Transcript: I can’t quite get my Grandpa’s voice out of my head, making me accountable for the fact that I know that I’m sometimes guilty of trying to take shortcuts. Bear with me for a moment while I pretend that I’m a car and that this (pointing to a parking lot) is an actual road so I can show you what I mean.
Walk With Me: YouTube Subscribe | Mailing List
Okay, so see if you can suspend disbelief with me for just a moment. I’m going be a car, a bright pink car, and my job is going to be to turn left in front of, and then up and beside, this vehicle (pointing to car).
So, pretend that this car’s sitting at an intersection and I’m the other car and I’m out in front of it waiting to kinda come left up and around. We’ve all been in this situation. Grandpa always taught me that the way to make the turn properly is to come far enough out into the intersection that you’re fully past this vehicle, and then turn and move along.
He always told me, “That’s the way to do it right, son.” It was over a quarter century ago, he was telling me that’s not the way most people do it. He said most people do it more like this. See if this looks familiar (Kevin moves out in front of the car).
Life has a funny way of taking me back to that moment, that lesson, and making sure that I eventually get it right.
What he would say to me is that most times, rather than going out and around and making the turn properly, most times you’d see people making more of a cut where they come right across your front bumper like this (Kevin walks across the corner, almost running into the car).
Now, perhaps that’s not such a big deal, but I can’t count the number of times where I feel like I’ve almost had the front of my car taken off by somebody cutting that corner in a hurry to get somewhere else. And yeah, of course, I do it too sometimes. But it’s not about me being a traffic cop, it’s about wondering, if we’re so willing to casually and consistently cut corners like that, what other corners are we cutting in our life and what is the cost of it?
I’ve found that I can feel like I’m getting ahead, and cut a corner here and there. But life has a funny way of taking me back to that moment, that lesson, and making sure that I eventually get it right. In other words, if I don’t do it right the first time I’m going to get a lot of extra turns to finally make that turn and do it the right way.
Come along on the journey! SUBSCRIBE to my YouTube Channel and join my mailing list for updates.
As usual Kevin, great post. I love the analogy using the car. Funny video too. Your grandfather’s saying reminds me of a saying my grandmother instilled in me as well. She said, “Lazy people work the hardest”. I have to admit when I was a child I never fully understood what she meant. But as I got older I realized that is you cut corners or take the easy way out, you end up in problems later on. And you’d have to work extra hard to undo what you did and then get back to doing it properly. SO you end up doing three things rather than one (the wrong way + fixing the mistake + doing it the right way).
Thanks for sharing and all the best
Kevon
I love that phrase! “Lazy people work the hardest.” That’s great, Kevon. Thanks for sharing that.
Great to hear from you.
Best wishes,
KB
Hi, Kevin!
Your grandpa is right! I drive every day for 5 years and a half now. I have to admit it that most of the time I don’t cut the corners. However, there are days when I cut them without second thoughts, but that is when I am in a hurry and because the time is precious. When it comes to a business, I also cut corners because in order to keep the website on the front page of the search engines, I need to publish at least 5 times a week. There is no way for me to be able to create five perfect posts or pages within a week. A post alone I think it would take me around a week. I prefer to take the shortcut most of the times and to come back at a later date to modify it. This also helps for me to offer plenty of content to my audience. Even though sometimes it is “average”, I can always come back in order to improve it. A website with average content is always better than a website with 2-3 posts :D. I’d wish to have the luxury to create something perfect from the start.
Hi Andrei,
Thanks for sharing all that. I think you nailed it with this line: “A website with average content is always better than a website with 2-3 posts.” You’re always better than to be in the game than sitting on the sideline with knowledge of how you might play the game really well if only you were in it. The more you do it, the more you’ll get better and better. I’m seeing this is true of just about everything. Good for you for getting in the game. Keep it at, and thanks for the visit!
Best wishes,
Kevin