Lao Tzu and Long-Termism: Living in the Present Builds the Future

Lao Tzu has a simple saying in the Tao Te Ching :

a tree you can barely wrap your arms around starts as a tiny sprout; a nine-story tower begins with a single bucket of dirt; a journey of a thousand miles starts right under your feet.

The basic idea is plain and ordinary: big things don’t just appear out of nowhere. Everything we see around us—no matter how massive—is built up from small, ordinary pieces that came before it.

That simple idea is pretty much the essence of what we call long-termism today. At its core, long-termism is more than just patience; it’s the conscious choice to invest your daily effort into things that don’t yield instant rewards. It’s about trusting that steady, unhurried care builds something real over time—whether that’s sitting down to write two lines in a notebook every morning, tending to a small balcony garden, or refining a hand-carved piece of wood day after day.

In a culture driven by immediate feedback, long-termism gives us a steadying force. It takes away the panic of needing everything to happen right now, reminding us that the most meaningful things in life need time and room to settle and grow at their own pace.

And that’s where long-termism meets living in the present. Long-term thinking might set the overall direction, but you can’t actually live in the future—you can only act in the current moment. The only way to sustain something over years is by turning your attention to the step right in front of you today.

Living in the present isn’t about slowing down just to relax or escape your goals; it’s about making real, intentional use of right now.

When you stop worrying about the entire journey and focus entirely on the single action in your hands, the work becomes manageable, and the present moment gets its full purpose.