Well, at first I wanted to write: Don’t fall for click-baiting headlines, but that’s not the whole secret (though it’s certainly a small fraction of it). What I´d like to say is:
Don´t believe in easy solutions, or, to quote Lt. Aldo Raine from Inglorious Basterds:
Long story short, we hear a story too good to be true – it ain’t.
Most things in life – at least those that are worthwhile pursuing – require a lot of guts, smarts, and plain hard work. That certainly goes for:
- building a successful company;
- becoming a star in sports or music;
- writing a bestseller;
but also for more mundane issues such as:
- leading a functional long-term relationship;
- raising healthy and pleasant kids;
- coming to terms with your own flaws.
Yes, there are things that just work faster or better. But these “life hacks” are, without exception, just tiny pieces of a very large puzzle. Those people who sell easy solutions try to tell you that, by putting together two or three puzzle pieces, you´ve solved the whole thing.
Sorry folks, not true – unless your life equals the complexity of a puzzle made for a two-year-old.