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The Long Game: How to Be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World

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A Wall Street Journal Bestseller

Your personal goals need a long-term strategy.

It's no secret that we're pushed to the limit. Today's professionals feel rushed, overwhelmed, and perennially behind. So we keep our heads down, focused on the next thing, and the next, without a moment to breathe.

How can we break out of this endless cycle and create the kind of interesting, meaningful lives we all seek?

Just as CEOs who optimize for quarterly profits often fail to make the strategic investments necessary for long-term growth, the same is true in our own personal and professional lives. We need to reorient ourselves to see the big picture so we can tap into the power of small changes that, made today, will have an enormous and disproportionate impact on our future success. We need to start playing The Long Game.

As top business thinker and Duke University professor Dorie Clark explains, we all know intellectually that lasting success takes persistence and effort. And yet so much of the relentless pressure in our culture pushes us toward doing what's easy, what's guaranteed, or what looks glamorous in the moment. In The Long Game, she argues for a different path. It's about doing small things over time to achieve our goals—and being willing to keep at them, even when they seem pointless, boring, or hard.

In The Long Game, Clark shares unique principles and frameworks you can apply to your specific situation, as well as vivid stories from her own career and other professionals' experiences. Everyone is allotted the same twenty-four hours—but with the right strategies, you can leverage those hours in more efficient and powerful ways than you ever imagined. It's never an overnight process, but the long-term payoff is to finally break out of the frenetic day-to-day routine and transform your life and your career.

239 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 21, 2021

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About the author

Dorie Clark

26 books282 followers
Dorie Clark helps individuals and companies get their best ideas heard in a crowded, noisy world. She has been named one of the Top 50 business thinkers in the world by Thinkers50. She was honored as the #1 Communication Coach by the Marshall Goldsmith Leading Global Coaches Awards and one of the Top 5 Communication Professionals in the World by Global Gurus. She is a keynote speaker and teaches for Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and Columbia Business School.

She is the author of The Long Game, Entrepreneurial You, Reinventing You, and Stand Out, which was named the #1 Leadership Book of the Year by Inc. magazine.

A former presidential campaign spokeswoman, Clark has been described by the New York Times as an “expert at self-reinvention and helping others make changes in their lives.” She is a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review, and consults and speaks for clients such as Google, Yale University, and the World Bank. Forbes has declared that “her insights connect marketing, social media, communications, learning technologies, and personal discovery to give us a blueprint for success in the future economy.”

She is a graduate of Harvard Divinity School, a producer of a multiple Grammy-winning jazz album, and a Broadway investor. You can download her free Long Game Strategic Thinking Self-Assessment at dorieclark.com/thelonggame.


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5 stars
468 (26%)
4 stars
593 (33%)
3 stars
499 (28%)
2 stars
152 (8%)
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56 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 219 reviews
124 reviews8 followers
January 6, 2022
The Long Game is short on insights.

Half the book is self aggrandizement and the other half is obvious time management frameworks.

The author talks of building her brand by publishing as much content as she could. The crux of the advice is to make a bunch of noise in order to get noticed. This hardly seems like good advice in an era of information overflow. Personally I’d rather read one insightful book instead of 5 that got churned out. The quantity over quality mindset is evident in the depth of analysis in this book. Read something else.


Notes:

Being busy shows you don’t know how to manage your time, not that you are important.

Track your time in 15min increments for a month to see where it is going.

Save 20% of your time to think deeply about LT projects

Don’t ask for a favor from a new contact for at least a year if it will require them to use political capital
Profile Image for Ashraf Bashir.
221 reviews126 followers
November 16, 2021
A motivational book, neither a strategical nor a tactical business book. For the author, success definition is to have published articles on Forbes or HBR, focusing mainly on the quantity of published articles! Really?! ... Maybe the message of the book fits content editors, but is not very suitable for entrepreneurs, middle-layer managers, and/or those who are looking for self-improvement
Profile Image for Erica Dhawan.
1 review39 followers
September 21, 2021
Dorie, thank you for your incredible book The Long Game. It gave me a fresh perspective on working smarter and not harder and mastering the importance of strategic patience. In a knee jerk world, this book gave me the confidence to be thoughtful, steadfast and stay the course. One of the best books I’ve read this year.
Profile Image for Julie Giulioni.
Author 9 books8 followers
September 6, 2021
If you can only read one professional development book this year, make it The Long Game!

