The Race for Instant Results: Why Pausing Matters in the Modern World

Modern life never stops, and every year the pace seems to quicken. Before we can get used to one change, another one arrives. The race for new values, the constant update of technologies and standards forces us to live in a state of uncertainty.

Modern life never stops, and every year the pace seems to quicken. Before we can get used to one change, another one arrives. The race for new values, the constant update of technologies and standards forces us to live in a state of uncertainty.

Once, we knew how to build long-term plans, nurture our desires, and patiently move towards their fulfillment. But today, this has become a real challenge. Modern conditions have conditioned us to want everything immediately, instead of later. We’ve become impulsive, chasing instant results. First, we want something, then we quickly get it — and only after that do we start figuring out what happened and what we should have done differently. Often, we don’t stop to consider the value of our actions, and the losses we incur — in time or finances — go unnoticed.

We’ve almost forgotten how to invest in our future. Life has become easier, but with this simplification, we pay the price of shallowness. It’s easier to act, but harder to analyze what’s going on inside us, in our world. We’ve stopped asking ourselves: “What do I want?” and “Who do I want to be?” This creates a vast space for confusion, and that’s where those who promise simple solutions to all our problems show up.

But the truth is, there are no easy answers. The path to success isn’t short, and any promise of quick wealth or success is just a trap set by our own mind, craving instant results. We’re willing to believe in the illusion of success because it gives us the feeling that we’re on the right track. But in reality, it’s often just a farce that we pay for with our effort and time.

This is how we live — in the race for quick solutions, unaware of how important it is to sometimes stop, take a step back, and reflect on what really matters to us.