“Hacks” … the short cut.
I’m tired of hearing “You can get rich in 30 days using my spectacular seven-figure 1 step blueprint system that will light the world on fire.”
Or … “Do what I say and your world will change forever and ever and be rosie and beautiful and you won’t have to work ever, ever, ever.”
Then there’s … “You don’t need to eat right and exercise, you just need to take this magic pill and *poof* instant success!
Snarky, I know, but we’re becoming a society of quick fixes.
Of course I had to look up “hack” on Thesuarus.com (I love thesaurus.com!) This is what “hack” reads:
Synonyms for hacknoun person who does easy work for moneydrudge lackey servant greasy grindgrind plodder slave old prohireling pro workhorseantonym for hackmaster
People believe the hacks they read from the “pros”.
P.S. I don’t know any pro that took a shortcut to become the old pro.
It’s trending, yes, but I’ve tried the hacks…and they didn’t work for me. I spent thousands using hacks and didn’t get any closer to my goals and dreams. (And bonus, I had to reprogram my mindset around my business because of the hacks, but that’s another post.)
I recently listened to Seth Godin talk with Brian Clark about the top tips for freelancers. What impressed me most was when he said “people will do everything until they get to the hard part, then they stop.”
People want to reach a goal, but they don’t really want to work for it. They want someone else to show them the way, or to do it for them.
They want it to be easy.
They don’t want to work.
I completely agree with Seth, that if you want to be good at anything you need to work at it.
When you work toward your goals, is it hard?
Yes, sometimes it is!
Is it uncomfortable? At times, do you NOT want to do the hard work?
Of course, but it’s pushing through that makes all the difference. It’s forging our way through the hard stuff that shows us what we’re really made of. It confirms the notion that if we want something, we can get it by working at it!
I really got this point driven home when I went to get my nails done the other day.
I’ve been going to the same person for 10+ years and I know her story. She came to the U.S. from Cambodia, through a refugee camp in Thailand. I’ve known this for a long time. But this day I asked her some more questions about her experience, thinking that she was in a refugee camp for several months or maybe up to a year. What I found out was entirely different.
She gave birth to her children in this refugee camp. They could have one bucket of water every day. They were only given a bunch of vegetables to cook their daily meal. There was no electricity or running water.
I asked how long she and her new family had to stay in the refugee camp. Her answer … 6 1/2 years.
That was only the start of her journey. She finally made it to the U.S. She worked whatever jobs she could to put food on the table.
She explained to me how many cities she had lived in since coming to America. When she didn’t find work that was supporting her family she moved to a different place. She kept doing the hard work until she found what she needed. She busted her ass, gained experience, and later developed an expertise all while working for her citizenship. Now, 20 years later, she has her own business
There were no “life hacks”!
In our conversation, it came up that some other family members came to America. They are living in a different city. Currently, they’re having a hard time paying their bills, yet they continue to stay there. They called her and ask “what should we do?” Her response to them… “Suck it up! If your kids aren’t eating, you go out and you get another job. If there are no jobs, you move to a new place.”
For her, taking a shortcut could have gotten her lost, or killed, in the jungle – literally. Instead of the deadly shortcut, she took the long road in her journey. With her stubbornness and her tenacity, and through all the hard work, there was reward and joy.
This made me think about how spoiled we can be. Whining about where we get our next clients. Getting frustrated because we have “so much work to do,” and complaining when things don’t exactly go our way.
We give up. Or worse, we try to find an easy way. We go for the hack.
So, in the words of my nail salon owner “suck it up!”
This is a message for me too. I’m going to add on to this though. I don’t want you to not “feel” while you suck it up. I want you to feel all the emotions that go with this, acknowledge them and even ask, “what does this mean?” This will open up a block to why you aren’t doing what you need to success – and just opting for the hacks
This has been a huge lesson. There are no shortcuts to reaching success.
If you want steady, if you desire sustainable. if you’re looking for integrity and coherence, forego the hacks!
If the people that use hacks tell you it’s the easy way to success, they probably aren’t telling you the whole story.
If you’re ready to go “hack-less”, maybe I can help!
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Lovin’ the longcut!
Christine