In my previous article, I talked about the importance of taking a 2X approach to magic instead of a 10X approach to magic. One of the reasons that I take this approach is that I am applying a strategic lens to the magical work that I am doing as it applies to my overall life.
For many people, magic is reactive. They apply magic in the moment to fix a problem that has arisen in their life or to trigger a short-term reaction that helps them reach a desired result. What is not often applied is a strategic lens that examines what the consequences of achieving that result will be or how achieving the result will affect you down the line. This lack of foresight or planning can often create unintended effects that cause you to scramble in your life. You may end up doing more magic in order to resolve the consequences that have occurred because you didn’t take the time to fully map out what you really wanted, not just in the short term, but for the long term.
Magic never happens in a void. It is always situational, based on the context of our lives and the events, people, and places that are present. Yet although it is situational and based on the context of the moment, we can still apply magic with a long-term lens that helps us design our lives.
An Exercise in Long Term Planning
I want you to imagine, as an exercise, yourself as an old person. You're on your deathbed. What kind of experiences has that person had? What kind of life has that person led?
If you were to ask that person a question, one of the best questions that you could ask is: "What is it that you want me to do that you wish you had done?" This question creates a very intentional awareness of your life that prompts you to explore what you actually want for yourself, not just in the short term but for your overall life. For instance, do you want to live in a home that you purchased? If so, that's a long-term decision.
Putting the mortgage payments aside, One of the things that you may want to think about with that home is how long you would want to live there and what you would need to do in order to make sure that that home is livable as you get older.
A strategic approach to magic looks at how magic can be applied to help you achieve the outcome that you want while also considering the variables that are inevitably going to occur in your life, such as getting older. Although we can never know the full extent of how our lives will unfold, what we can do is apply strategic planning to our lives in order to create the desired outcome we want to live.
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Why we don’t think of the long term
The reason many people don’t focus on the long-term application of magic is because they’re focused on the here and now. It makes sense because that’s what we’re living with. We’re living in the here and now, but the reality is you’re likely going to get older. You’re likely to have changes in your life that affect your ability to do certain things, and you also want to think about your future not just in terms of ease and comfort but in terms of the overall quality of your life.
The lack of a strategic lens in Magic is reflective of the lack of a strategic lens in your overall life. Many people live paycheck to paycheck and in all fairness a lot of this is because the standard of living and the cost of being able to afford things is pretty high. Nonetheless, one of the things that a person can do is choose to save some money. Even if you were to save $5 or $10 a month, each month, that is going to be that much more money that you have when you need it for down the line or if you have an emergency situation.
A similar approach to magic can be applied where you start creating the circumstances in your life that favor you for both the short-term and the long-term moments. This means that you can do magical work to help you achieve a short-term outcome and at the same time you can ask yourself how this will help you achieve a long-term outcome, such as more financial stability or a high quality of life even when you’re older.
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When my Magical Practice became Strategic
I didn’t always have a long-term perspective when it came to magical work. I did a lot of short-term magic, especially in my teenage years and 20s and early 30s. My main focus was on solving the immediate problem in front of me. This is something which is typical for a lot of people. What we see in front of us is the most pressing problem so that’s what we apply magic to.
I began to change my focus to the long term when I started to see how the choices I was making in the short term were nonetheless having an impact on my life down the line.
I realized that as long as I was making short-term decisions, I wasn’t effectively planning for the rest of my life. I knew that it was important to respond to the immediate situation but I began thinking about how that response would also play out in the long term.
What really brought this home for me was getting divorced in my early 40s and realizing that I was starting all over with my life. I couldn’t afford to make short-term decisions anymore. I needed to be thinking about what was going to happen to me down the line and what I was going to do to make sure that I took care of myself.
The truth I’ve also come to recognize is that even when I plan for the long-term strategy, there are going to be short-term experiences that will change what the plan is. This is true for all of us. You can plan for the long term and nonetheless have a variable enter into your life that changes the equation dynamically. For instance you meet somebody and that person changes the entire direction of your life because you choose to be with that person and you want to see where things will go. That can change your plan significantly.
The key approach that you want to take with long-term magic is that you consider the direction of your life and you plan for those variables. If someone comes into your life, for example, you ask yourself: Does this person match my values? Does this person fit in my life in the long term not just in the short term? This kind of thinking can seem a little bit cold and clinical but it’s really designed to get you to think very carefully about your choices, so that regardless of what happens you are taking care of yourself, your life and your legacy.
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