successIn our attempt to get ahead, be successful, or climb the corporate ladder we’re always on the lookout for shortcuts.

We’re always looking for those secret portals to the finish line, the point at which we can say “Yay! I win.”

A lot of time we are so focused on finding the shortcuts that we miss so much of what’s going on around us. We miss the subtleties of the journey.

The lie of get rich quick

You’ve heard it all before “instant success”, “triple your income by the end of the week”, “retire in six months flat”. There are entire industries built around getting rich quick, around selling the promise that success is only a click, phone call or “four easy payments” away.

Take for example someone who offers a course on how to make money in real estate. They are a self professed real estate guru. They promise to teach you how to make thousands, if not millions, through buying and selling homes. Of course they will charge you for access to their secrets. Is it $500? $1000? or $20 000? If it’s the former, at $500 a person and they allow 1000 people access at a time, that’s half a million dollars. At one time, for one course.

Similarly, why would you spend $200 on a book that “guarantees” freedom from your 9 to 5 job when the person is still working 9 to 5 but only now it’s for themselves selling you the promise of freedom?

This begs the question: Is this “guru”, the person with the secret to overnight success, wealthy because of his or her knowledge and skill in real estate, selling cars, playing the stock market, etc … ? Or is he or she really good at generating hype and selling a promise that you can make millions or achieve freedom doing x, y, or z?  More often than not it’s the later.

Where the temptation really comes in to play is when we read those testimonials. Real people’s accounts of great success through participating in the course, reading the book or buying time with the guru. We must keep in mind that, out of the 1000 participants, we read about the 3 people who have succeeded. We never hear from the other 997 people for whom these “secrets” didn’t work. 997 – that’s a lot of people.

There are no shortcuts

There are no shortcuts to anyplace worth going. – Beverly Sills

In this quote, Beverly Sills eloquently states how there are no shortcuts in life. I entirely agree. Look at those around you. Who do you see that, in your mind, has reached the finish line? Who has it made? Who has been able to escape the “cubical jail” or flee the “rat race” for good?

It’s likely that these people haven’t found a secret portal or magic door that promptly whisked them to the finish line. I suspect, more often than not, there has been a large amount of determination, drive, persistence, ambition and just plain old hard work behind this perceived success. I say perceived success because what you see as successful may not be what defines success for them.

Of course for every rule there are about a thousand exceptions. There are people who inherit success, who are born into a situation that sets them up from day one, but this is certainly not the rule. In general, life is not handed to you.

Timing is everything

Many people achieve great success simply by being in the right place at the right time, jumping in at the perfect moment, and knowing the right people. For some the more hard work you put in towards your dreams, towards being successful the more likely you are to achieve it.

Success isn’t linear. When we’re first starting out down a path towards what we consider great success it’s tough, it’s slow like walking through a tar pit and quite often it’s really demoralizing. But as you keep going and you start to gain momentum there seems to be a chain reaction that results in more success and greater exposure at a more rapid rate than ever before. There seems to be a tipping point at which you don’t have to work as hard as you did initially. Near the end success and opportunities actually find you.

So yes, success breeds success.

There are few, if any, legitimate get rich quick opportunities. It usually comes back to the old saying “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”. A few thoughts to keep in mind next time you are tempted to part with your money or invest time in someone’s promise to make you wealthy or successful.

  • Do you know anything about this person?
  • Are they actually wealthy or successful?
  • How did they accumulate their wealth or achieve their success? Was it persistence in a particular niche or teaching how to succeed in a particular niche? I personally have a hard time taking advice on a subject from someone who hasn’t been successful at it themselves.
  • You will still be required to work. A lot. Often a lot longer and harder than on anything else you’ve ever worked on.
  • You will have a greater chance at success if you are at least interested in what you are pursuing.  You’ll be even more likely to succeed if you are passionate about it.
  • Have you missed the boat?

Listen to your gut. There really are no shortcuts to life. It would be pretty boring if there were. Invest your time, sweat, tears, frustration, joy, passion, intelligence, skills and talents into something that gets you going, something you look forward to doing every single day.

So what is the secret to amazing success? YOU.

See also:

Motivation Handbook To Help Get You Back On Course

How To Choose Goals And Ensure Success

Focus On Your Strengths

Getting Things Done – Keeping It Short And Sweet

Photo courtesy of: lorypc