We want everything in a hurry because our primary aim must be survival in the short term. Long term thinking has seemed like a luxury in human history because lives were shorter, but with our increased longevity we have to figure out what to DO with all our time, and to pace ourselves to achieve things that we want. Hobbes might have been right when he originally wrote that life is 'nasty, poor, brutish and short', but today we are AWASH with time.

Trust your intuition, rather than technology, to protect you from violence.

Anyone can get a job, but do you have a purpose?

With people having longer life spans, 50 is the age at which many people only just get into their stride. Consider Ray Kroc starting McDonald's at 52, or the novelist E Annie Proulx only coming into the limelight in her 50s. The careers that each had had gave them the skills and knowledge that allowed for their real contribution. Never discount things that you have learned so far: they may be the platform for something great.

Turning 40 is often a big symbolic point in one's life. In the 20s we feel we can do anything, but as the 30s progress we become more mature emotionally, and in terms of work tend to focus. These two things combined: emotional maturity and career focus, often produced an explosion of self-purpose in our 40s.

Edward Banfield's idea of the "long time horizon," says that more successful people look further into the future, judging their efforts and results in terms of decades, not weeks or even months. This is the power of thinking long.

Most of us cherish freedom, but when we actually get the opportunity to make our own way it can be terrifying.