Stop Cutting Corners
By: Christopher D. Connors
Tags: Inspiration, Life Lessons, Motivation, Personal Development, Self Improvement

Stop Cutting Corners

The hard path is always worthwhile.

Photo by TJ Dragotta on Unsplash

Try if you’d like, but you’ll find there are no cutting corners.

All the “hacks” and “quick tips” and “secrets” won’t save you from the inevitable need to see your goals through to completion.

When you look over your shoulder (stop looking over your shoulder!) at the success of others, and you grow envious, remind yourself to run your own race.

*They* didn’t get there overnight.

As Lynda Weinman once said, “I’m a 20-year overnight success story.”

No one gets there overnight.

No one.

No one-hit wonder shows up in the recording studio one-day, and has a gold record the next.

No writer pens a bestseller by taking the easy way out.

No entrepreneur goes from struggling to soaring in a few weeks.

No singer receives a standing ovation by faking it.

No business gets “raving fans” by selling out and compromising their values.

Even businesses that put their customers needs over their employees are doomed to fail.

Now that is cutting corners.

There’s no half-written articles.

No almost-finished operas.

No overnight gurus.

No 18-year old life coaches.

No half-baked marketing plan that doesn’t have a real “reason to believe.”

No personal brand that doesn’t have heart and soul.

There’s no worthy action without blind faith and passionate hope. You have to have blind faith. No false hope. Otherwise, why do you even care?

You can’t skip the third-quarter of a four-quarter game.

A project isn’t finished until everything has closed out.

You have to go “all in.” Deceive yourself all you want, but there’s no other way.

If you think you’re winning when you’re not living each moment with maximum attitude, effort and energy, then you’re mistaken.

The scoreboard of life says otherwise. What it says is:

“You’re losing.”

Hate to break it to ya.

Going “all-in” means getting to the depth and roots of exactly why you’re doing, what you’re doing.

Going “all in” means that you have a game plan. You have clarity and determination. You have goals, motivation, determination and direction.

You’re focused, man.

Going “all in” is leading from the heart — your heart. This is leadership at its finest. Going “all in” means there’s no shortcuts, no gimmicks, no B.S. excuses.

There really are no excuses. Eliminate them from your thoughts and vocabulary.

No excuses for others.

But most importantly, no excuses for yourself.

Going all-in means honesty, integrity and discipline. Then, there’s no cutting corners.

There are ways to become more efficient, and there are ways to improve to save your time, but ultimately you have to give your all to everything you do.

So tell the quick-fix salesman and that cranky voice inside your head that you will not be sold on half-ass measures and unfinished solutions.

Look back to where you’ve been. Look inside you to where you are now. And look forward with optimism and joy in your heart.

Do it with all your heart- with the spirit of a warrior- and you will never live with regret.

Stop cutting corners. Enjoy the ride. Join my newsletter for the best, free emotional intelligence and productivity content on the Internet!