Millions of people are obsessed with shortcuts. They look for shortcuts for almost every area of their lives.
And waste a lot of time, money and attention in the process.
It’s a distracting and disturbing trend.
Shortcuts are fallacies and illusions: detours that distract us from real work.
“If there were shortcuts, people smarter than you and me would have found them already. There aren’t. Sorry,” says Seth Godin.
Many people fall prey to shortcuts because the human brain is insanely good at conserving energy: it uses mental shortcuts (psychologists call it heuristics) to make quick judgments to avoid hard and important thinking.
Heuristics allow us to solve everyday problems quickly but they don’t always work in our favour though. It’s up to you to deliberately push past the brain’s cravings and choose a better path.
Shortcuts can only take you so far. And the price is usually long delays that require twice the time to get you moving again.
In the end, you will most likely end up where you started.
Long term problems require long cuts
“Every shortcut has a price usually greater than the reward.” — Bryant McGill.
If you are consistently in the process of looking for shortcuts, you are probably stalling: hoping to avoid real work. It’s a habit that prevents actual progress.
Long cuts, on the other hand, are life-changing. They do more for your life than short term solutions.
The essential areas of our lives require long cuts.
Long cuts are long-term and consistent routines, habits, behaviours, principles and rules that help us become better versions of ourselves.
Investing consistently is a long cut to a better retirement. Exercising and choosing to eat healthily is a long cut to better health.
Reading a few minutes every day is a timeless long cut to becoming wiser. Embracing lifelong learning is an important long cut for creating and building a better life.
Life is a long non-linear game
Those that spend the most effort in search of shortcuts are often the most disappointed and the least successful. — Seth Godin
Pick habits you can sustain and commit to the process for every area of your life. It’s the only way to accumulate wins over time.
There’s no substitute for great and good work. Success is 99% effort and commitment to good inputs.
If you want to be a better writer, you must write. If you want your relationship to work, you must spend quality time doing things together: work on maintaining it.
If you want to create a passive income source, invest in a solid foundation that can set you up for life.
Build your skills. Lay a good foundation that can consistently deliver good results. Aim to accumulate small wins.
Beverly Sills was right, “There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.”
If you want lasting success, don’t expect instant gratification and results.
Invest in the long cut. Wise decisions, proactive habits, better inputs, focus, and grit have more to with your outcomes than shortcuts.
Don’t underestimate the value of the process.
Life is not linear. There are no universal templates — only smart choices and frameworks for designing a personal journey.
Events and experiences don’t follow a distinct pattern.
Every story is different. We can learn from others but in the end, we have to follow our own true north.
Commitment to long cuts can help you respond better to the opportunities ahead of you. Long cuts are better paths to lasting success. Effort is your best chance to build things that matter.
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Previously Published on Medium
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