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With shortcuts, it´s like with a lot of the good things in life – they either are too expensive, unhealthy or only half as good as they sound. It seems to be so easy: instead of working for your goal and making mistakes, you´ve found a faster, more effective way to reach it. And if it works out, that’s great! Unfortunately, shortcuts have the annoying tendency to let you down after some time – or they don´t even lead to your goal but instead to a compromise or bring you only half the way forward.
Especially when it comes to your body, you can find thousands of hacks, exercises, superfoods and drinks to make your body fitter, stronger, healthier and younger at the same time. There’s nothing wrong with a balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle but running after nutrition trends like a dog after his tail really won´t spare you from investing some time, energy and discipline into the topic and finding the products that work for your body and your lifestyle.
If you want to get into a certain Yoga pose you must adapt, and you and practice, practice, practice. If you want to do choreography, you must create, and practice, practice, practice. If you want to become fit, you must set a plan and then train, train, train.
I think you´re getting the point. Yo-yo dieting and injuries are (amongst others) the results of short cuts with your body, and believe me, it will cost you so much more time to relearn the basics or get rid of the unwanted kilos again than taking the long way at the first place.
I learned this the hard way in Aerial Arts, where not being able to do the basics safe and clean makes it extremely hard to develop and make progress later. But as an excited student, you often want to go further than you should (or can!) instead of practicing and developing your current skill level before going on, which can lead not only to serious injuries, but also to bad technique and disappointment when you´re not ready yet to move on.
With success, it´s the same thing. Everyone wants to be successful, but no one wants to work for it – you see the problem? Sure, you need connections, skills and a little bit of luck too – but the biggest part of being successful is working for it. A manager who is unqualified and just got the job because he knows the boss may be successful on the short term – but over a long period of time, he may ruin the company and will likely get fired. Shortcuts may bring you to the top – but only hard work, development and courage will keep you there.
Whatever you deem as your personal success – you must work for it. You’ll make mistakes. Failure is nothing to be ashamed of, it´s a circle of trying, learning and improving. Instead of seeing failure as something bad or disappointing, I am always trying to take it as something I can learn from and improve from, although I must confess that I don´t always succeed in thinking that way – it´s often harder than it sounds. But mistakes and disappointments belong in your life like successes and achievements, so let´s make the best out of it!
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