Avoid the shortcut

Randy Gibson
Nov 1 · 2 min read

Any time I need to type numbers on a keyboard, I have to look down to type them. I can type 75 words per minute but when those words include numbers, that speed goes down to 55 words per minute, a negative 36% reduction.

It’s important to ask why here. It’s important to ask why everywhere.

So, why? Somewhere around 1996, and every year since then, my former self decided to take a shortcut. When it came to typing numbers, it was easier just to look down at the keyboard.

It’s short term over the long term. It’s not seeing the forest through the trees, as they say.

Ryan Holiday said, “The obstacle in the path becomes the path. Never forget, within every obstacle is an opportunity to improve our condition.”

If I would have taken the path with the obstacle instead of the shortcut, I would have typed this post 36% faster.

There’s still time. I can start tomorrow, and I hope by writing this, that it will help me practice what I preach.

Now, the question is, what other obstacles are we avoiding?

Avoid the shortcut, the obstacle is the way.

Image from our road trip through Wyoming’s Bighorn National Forest (The Obstacle)
Image from our road trip at the bottom of Wyoming’s Bighorn National Forest (The Reward)

Randy Gibson

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Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known. -Carl Sagan

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