You can't take a shortcut

Blink and you’ll miss it. My housemates’ set of twins turned a year old! Cliche to say, but it does indeed seem like just a few months ago they came home from the hospital. Those tiny little humans! Also cliche to say: when it comes to kids, the days are long, but the years are short.

I think having children is the best reminder that good results simply takes consistent effort over long periods of time. There aren’t really shortcuts when it comes to raising kids. You change their diapers and feed them milk for the nth amount of time, then they start talking and walking. There’s no hack, or top 10 tips to get your babies to grow faster. There’s only the work, day after day after day.

And unlike something like exercising or going on a diet, parents can’t exactly just stop this whole taking care of a child thing. Well, the morally sound ones, anyways.

Parenting is suppose to be hard. I think if there were this hypothetical shortcut to raising kids, those that did it before the hack was invented would be seriously resentful. The same way those who have diligently paid off their students loans are loathe to see those who didn’t get theirs forgiven by the government. Or those who lost their excess weight through diet and exercise, are hateful towards those who can now simply inject Ozempic into their bellies once a week.

Paradoxical, isn’t it? People love a shortcut (get abs in two weeks videos), but people also hate those who take shortcuts (can also be known as cheating). I think it’s positive to see that ultimately, we all know that putting in the work consistently is what makes that pot of gold at the end genuinely worth its weight.

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Enter the matrix.

Consistency is key

There’s nothing like facing your own mortality to spur people into action. As our group of friends head into our late 30s, the returning results of an annual checkup can start to look not so good in certain areas. I myself found out I was pre-diabetic just last year. Another friend recently learned he’s got high cholesterol. Yet another friend started exercising consistently after a lifetime of not doing so. Certainly he’s received some not so good news from his doctor.

I’ve increased my workout amount since my pre-diabetic diagnosis. The friend with the cholesterol issue has also vowed to get more active. It’s truly better late than never! Honestly, late 30s are not really all that late, however self-serving that is for me to say.

The key I hope my friends come to realize is what matters most is consistency. You can have the best, most scientifically-sound exercise routine in the world, but it would result in nothing if not followed through. You know: routine. That means doing something over and over for a long period of time. Even if it’s something as simple as walking three miles a day, everyday. If someone does that consistently for a year, I bet the results would be very positive.

Anything worthwhile takes a long time. We cannot escape putting in the work. Our social-media culture has conditioned us with dopamine ADD: we want results now. So we look for shortcuts, instead of simply putting our heads to the proverbial grind stone. Just look at the popularity of Ozempic: a diabetes drug with the wondrous side-effect of rapid weight loss. We can shed the pounds without changing diet and any exercising? Sign me up! Paying $800 per month is way better than working out, which is free.

Before you quit something, ask yourself, “Have I done this for a long enough time, consistently?”

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Puffy.

Momentum car as lesson for life

In car enthusiasts parlance we have what we call a “momentum car”. It’s a type car that hasn’t got enough power to pull itself out of corners, therefore to preserve good forward momentum the driver must scrub off as little speed as possible during braking and turning. Newton’s law of motion acted out: objects in motion tend to stay in motion, and friction is enemy to a car that lacks huge amounts of horsepower to hide it.  

The ND Miata I just sold is a momentum car: 155 horsepower is just enough be fun but if the roadster gets needlessly bogged down in the middle of a turn it takes considerable time to get back to proper speed. On a tight course the next string of corners are effectively compromised because they arrive before the car can fully recover.   

Momentum cars are excellent teachers of drivers. 

It’s also a good metaphor for life. Maintaining momentum is crucial in achieving success. Laziness or extra off-days may feel awesome in the present but the days proceeding will be heavily undermined. If I haven’t written on this website for awhile it’s extra difficult to pick it back up. Skip a scheduled exercise day because I didn’t feel like it? The stress of the one after that just got unnecessarily raised.

Consistency compounds into forward progress: when I finish a blog post the tiny dose of satisfaction I get turns into eagerness and I already start to think about what to write for the next one. Like a momentum car it’s about smooth continued progress and avoid needlessly slowing down. 

Don't skip a day; get after it. 

Sometimes you get lucky and mother nature frames things up nicely for you.