My family and I live in a suburb of Tampa. Back when we originally moved here, this area had a few neighborhoods, but also a lot of two-lane roads and cow pastures.
Not anymore. Our area is now an extension of Tampa. Roads that were once two-lane roads are now 6-lane highways with traffic jams. The intersection with a gas station and a light is now a major thoroughfare with 4 grocery stores, a Sams’s Club, and numerous other businesses.
In fact, so much so that there are now accidents fairly routinely. When we leave the house and venture out, we’ve got to have our guards up. Because, people are driving like crazy people out there. It is especially bad during the commute to work in the morning. I’m so thankful we don’t have to make that commute because it is NUTS.
Everybody trying to get there faster.
People trying to find shortcuts.
Never mind that they’re so busy whizzing around cars and bolting around in search of shortcuts and then end up at the light at the same damn time I do. Stupid idiot. 😉
What is it with people’s lack of patience today?
Is it because of social media? Have these networks and the news gotten us so dopamine addicted today that we can’t stand waiting for anything? So, we end up in a misguided frenzy trying to outsmart our fellow man to get there quicker?
So much distraction. So many things seeking our attention. And we seem to willingly give it… to our own detriment.
And the result? A constant search for shortcuts. Hacks. Secrets. Tricks. Everything has got to be fast! Every moment of slow time occupied.
Personally, I think what has happened in the area around our home is sort of like what’s going on online today.
In the earlier days, the internet was a lot like our town here 20 years ago. Some big stores, but overall it was pretty easy to get around. Today, we’ve got gobs of traffic, businesses everywhere, and people trying to out-drive each other every morning in an asinine effort to get to work a couple minutes earlier.
As if a 9-to-5 job is worth hurting yourself or somebody else to get there just a WEE bit earlier?!
Online, people waste a lot of time looking for shortcuts, too.
And marketers are there to take every advantage of it, too. Fast, risk-free, “push button easy” secrets that will give you massive shortcuts! Sometimes even at somebody else’s expense.
Look, if a shortcut worked so well, it wouldn’t be a shortcut. It’d be the standard.
And I’ve watched my share of people waste a TON of time chasing (and buying) shortcuts… only to end up coming to me because they wanted somebody to tell it to them straight.
Shortcuts are not what they seem in a lot of cases. It isn’t an innovation.
Shortcuts can be a trap.
And just like that stupid driver who is weaving in and out of traffic only to end up in the same place I did… people who look for shortcuts to building an online business usually end up going nowhere really fast. That person who slowed down and just did things correctly and intentionally will usually get much further down the road – and spend less money doing it – than the person who kept looking for shortcuts.
So, as you build up and scale your business and blog in today’s highly trafficked internet…
Are you going to be that person who is stressed out as they try to chase every shortcut to make things happen faster even though it rarely works?
…. or the slow, steady and intentional one that gets there calmly?
I know which one works. I know which one I’d rather be.
Here’s how I help people every day…
Make everything about managing your site simpler… by having me on your team to help make sure everything goes smoothly. By providing the very best tools, the best hosting and maintaining everything for you… I’ll take care of the mechanics so you can just focus on growth.
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