DO NOT TAKE THE SHORT CUTS

One of my favorite inspirational stories of all time, is one that is told of Pablo Picasso. 

Pablo Picasso is probably the most important figure of 20th century, in terms of art, and art movements that occurred over this period. Before the age of 50, the Spanish born artist had become the most well known name in modern art, with the most distinct style and eye for artistic creation. There had been no other artists, prior to Picasso, who had such an impact on the art world, or had a mass following of fans and critics alike, as he did.  

Legend has it that Once Picasso was seated in a Paris Cafe, a young lady, definitely, an admirer of his work, walked up to him, handing him a piece of paper, she insisted that Picasso made a sketch of her on the paper. Agreeing politely, the ace artist quickly made a beautiful portrait of the lady. The lady was amazed by how quickly Picasso could make such an exact and accurate portrait of her. While taking the paper back, she asked, so, how much do I owe you for this? To her surprise, Picasso said, $10,000. The young lady retorted, how can you charge $1000 for a sketch that only took you 5 minutes?

Picasso replied, it may have taken me 5 minutes to make the sketch but it took me 40 years to learn how to make a sketch like this in 5 minutes. 

Although the above story has always been told in slightly different variations, for me, the lesson has always been the same. Life comprises a series of steps, each step, preparing us for the next. For every step we go through, a lesson is learnt and for every step we skip, a lesson is lost. A common mistake people make is thinking that they can just wake up one morning and become millionaires without having to put in any significant effort. And so the next time they go online and see a catchy advertisement like:

HOW TO BECOME A MILLIONAIRE IN ONE MONTH  

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They quickly make a complete withdrawal of their live's savings to take advantage of this golden opportunity. And before they realize it's been a scam all along, they would have lost monies that could otherwise have serve as capital for a genuine and legitimate business. People are often quick to tell you how they can make Thousands of Dollars in a single day, but what they forget to add, is the years of hard work and toil they had to put in to be able to do that.

Allow me to give you a very practical example; you may see @stellabelle make a $1000 a few hours after making a post on steemit, but what you probably did not know, is the fact that she too spent several months, working hard to build a loyal following, a high steem power and an enviable reputation. Success is not handed to anybody, you need to earn it. Check out the screen shot below. 

In the shot above, you will notice that @stellabelle makes about $3 from a post. If you check on the voting list, you will notice names like @nanzo-scoop @arama @teamsteem and many more popular names on steemit today. As I write this article, an upvote from just one of these individuals could change your life. 

It's like they say, Rome was not built in a day. Be patient with yourself for everything good takes time. Don't get me wrong, you can always work smarter to achieve your goals faster. If you want to hasten your journey, go ahead and build a car, or a bicycle if you must. But at the end of the day, you must make the journey. My Senior High School tutor used to say that 

if you keep marking time, the rest of the world will advance and leave you behind.

So, stop looking for short cuts, instead, look for smarter ways of chalking success. Go through every step of life and while you are at it, learn something new. Successful lives are built upon one's experiences and the experiences of others. Always remember, there's no free lunch anywhere on this earth, trust me, I should know.

BY @osmansnr

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