We are a nation in need of an instant gratification detox.  I’ve had my suspicions.  I guess between live feeds from the Big Brother house, news streaming the growing number of drug-test failing Olympic athletes, and our obsession with anything having to do with the latest “I-gadget” the addiction was inevitable.  But it was actually the recent Brett Favre debacle that finally proved the validity of my hunch.

Quick recap:  Brett retires, waffles, confirms retirement, waffles again.  The team moves on and focuses on launching a new era of Packer ball.  Brett announces his un-retirement and is disgruntled this revelation isn’t met with the appropriate jubilance and reverence.  Packers stick by their new man for the QB role and trade Brett.  Packers fans lash out.

As a business owner, I completely understand the Packers’ decision.  It’s a shrewd strategy to find ways to build your bench strength, optimize your assets and give your organization a fresh vision for the future.  It can be tough to bite the bullet and make a break from something that has always worked – especially when you recognize that there could be a few bumps along the way that observers will be happy to call you on the carpet for.  But you do it because over the long haul, you know that is what will keep you great. 

So why the long faces cheese heads? 
Apparently Packers fans would rather commit to another rollercoaster season with Favre at the helm and not worry about what happens next.  Because after all, a potential short-term shot at repeating greatness today is always better than working and waiting for potential greatness in the long-term, right?

All I can say is I feel for Aaron Rodgers– or any new CEO, COO or individual for that matter – who is brought in to lead some aspect of an organization and then given just one season to show they can make an impact.

I realize that in this information age everything we need to satisfy our whims, cravings and urges is available 24/7.  But greatness just doesn’t work that way people.

Just how pervasive is our addiction?
Well, let’s play a little game of word association. What situations come to mind when you hear the following?

• Oil and gas
• Mortgages and Housing
• Airline industry
• John Edwards
• Childhood obesity rates
• Immigration

Now, you tell me:  How many of these situations could have been avoided by exercising some long-sightedness?

Meanwhile, our bridges are falling down.
As our addiction to instant gratification grows, our infrastructure is slowly eroding.  Our roads, our school systems and our medical facilities are all showing the bruises of neglect from being moved to the back burner in order to make room in our budgets and on our agendas for more immediate (aka: popular) needs.

In our boardrooms forward-thinking CEOs looking to invest for the future of their company are put on the defensive by private equity firms looking to grow their portfolios quickly.  And how many more quarters will we have to read Wall Street analysts’ reports questioning Google’s investments in expensive programs like employee training and benefits?

We are raising a generation of instant gratification addicts.
One of the main complaints I hear from Boomers about Gen Y (Boomers’ off-spring, mind you) is that Gen Y employees don’t want to do the time to move up the corporate ladder – that they are impatient.  Ya’ think?  Let’s take a closer look at their world.

In my day I was impressed with Jiffy Pop, Nestle Quick, Pop-tarts and microwave ovens.  But just imagine never having to:

• Wait for a Polaroid to develop
• Listen to the radio for hours to just hear your favorite new song
• Go to the library to look something up in an encyclopedia
• Dial a phone and get a busy signal
• Physically go to an event to see it
• Wonder where your friends are and what they are doing

I ordered a pair of shoes from Zappos the other day and they were at my door so fast I would swear the “submit order” button was attached to my doorbell.  So yes, I can see how the instant gratification addiction can happen.

The problem is that at this rate we are ultimately building a nation of citizens to live self-centeredly and moment-to-moment, which will only magnify the current trends.  Is that really the future we want to create?  A future in which we hear the word “community” and picture an instantly constructed master-planned development complete with picket fences and front porches but no real neighbors, instead of a network of relationships grown and nurtured over time?

I challenge us to a better legacy.
Think for a moment about your most fond memories, your greatest achievements.  Write them down on a sheet of paper.  Now, how many of the items on your list were the result of instant gratification versus the result of real time and effort put towards reaching a goal? 

You see, while instant gratification can seemingly satisfy our wants and needs, it doesn’t satisfy our souls.  There is something to be said for enjoying the fruits of your labor, for savoring the process.  Instant gratification takes the fun out of life.  It’s like sex without foreplay.  Don’t get me wrong, you’ll still enjoy it, just probably not as much as you could.

It’s time we stop cheating ourselves, our organizations, our country and our future.  And the best way to start the process is not by pointing fingers and placing blame, but to start to make changes ourselves.  What can you do?  Start small and see what happens.  Some ideas?

• Take time to authentically connect with people
• Teach patience by example
• Make sure your solutions address the long-term as well as the short-term
• Don’t just manage perceptions, tackle the problem head on
• Volunteer in your community
• Participate in your organization’s CSR efforts
• Disconnect from your technology when you are with friends and family
• Participate in your community government

The trick is to balance out your activities so that at the end of the day you can sleep knowing you have invested some of your time and skills in creating a better future, rather than just responding to a future someone else has created for you.  Someday your grandchildren may not know who Brett Favre is, but they will know who you are. 

So what’s the quick answer?
In short:  Rome wasn’t built it a day.  Some good things take time, and that’s not always a bad thing.