In the long-run, possibilities come to life

As a former lifelong student of economics, I like to draw on the concepts from “the science of choice” periodically.

One of my favorite terms in economics is the long-run. In 1890, Alfred Marshall differentiated long-run and short-run economic models in his publication of Principles of Economics.

In the long-run, theoretically, all markets are in equilibrium, and all prices and quantities have fully adjusted and are in equilibrium. 

John Maynard Keynes coined the phrase, “in the long-run, we are all dead,” to advocate for government intervention in the market.

In microeconomics, the long-run is the period where all inputs, or factors of production, are variable, and there are no constraints to increasing output.

Contrast this with the short-run, where raw materials and labor inputs can vary, but capital is fixed and is a constraint on the ability to increase output.

I’m convinced that dreams that never reach fruition happen primarily because we take a view of the short-term. 

We focus more on the constraints and the obstacles than on the vision, and we give up. We fight for our limitations rather than stand in possibility.

The Macmillan Thesaurus says a synonym for the phrase, “take the long-view” is “to be, or to become calm and stop worrying.”

What could be possible for you if you took a long-run view?

What happens when you become calm, stop worrying, and become laser-focused on your vision?

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Molly and John Chester lived in Santa Monica, California. Molly was a private chef for celebrity clients, and John was a documentary filmmaker. 

Molly was constantly sourcing the most flavorful food for her clients, and discovered the connection between the quality of the food and the health of the farm and its soil. 

With a growing desire to produce her own food, and getting a rescue dog that could not tolerate city life, the dream to own their own farm was born. 

Their 10-acre dream turned into a 214-acre endeavor with the help of a like-minded investor. 

The land they purchased in Southern California had been farmed extractively for the previous 50 years, leaving the soil completely devoid of life. 

Their objective was to convert it into a flourishing farm, bringing life, nutrients, and biodiversity back to the land.

If they held only a short-term view, they would have given up. 

They faced hurdle after hurdle: an irrigation system that needed fixing, a coyote that ravaged their ducks and chickens, years of drought, snails that devastated their fruit crop, and gophers popping up throughout, to name a few. 

They were committed to working in harmony with nature, despite nature seemingly working against them at times. Their farming mentor, Alan York, knew it was possible and advised them with each step, until his own passing from cancer, which was a setback in itself for the Chesters.

John found himself questioning if it was possible to keep going without unnatural interventions. He began to observe, and when he did, the solution to each setback appeared. 

They obtained owls and let the coyotes control the gopher population. The maggots in the fruit became food for chickens. The ducks were ushered into the orchard to feast on snails. 

Over a period of seven years, they enabled an ecosystem to establish itself, reaching an “inharmonious harmony,” which is how the ecosystem of our planet works overall. 

In the long-run, Apricot Lane Farms is flourishing. The Chesters had to hold onto this vision to wait out the periods of doubt and uncertainty if their farm would ever thrive. 

Most dreams come to life over the long-run. They take commitment, being all in, and not giving up.

To riff off of Keynes, in the long-run, possibilities come to life.

One of the gifts coming out of the pandemic is a radical re-evaluation of our lives and what matters most to us. Employees are no longer tolerating the status quo. Priorities have been sifted, values reshuffled, and individuals in the workforce have a vision for possibility that lies outside their current place of employment.

What possibility awaits you? What vision are you committed to? Where do you need to take a long-term view to weather the valleys of the short-term? Where are you all in? That is where possibility can come to life.

Love,

Audrey