I choose, and face life’s choices with equanimity. Just do good, and don’t fret about the road ahead! (但行好事，莫问前程)
Appendix
Lately I’ve been reading Guwen Guanzhi (《古文观止》, “The Finest of Ancient Prose”) on and off. I especially like a passage from Su Shi’s Former Ode to the Red Cliffs (《前赤壁赋》), excerpted below:
Like a mayfly adrift between heaven and earth, as tiny as a grain of millet in the vast ocean, I lament the brevity of our lives and envy the endless Yangtze. I would take a flying immortal as my companion to roam, and embrace the bright moon to live on forever. Knowing this cannot be had in haste, I entrust these lingering echoes to the mournful wind.
Su Shi said: “Do you know something of the water and the moon? It flows on like this, yet it has never really gone; it waxes and wanes like that, yet in the end it neither grows nor shrinks. For if you look at things from the perspective of change, heaven and earth cannot last even for the blink of an eye; but if you look from the perspective of what does not change, then all things, and we ourselves, are inexhaustible. So what is there to envy? Moreover, between heaven and earth, everything has its owner; if something is not mine, I will not take even a hair of it. Only the clear breeze on the river and the bright moon among the mountains — the ear receives them as sound, the eye meets them as color; take them without prohibition, use them without exhaustion. This is the inexhaustible treasure of the Creator, shared in enjoyment by you and me.”