The Cost of Shortcuts

The other day, I bought some fresh kale.

Prepping fresh kale isn't the most fun thing to do, but it's easy enough and you always end up getting a lot more leaves off the stalk than you think you will.

Buying fresh kale was quite cheap.

A few feet away from the fresh kale, were some bags of prepped kale. Someone else had already done the pulling of the leaves off the stalks, and even the washing of those leaves.

The price of these bags were twice as much as the fresh kale.

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The prepped bags of kale are a shortcut.

In this case, the price of the shortcut is obvious. The value is also obvious. I'm not buying prepped kale, I'm actually buying time—the time saved from needing to prep it myself.

Besides the extra money for the prepped bag, what isn't necessarily obvious, is the hidden cost of taking this shortcut.

Shortcuts always have hidden costs.

The reason they're hidden is because these costs are often intangible.

What do you miss by reading a summary of the book vs. the book itself?

What do you miss by watching the highlight of a game vs. the game itself?

What do you miss by rushing your kids to bed vs. taking it slow with them?

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The hard way is slow, riddled with frustration, and intangibly more rewarding.

The next time you're faced with the option of taking a shortcut, just ask:

What will this really cost?