Years ago when I was teaching our oldest daughter to drive I learned a valuable lesson. We were on the back roads and I thought I knew a shortcut to get us back to the highway. When one way wasn't working I tried another. Let's just say she got a lot more driving experience than she wanted that day and I really looked stupid. Sometimes what we think is a shortcut really isn't and all the time I spent looking for a shortcut didn't save us any time.
There are two ways to get somewhere to follow the normal path or to find a shortcut. In the business world, some start small and grow big, others shortcut (I would say most use shortcuts of some fashion). Some shortcuts are ethical and encouraged and others are unethical or flat-out illegal. Schooling is a perfect example of an ethical shortcut as is coauthoring. Stealing copyrighted material, underpaying employees, and slander are unethical in the worst ways and at least illegal in others.
The question that came to my mind though is am I too busy looking for the shortcut that I'm no longer traveling on the path to get to where I want to go. Now I realize there are times we do need to stop and consider which path to take. However, the issue I was asking myself and then posing to you is, have we quit moving on the path to success (whatever that may be) and instead focus on finding shortcuts?
Consider lotteries are shortcuts, inheritances are shortcuts, theft is a shortcut, bailouts, and stimulus checks are shortcuts. I could go on but you can see there are good and bad shortcuts. The problem is when we stop working for our future and instead focus on finding the shortcut or demanding a shortcut. I live in a culture that is focused on the shortcut. The problem is most if not all of the people who got ethical shortcuts were moving towards their future and not waiting to find a shortcut.
The concern about focusing on a shortcut is that if after a while you or I don't find an ethical one we might try to convince ourselves that any shortcut is good even if it isn't. We can and people have done unethical and even illegal things convinced that they had the right to because they couldn't get it any other way. It's wrong and I don't want to follow that path. I want what is legal and ethical even if it means I get no shortcuts.
At the end of my life and yours, it will be the better choice. If a good shortcut comes while on the road then take it, but let's not stop moving to find something that probably isn't there.
Photo by Ryan Porter on Unsplash
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