Paul GrahamVerified account

We often sacrifice success due to impatience. Some goals just aren’t achievable in a few months, or even single-digit years, and trying to do that eliminates the chance of ever having them come to fruition.

What could you do if you were thinking on a 5 year scale? 10? 20?

It’s very hard to do, but it unlocks a whole new set of potential. You move from playing checkers to a game of chess — and as a result, the universe of possibilities looks quite different.

It's interesting to see ppl whodo think in 10-15 year cycles (it takes 10-12 years to go through school, 20 years to raise kids, 10 years to get good at a sport) don't apply that to building companies. They know that things take time, just think it's not about companies.