But theres a big difference between doing something more efficiently and avoiding the work altogether.
These shortcuts are about efficiency and working smart.
These are nothing new, but theyre given cult-like praise in this age of efficiency.
And people have mistaken getting things done faster for not doing them at all.
As an example, take the book that made Tim Ferriss famous,The 4-Hour Work Week.
This isnt a new concept by any means, and it isnt even inherently bad advice.
But will you get rich and only work a four-hour week?
Then he started a business selling exercise supplements, aproduct none of us need.
In short, hes an educated, rich, white, childless, male.
He came from a places of privilege to give advice to others in the same position.
They trick you into seeing short-term results but long-term failure, and leave you wondering where you went wrong.
Lets use weight loss as another example.
Caloric restriction is a popular shortcut for weight loss.
The reason is pretty simple: you eat less.
Unfortunately, when you return to a normal diet, youll put the weight back on.
Asweve pointed out before, a diet has no beginning and end.
There are no shortcuts that remove therealwork required to achieve your goal.
You canread faster, but thats at the expense of retaining the information and recalling it later.
Its about workingsmarterand getting rid of the tediumnot getting out of actual hard work.
If you really want to make big changes in your life, you have to recalibrate this view.
We need to stop bitching and whining about the work required to do things.
Your jobs no different.
Sure, not everyonecan follow their passionand love their job.
But that doesnt mean you shouldhateyour job.
If you find yourself looking for any way to avoid work, itsprobably time to leave your job.
Again, theres no shortcut here, just smart planning.
When youre always looking for shortcuts, youre breeding contempt for the actual work.
Thats inevitably going to have a negative effect on you in the long term.
Its human nature to look for magic bullet solutions to common problems.
Take a vacation!Youll be 100% more creative when you get back!
Depressed?Exercise and itll fix everything!
Sadly, thats not really how it works.
You cant just blindly take advice and follow steps and assume youll get results.
But no single solution changes everything.
Illustration by Jim Cooke.