The Long Game is an actionable antidote to the self-sabotaging urgency experienced by so many professionals. Author, Doris Clark, offers a clear path toward greater success for those who are willing to eschew short-term thinking and the tail-chasing that goes along with it. The book is filled with memorable stories, personal examples and doable practices that make a real difference. I’m particularly drawn to her suggestions related to strategic patience, exponential growth, and raindrops of recognition. And don’t miss Dorie’s powerful questions for achieving leverage (that I’ll be revising on a regular basis.) I thoroughly enjoyed The Long Game… and will reap the benefits of reading it for a long time.
Profile Image for Alisa.
88 reviews23 followers
September 20, 2021
The Long Game: How To Be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World by Dorie Clark is a holistic approach to professional and personal success. Practical, accessible, and peppered with vignettes of success from big names to small company start-ups, key take-aways are highlighted and memorable. For me these are:

1. Creating white space: over-scheduling will keep us from long-term success. “Saying ‘no’ is the ultimate weapon in the battle to become a long-term thinker—and it is a battle. ‘Yes’ is easy in the moment, for so many reasons,” Clark writes, but we need to practice saying “no” to focus on our long-term goals.

2. Decide what to be bad at: “Saying yes to everything means to be average at everything. Saying no, conversely, is what gives us the rare opportunity to be great.” In addition to my life as a leadership and learning expert, I also write and perform music and volunteer for several causes I care about, such as disability and LGBTQ rights. But I realized I can’t do it all. It is important for me to let some possibilities go in order to make other possibilities a reality.

3. Think in decades: Thing about the big goals that take a decade to accomplish. The good news is that we underestimate how much we can accomplish in a decade, so if we are strategic, we can get there.

This book has absolutely energized my long-term thinking and goal setting in my career and passion projects. For me, this is a professional goal of becoming the Chief Learning Officer of a Fortune 500 company and a personal goal of leading the way for better solutions for disabled adults who need substantial long-term care, a cause very close to my heart. This means making connections with what Clark calls an “infinite horizon” mindset—being open to all sorts of interesting people—and being wise to where I can provide unique strategic value to my community.
Profile Image for Samira.
12 reviews6 followers
January 4, 2024
"برای داشتن ایده‌ای خوب به زمان نیاز نداری، به فضا نیاز داری. و اگر در سرت فضا نداشته باشی، نمی‌توانی به‌درستی فکر کنی. داشتن ایده‌ای نوآورانه یا اتخاذ یک تصمیم هیچ زمانی نمی‌گیرد. اما اگر فضای روانی نداشته باشی، این چیزها ناممکن نیستند، اما بهینه هم‌ نیستند."
Profile Image for Christy Maguire.
99 reviews4 followers
November 11, 2021
The main takeaway is that it takes time and perseverance to reach your goals. This is a perfect reminder those of us in midlife because we forget when we're 40 that we still have 25 years to retirement. If we're 50, a 20 year plan puts us at 70 - still a vibrant time for many and more than enough time to write books, build a business, or start a deep dive into a hobby.
Profile Image for Liz Schasel.
92 reviews1 follower
July 7, 2022
Another self-congratulatory book written to name drop dozens of similarly influencer-minded colleagues in hopes they return the favor.
Profile Image for Justin Tapp.
669 reviews76 followers
August 16, 2022
The Long Game: How to Be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World by Dorie Clark

This is the second book I have reviewed titled The Long Game. The first was Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell's memoir all about how he wanted nothing but political power his entire adult life. Seeing how McConnell is (hopefully) reaching the end of his career, I might recommend this book to him, but probably wouldn't because I don't think it has much practical advice he would understand. (And he's definitely not the type to take advice from a woman, much less a social liberal.)

Volviendo al tema, Clark is a business school professor who has traveled the world earning speaking fees and publishing books while pressing on to various projects that she wanted to pursue to broaden her scope. From her bio page: "A former...journalist, Clark directed the environmental documentary film The Work of 1000, and was a producer for a multiple-Grammy-winning jazz album. She is a Broadway investor, as well as a member of BMI’s Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Advanced Workshop." She has also earned an MDiv. In other words, she doesn't have kids and has kept herself busy. She explains at the beginning of the book an emotional breakdown she once had when she questioned her life choices. She quotes from various other popular business books and thinkers (Peter Drucker, etc.) in this work and I found it wandered too far from the topic of long-term thinking to recommend it highly.

Every decision necessitates a trade-off and strategizing means choosing what to be bad at. Successful companies are those who do not try to please everyone and have fearlessly chosen what to be bad at in order to excel at their value proposition. People must do likewise; we need to turn down opportunities and learn to say "no" to things that do not fit our long-term goals. But Clark also writes that simply pursuing our dreams won't pay the bills and may not achieve what we want-- we have to understand that short-term sacrifices and trade-offs must be made to put food on the table. You also don't need to set your long-term life goals by age 25, your preferences and dreams will change with circumstances.

