From Brian Tracy:
Your attitude toward time, your "time horizon," 
has an enormous impact on your behavior and your choices. People who take a long view of their lives and careers always seem to make much better decisions about their time and activities than people who give very little thought to the future.
Successful people have a clear future orientation. They think five, ten, even twenty years out into the future. They analyze their choices and behaviors in the present to make sure that they are consistent with the long-term future that they desire.
In your work, having a clear idea of what is really important to you in the long term makes it much easier for you to make better decisions about your priorities in the short term. Before starting on anything, you should always ask yourself, "What are the potential consequences of doing or not doing this task?"
The clearer you are about your future intentions, the greater influence that clarity will have on what you do in the moment.
