Andy Lykens

Innovating and operating through growth

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Luck and shortcuts

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Between the origin and the destination, shortcuts are an oasis in the desert. They’re a sleight of hand. A prestige.

Luck is a tailwind. It’s a cloud when the sun is hottest. A mist when the climate is driest.

When you take shortcuts, you wind up needing to start over again and retracing steps. Shortcuts require you alter your course. They’re a distraction from the end goal.

When luck shows up, it enhances what you’re already doing. It’s encouragement to keep moving boldly ahead. It’s unexpected and welcome.

Neither luck nor shortcuts are dependable.

When you set out to do something, it’s not so crazy to believe you might get lucky, but watch out for shortcuts.

Speed or mastery?

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“Wow, that is fast,” people say, marveling at the effortless ability to solve a problem.

“That took me 20 years,” thinks the master, who has spent her whole career learning, growing, and caring enough to be good at this thing.

When you see someone who makes something difficult look easy, that’s mastery. When you see someone acting fast and then dealing with the consequences, that’s speed.

It’s easy to confuse the two, but it’s critical that you don’t.

Editing

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As soon as we learn our first words we start telling stories. We tell stories to our families, our friends, and to strangers. We tell stories to ourselves.

The stories come in all shapes and sizes: short, long, fast, slow, tense, funny, sad, and on and on.

Stories can create connections and end relationships. They can build start-ups, get dogs adopted, or inspire a congregation. Stories can pass the time or pass on legacy.

Stories can be planted in peoples’ minds and they can grow there, for better or worse.

It’s worth considering what stories are planted in your mind and whether or not they’re helping you. You may not always be the original author of those stories, but you are certainly the editor and you decide what goes to print. So how a story got planted and what it says isn’t really the point, the point is that it’s relatively easy to make useful edits — a first step in giving yourself a happier ending.