Short term-ism vs. Long term-ism.

'But this long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead.'

It's a perception problem.

Just because something is locally good doesn't mean there isn't a more optimal good elsewhere.

But thinking like that creates what I'll call the Walter Mitty Problem: making a great living, enjoying a loving family, great health, etc., but being unable to take satisfaction from any of that because you're too busy dreaming of being a larger-than-life figure. The better your circumstances get, the more dreaming of even better ones becomes a game of diminishing returns.

(For those of you who only know Walter Mitty from the Ben Stiller movie, here's the original short story: http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1939/03/18/390318fi_fiction...)