Anybody can do what’s fast, cheap or easy. By definition champions do was others are not capable or willing to do. The embarrassing truth is that you naturally choose what is easy over what is hard.

That’s your default decision making process.

If it hurts financially or physically or mentally then you automatically look for other options. That’s how you and everyone you know is wired to think and behave. But it’s also a lifelong trap for being shamefully mediocre. If you’re not willing to do what’s hard or painful or time consuming, how can you expect to rise above the obstacles in your way and achieve greatness? You have to fight like mad to break the cycle.

There’s a whole industry built around marketing options to you that are fast, easy, and cheap:

Instead of eating healthy foods and absorbing organic vitamins into your body, you’re told you can eat whatever you want and just suck down a few jellied Flintstone vitamins that will naturally keep you healthy and strong. Instead of making wise financial choices, saving money deliberately, and investing in your future options, you’re told that you’re pre-approved for instance credit right now — and you don’t have to pay back a penny of it for the next 6 months. Instead having to slow down and deliberately plan out how you want to passionately spend the rest of your life, you’re told that if you get an IT degree you’ll be guaranteed a six figure salary and have job security for many years to come.

You want to believe what you’re told.

You don’t want to have to struggle, get hurt, and keep scrambling to find the right answer. For once, you just want life to be a little less difficult. That can happen. That will happen. But only after you resisted the urge to pursue what is fast, easy, and quick.