I have a very driven personality… but at times, I can be super lazy. Sure would be nice if I could get a 6-pack from sitting in my recliner eating pizza, or if I could sleep on a book and learn the information through osmosis. There are times that I don’t want to eat right or read a book… but it’s in those times when my future is created.
Wouldn’t it be nice if the easiest things in life yielded the most effective results? But that isn’t the way that our world is set up. The laws of success are consistent, whether we’re talking about our marriage, our business, raising kids, or planting a garden. The easiest path is rarely – if ever – the most effective. High ease usually equals low effectiveness and if you want to aim for high effectiveness, you’ll have to choose something more that takes more effort.
Let’s talk about a couple of perspectives. First of all, we need to be careful that we don’t confuse “difficult” with “complicated.” Many times, we can come to believe that if something is simple and easy to understand, it must not be effective. This is not always the case; there are plenty of simple ideas that – if implemented – would change your life.
Finances – “Spend less than you make, and make more than you spend.”
Health – “Burn more calories than you intake.”
Thinking – “Read 15 minutes a day and listen to 2-3 audios per day.”
Spiritual life – “Spend the first few minutes of your day in prayer and meditation.”
Of course, there will always be more complicated ways to grow deeper and more mature in each of these areas. However, as we’ve talked about before, many of these things are easy to do but just as easy not to do.
When I say “Ease,” I’m talking about a comfort level – the things that aren’t intentional or don’t take any effort. When we do something that takes zero effort, we will normally get zero results. Allow me to give a couple of examples:
-Sales/Marketing – The “easy” path in sales tends to be mass-market emails or fliers. While shooting out a spam email or putting a flier on everyone’s car windshield may be easy, it’s not very effective. You may send 1,000 emails and receive 3 responses; in our culture, mass-market advertising (easy) doesn’t do as well as relationship building (difficult). The more effective strategy is to increase the size of your network, make a friend, find a need, and help that person fill their need. Takes more time, but it’s much more effective.
-Relationships – It’s much easier to ignore situations than it is to talk things out. It’s much easier to hold a grudge than it is to apologize. It’s much easier to practice silence than it is to practice casual conversations. Like everything else in life, relationships take effort if you want them to be effective; don’t take the easy road – take the road less traveled by. Be an effective friend.
I had several other examples, but I deleted them because I believe you get the idea. If your goal in life is to have it “easy,” feel free – but your effectiveness and legacy will be next to nothing. No one whose name you recognize ever had an easy life. Leaving a legacy takes stepping away from ease and stepping towards effectiveness.
“If you take the easy way out of life, your life will get harder. But if you take the hard way out, your life will get easier.” Easy now and hard later, or hard now and easy later – it’s your choice to make.
Chris Craft
The Soapbox 