Book

The Long View

Shaping an Intentional Life After Achievement

Keith Scholfield

Most books about life after work focus on what to do with your time. This one asks what to do with your attention. Written from the road — across cities, ship decks, and upcountry roads — The Long View is a field-tested account of navigating the years after achievement. It explores what freedom actually requires, what genuinely endures beyond the work, and how to shape a life that's deliberately lived rather than simply enjoyed.

Buy on Amazon →

I didn't start writing because I wanted to be a writer.

I started because Shirley and I took a couple of trips and, once we were home, couldn't answer very basic questions. What did you do? What did you like? What would you do differently? What did you learn? We had been places — but we hadn't really held on to much of it.

Early on, in Barcelona, we visited the Roman ruins beneath the Gothic Quarter. That single visit led to questions about continuity, scale, and time — why some things endure and others disappear. Those questions spilled into notes, then into field observations, and eventually into short reflections that didn't feel tied to Barcelona at all.

I'm early in this journey. Early enough to resist tidy conclusions. Late enough in life to know that whatever really matters tends to reveal itself slowly.

I'm not back yet. But this time, I'm taking notes.

Introduction	Lucky Motherf*ckers
Chapter 1	Three Roles
Chapter 2	What the First Game Actually Gave You
Chapter 3	Enough
Chapter 4	The Long View
Chapter 5	Choosing Your Pillars
Chapter 6	Attention Without Agenda
Chapter 7	Family as a System
Chapter 8	The Tradeoffs We Don't Name
Chapter 9	What Must Be Transmitted
Chapter 10	Regret as Information
Chapter 11	Reducing Future Burdens
Chapter 12	What Holds
Chapter 13	The Steady Presence
Chapter 14	Carrying It Forward