Short Term Pain, Long Term Gain
In September of 2020, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong made an uncomfortable decision.
The company town hall meetings had devolved into open mic takeovers where the goal was to make the executive team squirm. A small number of vocal employees were asking challenging questions about social justice issues—questions Armstrong wasn’t prepared to answer. Some of the employees even staged a walkout.
“Of course, I didn’t have great answers to many of the biggest broader societal issues,” Armstrong reflected on The Tim Ferriss Show, “we were trying to focus on building more economic freedom in the world.”
At this moment, Armstrong realized two things:
First, Coinbase didn’t have answers to big societal questions because they were focusing on their mission of creating an open financial system for the world.
Second, he realized there was no internal consensus among employees regarding the position Coinbase should take on broader societal issues.
After much thought, research, and conversation, Armstrong decided to make a new policy. He declared Coinbase to have an apolitical culture and stated they would not engage in activism. Time spent on anything other than their mission, he believed, reduced the good the company could accomplish.
When he made the decision, he made it public in a blog post. Before publishing the post, peers in the company told him not to publish it under any circumstances. Given the social and political climate, they said it would be bad for Coinbase.
But Armstrong was willing to accept short term pain for the long term good of the company.
As part of the announcement, Armstrong offered a “generous severance package” for any employee who disagreed with the decision and wanted to leave the company.
Reflecting on the experience, Armstrong said it was a difficult couple months. Five percent of his employees left, and several journalists wrote hit pieces on the company, but his decision turned out to be the right one.
The employees who stayed with Coinbase—the vast majority—were the ones aligned with the company’s mission. While they were at work, there was a collective agreement that the mission was their focus, not social activism, not politics, not anything other than the mission.
Armstrong never said activism wasn’t important. He simply said it wasn’t important for Coinbase. Not only was it not important, it was counterproductive.
If you remember the environment in 2020—George Floyd, riots, BLM, and COVID—you’ll remember how unpopular this decision would have been.
But that’s what a leader does. He makes the difficult decisions to benefit the people and organization he’s leading, even when they’re unpopular or painful in the short term.
This philosophy extends beyond corporate leadership.
It extends into your office, your school, your living room, your life.
Without fail, we face decisions where the right choice is painful in the short term but beneficial in the long term.
As James Clear says, “The cost of your good habits are in the present. The cost of your bad habits are in the future.”
Same is true for decisions.
Do you stay in a dead end relationship with the person you don’t really love, or do you break it off now?
Break ups always hurt, even when the relationship is bad. But if you rip off the bandaid, end the relationship, and move on, you’ll be free to find the right partner. Future you will be happy, even if present you is sad.
Short term pain, long term gain.
Do you keep working a job you hate, or do you take a pay cut to accept a position you’ll love?
Quitting a job and starting something new is challenging. Meeting new people, learning new skills, creating new routines—it’s all uncomfortable. And if you’re taking a pay cut, it’s even harder. You might have to pack your lunch, take fewer vacations, and trade in your Ferrari for a Ford.
But maybe if you work a job you enjoy, you won’t need as many expensive escapes. Maybe this small step backwards leads to larger leaps forward in the future.
Short term pain, long term gain.
What about that workout?
I’m doing a six week deadlift program right now. Three days a week—after finishing my CrossFit class—I break out the barbell and load it with more weight than I want to lift. I hate getting started. I struggle to finish. Most days I look for an excuse to skip.
But every time I convince myself to stand over that bar, squeeze it tight, and pull with all my strength, I remember I’m building muscle. I remember I’ll be more competitive in future workouts. I remember the weight will feel lighter if I just keep putting in the reps.
Short term pain, long term gain.
When I graduated college I had two internship offers. One was at a local bank in upstate New York, pretty close to where I grew up. The other was at a consulting company in New York City, four hours from home in a place that felt like another world to me.
The bank job was the easy choice. I could live at home. I could hang out with my high school friends. I hardly had to change my life at all.
The consulting job was scary. I barely knew anyone in New York City. I didn’t know where I would live. The thought of riding the subway instead of driving my car made me squirm. I grew up in a town of 1,400 people who all looked like me and knew my name. Moving to New York City meant living on a block with more than 1,400 people. Most of them would look different from me. None of them would know my name. At 21 years old, with basically no life experience, this was terrifying.
But by some stroke of good luck, I chose the hard decision. I moved to New York City. I rode the subway. I lived in a shitty two-bedroom apartment in a rough Harlem neighborhood where I slept on bunk beds and had three other roommates. I remember looking out my window and watching rats run around the roof of the grocery store across the street.
I didn't know it at the time, but my decision catapulted me into a career with way more potential than the one at the local bank. I spent the next seven years working in one of the best cities in the world. My company flew me business class to places like Hong Kong, London, and Dubai. I watched from the stands as Jeter played his last game at Fenway. And, most importantly, I met my wife.
None of those things would’ve happened if I’d made the easy decision.
Short term pain, long term gain.
It’s true of almost everything in life. What feels good right now won’t benefit you most.
You’ll find the light of long term success at the other end of the tunnel of short term suffering.
So if you come to a fork in the road and you have any doubt, choose the path of most resistance. Make the decision that makes you uncomfortable. Take the action that hurts a bit.
Then look back with a smile from the future and thank yourself.
Short term pain, long term gain.
Photo by Courtnie Tosana on Unsplash
