There Are No Shortcuts To Excellence

HardWorker

My mom would say that there are no shortcuts to excellence and depending on what one defines as a shortcut I might agree with that. If you ask me, a shortcut is an easier way to get to excellence, if you cheat to get to excellence, that's what I see a shortcut as, and if we're going by that definition I wholeheartedly agree that there are no shortcuts to excellence. That's not to say however, that there aren't ways of getting to excellence faster, that will get you there sooner, that aren't shortcuts.

Lets say you're working a job where you make ten dollars an hour and you have a goal of making four hundred dollars gross. So in this example $400 represents excellence. Now lets say you're working twenty hours a week, at $10/hour you will be making $200 a week so at that rate it will take you two weeks to reach your goal of $400, it will take you two weeks to reach excellence.

Now lets say that whoever you're working for, you ask them if you can work more hours and they're able to give you forty hours a week, at forty hours a week you will reach your goal of $400 in just one week. Now if you ask me working forty hours a week as opposed to twenty hours isn't a shortcut. It isn't easier its harder, working more hours per week is harder than working less hours, but you will reach your goal sooner so it will get you to excellence faster and sooner.

What I would see as a shortcut is this, some jobs have machines where you punch in and punch out with a time card that records how many hours you worked so they know how much to pay you. If you were to tamper with the machine to make it say you worked more hours than you did, if you were to tamper with the machine to make it say you worked forty hours when you haven't that's what I see as a shortcut, and if you did that not only would you lose your job you would also probably be charged with fraud and would most likely be doing jail time. So there you have it, there are no shortcuts to excellence. That is not to say that you can't get to excellence faster and sooner as described above however. Getting to excellence faster isn't going to be easier its going to be harder, that's the tradeoff, but the point is that it can be done.

ghostlycutter

You said it yourself, harder work, greater precision, etc.

Just because everyone works a 9-5 doesn't make that work, work is truthfully timeless, but with the time schedule you've put up it'd just be Egyptians and that's it, we're over.

It's good to be patient as I prescribed in your other thread, helps to perfect products.

Yes I agree, taking shortcuts often has risk associated with it that can be detrimental to the final product.

HardWorker

↪ghostlycutter

You said it yourself, harder work, greater precision, etc.

Just because everyone works a 9-5 doesn't make that work, work is truthfully timeless, but with the time schedule you've put up it'd just be Egyptians and that's it, we're over.

It's good to be patient as I prescribed in your other thread, helps to perfect products.

Yes I agree, taking shortcuts often has risk associated with it that can be detrimental to the final product.

Well yes this thread of mine does overlap a bit with my other thread on the value of patience. What you said about shortcuts, however, I don't think shortcuts exist if you want to attain excellence. As you say, it can be detrimental to the final product and if your final product is less good than its supposed to be than you haven't attained excellence.

In regards to patience though, with my example where your working and making $10/hour and you want to make four hundred dollars, you've got two options.

Option A, you work 20 hours a week and take two weeks to make $400

Option B, you work 40 hours a week and take one week to make $400

Does it take more patience to go with option A? After all, its taking you longer to make your $400 with option A so you could say that it does require more patience but option B is harder, you have to work more hours per week so its harder in that sense but you're getting your $400 in just one week as opposed to two.

This is of course, assuming that working 40 hours a week as opposed to 20 does not affect your job performance, that by working 40 hours you're able to do just as good a job as if you work 20 hours.

So does going with option A take more patience? Does going with option B mean one is impatient?

Caldwell

So does going with option A take more patience? Does going with option B mean one is impatient? — HardWorker

Both requires patience. Efficiency shouldn't be a "criticism" against patience. Saving time shouldn't diminish the value of patience.

Outlander

You could write a novel or even a screenplay and hope people take to it. Who knows, they might. Creativity is and has always been in high demand. Though like an old teacher of mine would say "everything that can be done, has been done", his view was that any "new works" are really just rehashes, even if not intentionally and are born from one's own uninfluenced mind.