"Instead of pursuing your 'passion' or your 'true calling,' optimize for 'interesting.'" When considering a possibility in front of you, ask questions and get all the information you can. Ask yourself questions like "What is the opportunity cost? Will I feel bad in a year if I don't take this job?" When in doubt, choose the more interesting option. Avoid "shiny objects in the room," however.

At some point, every bestselling business book these days quotes Simon Sinek's Start with Why. If you have a firm grasp of your values, then you can also know which lucrative opportunities you might want to decline. One anecdote hit home for me about a divorced father who turned down a well-fitting dream job in Singapore, disappointing many, in order to be in the U.S. to be closer to his son and find a potential spouse. He mustered the courage to say "no" and suffered the (relatively) short-term consequences but ended up married and didn't regret it. (I'd have married in Singapore, but that's just me.) Around the time of reading this book I was faced with a similarly tough decision about completing a contract to work a job abroad as a divorced father with a son and potential partner in the US. A wise man reminded me that being close to my loved ones in the short run might not be better than making the sacrifice to be away from them today to better support them and my goals once the contract is finished (long-term thinking). So, here I am writing this review from overseas, having chosen the more "interesting" opportunity.

The author recommends an 80/20 rule about time management, which I find practically impossible, especially the more kids you have. She recommends setting aside 20% of your time working on side-gigs and other investment opportunities that you might want to develop into your full-time gig. The other 80% goes to your real job and current obligations. The problem is that (hopefully) many of us have other obligations that are current-- church, elder care, and we need to rest at some time! Dorie Clark doesn't seem to rest at all ever.

The author also recommends taking risks as a way to focus your attention on what your goal is. If you've taken out a loan to start a business, for example, then you will find bankruptcy as a motivation to be the mouse who churns butter into cream and crawls out. However, she does (obviously) caution that one should have savings and a steady job (80% rule again) such that if your goal fails your family doesn't starve. Desperation is not an attractive place from which to apply for jobs, so avoid doing that.

While Clark has had diverse career experiences and hustles all over the globe, she does write that "being busy is not the mark of success" and if anything it is to be avoided. However, I found most of the anecdotes she shared about people pursuing their dreams in the present moment to leave me asking "Do any of these people have kids? Do they ever volunteer for anything out of care for others?"

I guess the biggest advice for the Mitch McConnells of the world at the end of their careers is to begin thinking about mentoring and investing in the next generation. She is part of an organization of enterpreneurs who do that and find it rewarding. Too many people retire and become depressed because so much of their social life and self-worth was wrapped up in an office that has easily moved on without them. She recommends retired people find ways to mentor and help others.

The author has an interesting tangent about networking, what she calls "infinite horizon." She recommends networking aggressively, but initially non-transactionally. Remarkably, she recommends accepting invitations to all sorts of things in order to expand the network as far as possible. (This seems to clash with the idea that being busy is not a mark of success and other advice in the book.) She makes it non-transactional with a hard rule not to ask anyone in her network for a favor for at least a year after meeting them. (I have no doubt that she keeps a spreadsheet with dates, this is how methodical she comes across.) In the end, this practice struck me as very transactional but with a long-term time horizon-- I recalled the scene from The Godfather with the funeral home director.

Of course, some of your ideas and hopes and dreams won't work out. So, the author recommends having Plan A, B, C, etc. at this point, the book seemed muddled for me. She also seems to not know that the results of the famous marshmallow study made famous in the book Grit has not been corroborated in subsequent experiments. Alas, all the business bestsellers de jour quote each other and their mistaken anecdotes.

2.5 stars.
Profile Image for Pinar.
518 reviews27 followers
October 26, 2022
Bana pek iyi gelmeyen tarz bir influencer/self help kitabı.

Yazar bi üniversitede iş idaresi falan dersleri verip, konuşmalar yaparak para kazanıyormuş. Kitap başından sonuna kendisinin ne kadar başarılı olduğu (etrafındakiler ondan da başarılı) anlatıyor. Bol kastırmalı hayat yerine uzun süreli planlar yapın şeklinde...

