I must have been around 5 or 6 years old when I first heard my dad say, “I know a shortcut…”
We were going somewhere. Probably to a tee ball game in town or something. Instead of going the normal way that we had probably driven hundreds of times he decided to take a different route.
I don’t know if we got there any faster. In fact, we probably went over a few rough roads and hard turns. Maybe it saved a minute or so.
Anyway, I think that was my first introduction to shortcuts.
Since then the idea of a shortcut has frequently popped up in my life. Many times while driving, but many more times in other areas of life.
One on hand, a shortcut can be a good thing. In business, it can be a good thing to find a more efficient way of doing something. A simple, easier way that might even produce a better product or service. Sometimes we outthink ourselves by being too complex when the best solution is the simplest.
But I would say that most of the time we have to be careful with shortcuts. They may offer a seemingly quicker way to reach the end, but there is usually a tradeoff. And the tradeoff isn’t often worth it.
I’m in content marketing and something I see often in the online marketing world are people asking questions like:
What is the one thing…
That kind of drives me nuts. One time out of a hundred there might be one thing that provides a simple answer or solution. But usually it’s not one thing. Usually it’s a series of things.
Like blogging, for example. There isn’t one shortcut to becoming a good blogger. Or creating a video series on YouTube. No shortcuts. No one things. Just consistent effort, work and improvement.
Something else that popped up in my childhood was the song, Easy Come Easy Go, by George Strait. I don’t think I fully understood it at the time, but now I see the message in the song.
What comes easy is very likely to go easy.
Easy money. Easy love. Easy business.
The easier something is to start the more likely it is to leave. Or in terms of business the easier it will be for competition to enter the market.
A good theme to follow in life is that shortcuts aren’t worth your time…99% of the time. Watch out for the couple that prove worthwhile. But follow the path of resistance most often. That’s where you’ll find the most return.