HardWorker

↪Caldwell

Both requires patience. Efficiency shouldn't be a "criticism" against patience. Saving time shouldn't diminish the value of patience.

- Caldwell

Of course both require patience, in neither case are you going to make $400 instantaneously. The question is, if going with option A requires more patience since that option does take it longer to reach your goal.

Caldwell

Of course both require patience, in neither case are you going to make $400 instantaneously. The question is, if going with option A requires more patience since that option does take it longer to reach your goal. — HardWorker

It looks like time is the essence of patience, so yeah, option A requires more patience in a sense that the length of time to arrive at your goal is longer. I think you inadvertently implied that working is the key to your question. In actuality, working 40 hours requires more patience, than working 20 hours a week.

thewonder

↪HardWorker

You're not incorrect, but there's a certain poverty to that line of reasoning, though. You spend an extraordinary amount to time to produce some great work or another and all that it really buys you are one or two compliments. You otherwise try to figure out how to feel welcome somewhere and even occasionally succeed, but somehow, in some way or another, someone else trips you up and you just scramble to try and fix things here and there, but, by the time you do, you've just become all too bothersome, and, so, you leave everything and everyone with some parting phrase or gesture, so that they can know that you've left. The internet is just an ender's game. What is the internet other than a reflection of society, though? It doesn't matter where you go. You're either already dead or the way, the truth, and the light. All that any form of your illuminating brilliance buys you, though, is a bit more time. You can't help but cheat the system to be let to create something of enough value to improve your quality of life. You know that you don't have any other options. It's true what they say, though. Cheaters never win. Losers don't either, though, and, so, what can anyone do?

HardWorker

↪Caldwell

It looks like time is the essence of patience, so yeah, option A requires more patience in a sense that the length of time to arrive at your goal is longer. I think you inadvertently implied that working is the key to your question. In actuality, working 40 hours requires more patience, than working 20 hours a week.

Im not sure I quite understand, first you talk about how option A requires more patience because it takes you longer to reach your goal but then you say that working 40 hours, which is option B, takes more patience. It sounds like you're contradicting yourself.

Caldwell

↪HardWorker

Sorry, in my last post, I meant to say option B.

HardWorker

↪Caldwell

Sorry, in my last post, I meant to say option B.

So in other words, you're saying option B takes more patience.

original2

Yet there is no excellence without shortcuts.

thewonder

↪original2

There's a paradox, I think, to what the original poster has brought up. In order to have patience, you need to be let to have a certain degree of peace of mind. In order to have peace of mind, you can only have so many problems in your life. Some people just ignore the problems in their lives and play aloof. Not doing anything about them just doesn't do anything about them, though, and, so, other people are often put up to it. Now, in so far that you don't expect for anyone to solve your problems for you, you have the problems of other people to deal with as well. Not doing anything about them just doesn't do anything about them, though, and, so, you come up with a lot of quick solutions and half-baked plans. Because nothing is ever done well, they only ever work if they go unnoticed. You just dig yourself further and further, when all that you wanted was a certain degree of peace of mind. You can't trust a person who won't let you have that, and it shows. You should've devoted your life to so many other things, but what can you do now? Just take it easy. Relax. As if you didn't have enough to worry about already.

People often talk about self-actualization and even use it as a form of superiority. It stems from a hierarchy of needs. Everyone ought to be let to achieve what they should like to well, and that requires patience. Good luck making it that way, though. There's just nothing that you can do about people who won't let you have your peace of mind.

Caldwell

So in other words, you're saying option B takes more patience. — HardWorker

I think so. The length of time one must do a particular activity in one sitting requires patience. If one works full day, as oppose to half day, I guess.

HardWorker

↪Caldwell

You got a good point there. I can take what you say and apply it to some of the other stuff I might talk about in some of my other threads.

There Are No Shortcuts To Excellence

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