Sesli kitap olarak dinledim, kitabı yazar kendi seslendiriyor, doğrusu seslendirmesinden de nefret ettim. Bir ara youtube'a reklam veren "sosyal medyada kendinizi/ürünlerinizi nasıl pazarlarsınız da süper para kazanırsınız" konulu seminerlerinin reklamını veren bir kadın vardı. Youtube da sakin sakin dinlediğiniz kanalın ses tonundan bu böyle ciyak ciyak bağırarak "heeeey sosyal medyada para kazanmak çok kolay gelin size öğretiyim" diye kulak zarınızı patlatıyordu, Dorie Clark'ın da seslendirmesi aynen o şekil (heralde aynı "güzel konuşma kursu"ndan mezun olmuşlar). Tonlama yapıcam diye bağırması ayrı bi sinirlerimi bozdu, sesini erkek sesine benzetme çabası ayrıca gerdi beni. Yanlış anlaşılmasın LGBT bireylere karşı değilim, herkes rahat hissettiği gibi davransın, konuşsun, yaşasın, ama 4-5 saat ciyak ciyak valla dinlenicek hikaye değil. Tabi kendisi seminer vererek para kazanıyormuş ondan iyi mi bilicem de..

Kitap bana pek bişey katmadı. İşte uzun vadeli düşün, fırsatları değerlendir, yarın için değil işte uzun vadeli plan yap, kas gitsin.. Kitap yazarın "yapılacaklar" elalemden neyim eksik bi kaç kitabım daha olsun, hem CV'm kabarık gözüksün falan amaçlı yazdığı bi eser bence.

Sinirlerim bozulmuş döktürürken, Amerikalıların hikaye ederek satma, hikaye anlatma olayını fazlasıyla abarttığını düşünüyorum. Eh evet hikaye anlatmalı da yazarın hayatının anılarının benim açımdan hiç bi ilginçliği yoktu malesef..
Profile Image for Derek.
204 reviews31 followers
April 29, 2024
Read Essentialism instead. Good ideas here, but not new.
Profile Image for Carter Hemphill.
399 reviews4 followers
September 27, 2021
Surprised to large number of positive reviews — likely some are fans of the author’s other work. The author provides a lot of good career advice, yet she doesn’t really start to address the theme of the book (e.g, equipping oneself for the long game to achieve success) until the last third of the book. I like the summaries at the end of each chapter, yet there could have been more depth. The frequent anecdotes by the author and others offered little substance and seem to be more filler. I can see how they could motivate a reader, but I grew tired of them. Overall, a quick read, but could have been explored the topic even more.
Profile Image for Saleem Hadad.
17 reviews3 followers
November 25, 2021
Fluffy talks in general. IMO this should be a blog post not a book. Boring writing style to the point you’ll expect what’s coming in every chapter: one or two sentences about the topic followed by a story from a random executive.
Profile Image for Aarti Nair .
96 reviews24 followers
May 29, 2022
It was a fast read for me because a lot of concepts I had read before in different books. Good to skim through.
Profile Image for Brian Burwell.
6 reviews
April 8, 2023
The Long Game compiles a lot of ideas from other books in this genre (Atomic Habits, The Subtle Art, 80/20 Principle, Eat That Frog, and others) and combines them with examples of colleagues, connections, and friends using those ideas.

Concepts from this book that are new (to me) are the concepts of optimising for interesting (as opposed to money or meaning), thinking in waves (heads up vs heads down mode of productivity), infinite horizon networking (including not asking for favors in the first year of knowing someone), and "distance to empty" (avoiding burning out through time management and planning and protecting "oases" of break time)

The chapters I found the most interesting were the chapters on Strategic Leverage and networking (The Right People, The Right Rooms).




CORE CONCEPTS
- Optimise for interesting
- Thinking in waves
- No asks for a year
- Infinite horizon networking
- Distance to empty
- Build independence, curiosity, and resilience
Profile Image for Nicole.
113 reviews3 followers
March 8, 2022
If you’re looking for a book that will help you emerge from the covid pandemic with more clarity, this is the one! I first got to know Dorie’s work through her teaching at Duke. What I really appreciate about her work is the emphasis on self-reflection and the practical steps she encourages readers to take to achieve their personal goals. I loved the concept of ‘optimizing for interesting.’ When I think about my long-term goals, I often get stuck when forced to think about one big hairy audacious goal that will define my existence. Dorie talks about reflecting on how you spend your time. What do you find yourself gravitating toward? What gives you energy? Then think about how, when given a choice, you can optimize for things that feed your energy and curiosity.
Profile Image for sumo.
256 reviews1 follower
September 12, 2022
Well, this book was an accidental read. I put it on hold a few months ago thinking it was a similarly titled book about China. Imagine my surprise when instead it’s about networking and business and stuff. It was a quick listen while doing house and yard work, and actually good insight on stuff I’m not great at. Key takeaways that I’d like to start working on are:
1. Taking control of my calendar. No need to let it rule me.
2. Staying in touch with friends and mentors more proactively.
3. When in doubt, do something interesting.
Profile Image for Nadya Ichinomiya.
147 reviews19 followers
January 31, 2022
HUGE fan of Dorie Clark, her work, and her generosity as a human being. Dorie's accomplishments are considerable, yet her style is extremely down-to-earth, vulnerable, approachable, and wise.

