an essay on " there are no shortcuts to any place worth going" ?
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look back at my life and think that I have taken a lot of shortcuts both personally and professionally. When I didn't like my job, I quit. When I didn't like my new job I would find another one. When I didn't like a place I would go to another place. If I didn't want to be in a relationship no matter how loving and convenient, I would leave. It seems to me that I have always been finding the easy way out in everything, looking for better options, looking for something else, thinking that the grass is always greener on the other side.
I remember a good friend told me as I complained about my job before - there are no shortcuts. He was talking about how I had to face them, all of them and all of it. My friends know that I have been brought up to become an introvert, asocial, or whatever you call it, it has become worse as I get older. Life just happened, you know. I want a way out of this, but it gets harder every day. It is not that I don't like people, I just despise them. So you can just imagine the difficulty of working in a corporate environment before, that required me to work with a team and coordinate with the management, including people I didn't like. I found myself better off working jobs that are more about creative solitude.
Face your life, its pain, its pleasure, leave no path untaken.
― Neil Gaiman
I have traveled which only made me leave these places, again and again, no attachment, no personal relationships, nothing. I am used to this freedom and comfort of experiencing something new. When things become difficult, it will be easier for me to just leave because I don't have an attachment to anything or anyone anymore, making me just colder and more selfish.
I think about this project I am working on at the moment which requires time, effort and money, and of course, it would have been easier with all the money right? Well, getting a lot of money instantly to fund my startup would just be another shortcut I think, instant success might not last long. There’s no getting around it, hard work is hard work.
At the moment, I am suffering from this travel nostalgia that makes me want to escape again, and I don't want that anymore. I'm a coward in my own away, afraid of going through all the difficult things instead of facing them. I have to go through everything for what its worth. I will not take any shortcuts this time. I just hope that the universe would never get tired of taking care of me.
There are no shortcuts to people either, when it comes to this business, what I need is self-control and patience, in which I have a lot to improve on that part. If you have a job, you don't have a choice but to work with people you don't like, otherwise, there will be a problem. With entrepreneurship, you might be the boss and you can choose not to deal with a client or with a service provider you don't like but still, this is about building professional relationships that would be beneficial to your business. This is not a question of whether you like a person or not, it is about if this person is giving you the best service for your business. There are a lot of aspects I need to improve on in terms of interpersonal relationship which is a big deal in the travel industry. I have seen the worst bosses in my life and I have learned a lot from how they deal with clients, employees, and suppliers and I surely do not want to be like any of them in the future.
Some people might have all the money and resources in the world to travel and start a business but there's only one thing lacking - courage. This is the only thing I have actually and I have nothing to lose anymore. Most people have never left their comfort zone due to fear, without realizing that braving the unknown is for one's growth and success. One thing that my travel taught me was how to conquer this fear of the unknown and it surely prepared me to be at this point in my life. Just like real travel, getting into entrepreneurship is a tough thing, you're not within your comfort zone, you have to face the unknown and you have to deal with all the uncertainties - there are no shortcuts this time. You do everything to make it happen, because good things, especially great things take time.
Do not wait the time will never be 'just right'. Start where you stand, and work whatever tools you may have at your command and better tools will be found as you go along.
― Napoleon Hill