Success: Why Everyone Else is Getting it Wrong
The Only Way To Shortcut Success:
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Your need for speed is slowing you down.
Instead of charging towards success, you drift further away.
And as you drift further away - your frustration grows.
This growing frustration leads to even shorter-term decision making.
Shorter-term decisions are often poorer in quality. They prioritise speed over accuracy and lead to the repetition of the cycle that got you here.
Once the cycle begins it's easy to get stuck.
Once stuck, it's difficult to escape.
There's only one way out…
Do the opposite of everyone else.
We're All As Bad As Each Other And There's Only One Way Out…
I know this conundrum well.
From over a decade of experience helping people achieve their health and fitness goals, as well as my own pursuits in starting, building and growing different businesses.
In the same way that people look for quick-fixes with weight loss, only to realise the downside of this approach, I too have tried to shortcut my way to success at times - before realising the irony that I was becoming no different than those seeking weight loss shortcuts.
We all do it.
It's default behaviour in today's society.
We want to grow a following…fast.
We want to grow a business…by tomorrow.
We want a lifetime of success…in the next 6 months.
We believe we can have it all, which may be true, but that still isn't enough.
As Freddie Mercury of Queen famously sang…
With speed as our primary driver, we do too many things at once, missing key lessons from each.
These lessons are what would usually shape our decisions about how to move forwards, but without them, we cannot learn anything or gain better knowledge of what it takes to succeed.
Using a simple weight loss analogy to paint the picture…
The person who doesn't track their food might lose some weight, but they never learn how many calories they're eating to achieve that result.
Inevitably, when the weight loss stalls, they feel stuck, but haven't gained any new knowledge from their journey so far as to how to go about fixing this problem.
-Have they accidentally eaten more food?
-Do they need to drop their calories lower?
-Is this just a plateau they need to break through?
…They cannot know the answers. The learning never took place.
The same rules apply across many areas in life.
And this is why I believe that there is only one way to truly 'shortcut' your way to success…
Do what's needed to acquire the specific skills and knowledge required to achieve your desired outcomes quicker.
Most shortcuts skip the 'Knowledge Acquisition' steps.
So make knowledge acquisition your shortcut.
-The weight loss quick fixes don't teach you how the weight loss occurs.
-The lead generation hacks and tactics don't teach you why they are effective.
-The 'viral blueprint' doesn't explain why that approach grabs people's attention.
Instead of skipping the knowledge to create a shortcut - turn knowledge into your shortcut.
Practical Approaches For Using Knowledge As Shortcuts…
To ensure I don't do you a disservice, I want to be clear about the terminology I am using here.
I am talking about knowledge and knowledge acquisition as being shortcuts, but knowledge could be easily replaced by: skills, insight, experience, tools etc.
Sometimes, even if you 'know' what to do, you're unable to make progress.
It might be one of the other elements that's missing.
But they all fall under a similar category that I'm referring to as 'Knowledge' here.
And just to reiterate….
The reason quick-fixes fail is because they lack large portions of the learning process that allow you to acquire knowledge about how to get results (in any given area).
It's the lack of acquired knowledge that slows you down in the long term.
So, to speed things up - acquire the knowledge as early as you can.
There are two key ways to do this…
Undertake the challenge of pursuing a goal, without shortcuts, and learn the lessons along the way. Then use these lessons to improve results.
Choose a goal to pursue, then find reputable sources of information about how to achieve that goal in the way that makes the most sense to you. This could be people, courses, videos, podcasts, books, blogs, AI chatbots - anything.
The second option is my preferred method.
And in all honesty, I do my best to only consume enough 'free' stuff so that I have enough information about where to quickly turn to for 'paid' solutions.
I'm not looking for the free resources to solve my problems - I'm using them to figure out who is legit.
Once I know who the legit people are - I am looking at their paid services as being the thing that will act as the shortcut.
A Quick Side Note On FREE Content
Free content is great. I produce lots of it on a weekly basis and happily share it.
I also consume my fair share of it across the week too.
But here's the thing…
In the same way that most people don't get results if you offer them 'Free PT Sessions', most business owners don't make huge inroads in their business by following 'Free Business Advice'.
…It's not personal
…It lacks specificity
…There's very little nuance
…And most importantly, there's no 'skin in the game'.
My advice is to use free content purely as a filter through which you decide where to go and spend your money on solving problems.
The free content itself - even if it's amazing - probably won't get you all the way to your goal. But it can act as a gateway to the answers you are looking for.
A Quick Summary Of What We Have Covered…
> Shortcuts slow you down because you don't gain the required knowledge along the way.
> The lack of real knowledge and insight leaves you stuck, not knowing what to do next in order to make progress.
> This means that the only shortcuts worth taking are ones where you get direct access to the knowledge and insights needed to achieve the goals you want.
> The best shortcuts are ones you pay for - they're the only ones you take seriously.
With your 'ethical shortcuts' acquired, you can make good progress.
The 'speed' you gain with this approach is measured over the long term. It's not about getting results tomorrow. Rather, it's about ending the cycle of having to 'start again'….again!
-Matt Robinson
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