When You Stop Looking for Shortcuts
When you stop looking for shortcuts you actually prime your brain to tap into that miraculous void that will reveal better options for you. The energy released from constantly being on the lookout to trick the system can instead be used to activate your antennas and literally attract new ideas, thoughts and creative methods that act like a magnet for shortcuts.
It is stunning to see the vast amount of people whether they are employees or entrepreneurs who play the business and money game with the sole purpose of getting quicker to their XYZ target without putting in the work, learning new skills and accumulating valuable knowledge.
The hunt for shortcuts has never been more absurd and yet there is this false belief accompanying these players that bathing in the illusion of skipping through the experience of the journey leads to satisfaction, happiness, wealth and fulfillment.
Obviously, there are ways to achieve your goals quicker by being more effective, deploying the right mix of skills, knowledge and experience, modeling what has proven to work over and over again, having the agility to adapt and pivot fast when it’s required while staying mentally focused, sharp and vigilant to change.
The Shortcut Myth
Looking for the magic pill that will transform your finances, health, relationships and life over night? Keep looking and all the best on your quest.
We all know that disrespecting your body for several years in a row can lead to severe health issues. Looking to fix that with a pill so that you can continue that same lifestyle without side effects is totally delusional, and yet so many are trapped believing the myth of bypassing certain avenues and achieving great results without effort.
The very same applies in business and is reflected in your financial statement. Certainly, working like a mule and putting in thousands of hours seldom leads to financial independence. The lack of financial education, discipline, consistency and perseverance are key ingredients of the money cocktail, however due to their unsexy appearance, they seldom get the attention they ultimately require.
How’s looking for shortcuts playing out for you right now? Did this strategy ever provide you with spectacular results consistently over a long period of time?
I for one love to look for patterns and commonalities. Once I find them I deploy modeling as one of my core strategies to learn certain skills and improve my know-how faster.
Here are some of the questions I dive deeper into when embarking on a new quest:
What beliefs shape the behaviors of high-performers?
What mental exercises do elite sports and business people deploy to strengthen their mental stamina?
What habits and rituals are part of their daily routine?
How do they deal with setbacks and failure?
What tools do they use to boost their outcomes?
What’s the smallest and biggest denominator amongst high-performers in a specific industry, sector etc.?
How do they use seasons aka the cycle of life to hone in on skills and practices?
By now you get the gist of my thinking process when analyzing patterns to be able to bootstrap the process and attain specific goals faster.
You Decide What Matters Most to You
Ultimately, it all comes down to you and the choices you make to live life on your terms.
If you define yourself as someone who loves shortcuts and lives for shortcuts whether those are in business, relationships or some other (all) area of your life, you will do whatever it takes to live your life according to this principle.
The reason for this is simple: staying consistent and true to your identity is engrained in you. Therefore, the only way to escape the shortcuts trap is to change your identity. Guess how many people are up for that?
Humans tend to focus on big projects giving little to no attention to the fine details. Overlooking the programming we’ve been exposed to and more or less all of us have bravely assimilated, is a fallacy.
The biggest advancements often come from little things, such as fine-tuning our way of perceiving, thinking and approaching life. Identity plays a crucial role in keeping us in a cave or enabling us to grow so that we can live life to our full potential.
Ultimately, there’s nothing wrong about shortcuts. It’s how you approach this topic and deal with fellow humans on a journey that shapes you as an individual and has a direct impact on the community and society at a large scale.
Image by Oleksandr Pidvalnyi on Pexels
__________________________
Originally published on my blog at StrengthInBusiness.com