Rather than write some grand ‘What is ReCorporate All About’ post to kick this thing off, I’m just going to jump right in. If you’re interested, you’ll find out what it’s all about soon enough.

I’m working in Nairobi, Kenya right now. Often, I’ll ride my bicycle around town rather than taking a car. Traffic is notoriously bad in Nairobi, so the bike is actually faster (generally).

To complicate matters, the roads here are quite bad — riddled with pot-holes, rocks, and cracks. After riding on them for a few weeks, you quickly learn to be selective about the riding path that you choose. Obviously, the end goal is a smooth ride — to choose the path with the fewest bumps.

When I first started riding in Nairobi, I’d decide which path to take based on what I saw in the next few feet ahead of my front tire. This works great if your goal is to find short spurts of smooth riding, but often a few feet of smooth road will lead you across another 25 feet of incredibly bumpy road.

Experience teaches you that you’ll enjoy a much smoother ride if you focus not on the terrain 2 or 3 feet in front of you, but on what you see 10 or 20 feet in front of you. Sometimes you’ll find yourself making the conscious decision to ride through a few feet of rough patches in order to reach a significant amount of smoother terrain. It’s all about forward-thinking and being concerned with long-term success rather than short-term gain.

Everyday we are all faced with decisions like mine on the bike. Whether it’s a strategic business decision, a restructuring decision within your organization, or simply deciding  how to use your time today — alot of decisions can be viewed through this lens. We all want to be comfortable and happy in the short term, but enjoying comfort and happiness in the long-term will far surpass the satisfaction you gain in the short-term.

It’s easy to choose to stare at what you see a few feet in front of you in hopes of some short-term reward. It’s a whole lot harder to further your gaze and focus on long-term, meaningful rewards. This is where the lasting, dynamic, world-changing successes lie for the few that do.