I’m Fucking Tired of the Word “Hack”

What Happened to Good ‘Ol Fashioned Hard Work?

TL;DR: No single life hack will ever replace learning things the hard way. Trial and error is the best way to internalize a new skill.

I get it, I really do.

Who wouldn’t want to make their life easier simply by reading one shortcut that unlocks everything and removes all current roadblocks?

As humans, we tend to take the path of least resistance; it’s what we do. Homeostasis has been part of our DNA since we exploded into existence (or since God created Adam and Eve if that's your kind of thing).

Fast-forward several millennia, and now we have a world where most of our questions can be answered within a few taps or clicks. Every single day is filled with countless queries directed towards our pocket-sized computers. Information at our fingertips has led to instant answers for almost everything.

Everything except the hard things in life.

You can’t turn to Google for answers to such questions as:

• What is my purpose?
• Will I be successful in life?
• How do I reach my full potential?

These are too much for even Siri to handle. There is no shortcut or “life hack” when it comes to answering these questions. There is really only one way to “hack” these challenges:

Good ‘ol fashioned hard work paired with trial and error.

Call me crazy, but I’ve always been a fan of learning things the hard way, especially when it comes to the important stuff. After all, isn’t life more about the journey than the destination?

Whether you agree or not, the point here is there are too many people focusing on short-term answers. All you have to do is take a minute or two to scroll through feeds on Medium, Facebook, or Twitter to see proof.

We are inundated with countless articles and posts that claim we can be successful if we use these “7 Tips to Become More Productive” or follow these “5 Ways to Work Like Elon Musk.”

The worst part about listicles like these is the fact that they ignore one simple truth:

Everyone has a different definition of success.

The only way the above articles will help is if you consider productivity or being Elon Musk your ultimate idea of success. If they are, I hate to break it to you, but these are pretty poor definitions of success. First of all, productivity is a means to an end. Second of all, none of us have any idea what it’s like being Elon Musk except for one person: Elon Musk. His idea of success is a result of his past experiences, not yours.

For these reasons, we all could benefit from using trial and error to eventually develop our own ideas of success. The best part about thinking for ourselves is you don’t have to be right. If you reach a specific level of success and realize you want something different, that’s OK. In fact, that’s life.

Very few people we consider to be conventionally successful are actually satisfied with their own success. They constantly course correct and redefine what they want in life.

We could all learn a thing or two if we stopped focusing on life hacks and instead focused on taking the long, dirty, scenic route.

Are you also tired of life hacks? How have you taken the scenic route instead? Share your thoughts in the comments below or on Twitter at @williamfrazr.

If you found value in this article, please 👏 below and share with your friends so others can enjoy!