I listened to the audiobook, which was read with warmth, self-deprecating humor, and humanity.

I got a lot of insights from this work, as I have from her other books. Highly recommend!
Profile Image for Mattia.
301 reviews22 followers
October 9, 2021
I love Dorie's writing style, ideas, and personal examples. I bought the hardcover and will definitely be reading this book again!
Profile Image for Stephanie.
17 reviews7 followers
March 18, 2022
This book provided great insights and stories from Dorie’s experience along with others. This is one of my favourite books so far this year and I will be using the summary questions to help plan out my long game.
203 reviews
October 7, 2023
This book so clearly defines my career philosophy better than I could have written myself. Optimise for interesting speaks to my heart.
Profile Image for Reza.
3 reviews
June 2, 2023
A great boor for creating a successful life
Profile Image for Mandy Power.
132 reviews1 follower
October 30, 2021
I heard Doris speak on a podcast and have been thinking about goal setting and long term planning. The book wasn’t quite what I was looking for.
Profile Image for Nicole Wong.
75 reviews5 followers
April 29, 2023
Feels like I’ve been bamboozled because I was looking for proper tools on how I could change my mindset but all I got was time management tips and the author tooting her own horn whenever possible. DNF but I don’t think my opinion would change much if I did
Profile Image for Elizabeth McCourt.
Author 1 book53 followers
August 28, 2021
As with all her other books, Dorie writes a very enjoyable, readable book that always includes practical insights. The topic of long term thinking is very much on my mind as it’s something I’ve been writing about too. Her story and the stories of others in the context of resilience are sure to give any reader inspiration.
Profile Image for Chris Boutté.
Author 8 books214 followers
September 27, 2021
This was a surprisingly phenomenal book. I was unfamiliar with Dorie Clark, but I’m definitely planning on checking out his other books now. For a while, I haven’t been a huge fan of business-type books that are primarily anecdotal, but this book popped up on my radar at the exact right time. Recently laid off and doing my best to work hard and make a living from writing, my podcast, and other projects, this book gave me some much needed motivation and inspiration. There were definitely some parts where I thought, “Meh. That’s not something I could put to practical use,” but the overall message and many other parts were extremely useful. Clark not only expresses the importance of playing the “long game”, but he provides a ton of practical advice that helps you avoid certain pitfalls.
Profile Image for Robbie Samuels.
Author 3 books19 followers
May 10, 2024
The Long Game delivers on so many different levels. While it’s easy to see Dorie’s meteoric success and aspire to be like her, she shares the struggles she faced along the way and you start to realize ‘maybe I need to define success on my own terms - not anyone else’s.’ If we’re not careful, the goal posts will keep moving and we’re straying further away from the life we want to be living. Dorie shares client stories that illustrate the many benefits of focusing on the long game instead of short term thinking. This is at the top of my gift list for this holiday season. I know a lot of fellow entrepreneurs who would benefit from reading it and following Dorie’s advice, such as saying yes ONLY to things you’re excited about, deciding what to be bad at, and to “optimize for interesting.”
Profile Image for عمار آلاشلو.
Author 1 book11 followers
July 9, 2023
ترجمه نسبتا قابل قبول بود و روان مطالعه می‌شد. محتوای کتاب هم خیلی خوب بود ولی یک ایراد به سرعت ارائه مطالب دارم. تقریبا دو سوم ابتدایی کتاب که مباحث مقدماتی را مطرح می‌کند کشدار و نسبتا یکنواخت و در یک سوم آخر حجم زیادی مطلب خوب و جدید و خواندنی کار شده است. به نظر من ضرباهنگ مطالب در ابتدای کتاب کند و تکراری ولی در انتها خوب و خواندنی می‌شود.
موضوع کتاب که تفکر بلندمدت و استراتژی‌های موفقیت در درازمدت است برایم بسیار جالب بود. ابتدا در پادکست جافکری با این کتاب آشنا شدم و علاقمند شدم به خواندن کتاب. با خواندن کتاب هم متوجه شدم بعضی از کارهای سابقم در این استراتژی قرار داشته و بسیاری هم اصلا با آن سازگار نبوده و باید فکری به حالشان بکنم.
در مجموع ایده‌های بسیار خوبی در این کتاب بود و علاقمند شدم بگردم نسخه اصلی را بخوانم.
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