People want a shortcut to success. Low risk, low effort, but high reward. At least we want the route that has as little risk as possible and the highest guarantee of success in the end. It’s understandable. Who doesn’t want to be guaranteed to succeed?
The problem is that if we operate on this principle alone, we will never achieve our greatest potential. We will never venture it all the gain the world. We will operate in constant fear that we might lose it all.
It also leads people to operate by “proven checklists.” There is this idea that if we tick all the right boxes, we’re going to succeed. It doesn’t work that way. The more people that check all the “right” boxes, the less valuable it is to be a box-checker.
Hard things are hard, and you can’t just tick off checklists to be special and achieve great things or build that great business.
Don’t avoid the hard work. Don’t look for “hacks.” Do develop skills. Develop a mindset to deliver rare and valuable goods or services. Deliver them in a manner that is both rare and valuable (in terms of how you treat your customers) and you will elevate far above box-checkers, hackers, and all those who wander while looking for the next great shortcut.