In every creative and entrepreneurial space, shortcuts are everywhere. Tools that promise instant growth. Hacks that claim to save time. Courses that guarantee success with less effort, less pain, and more speed.
Some of these shortcuts are useful. Others? Just a mirage that disappears when you get close.
So how do you tell the difference? How do you know when a shortcut is a strategic advantage or just a costly detour?
Here’s a framework for evaluating shortcuts—one that will help you avoid wasting time on hacks that don’t hold up and instead invest in strategies that truly accelerate your progress.
1. Is It Repeatable?
A good shortcut isn’t a one-time loophole—it’s a system you can rely on. If a shortcut only works once, it’s not a strategy—it’s a trick. The best shortcuts create efficiency without compromising long-term results. Ask yourself: Will this still work next year? Will it work for others? Will it work again and again?
Good Shortcuts:
- Batching content creation – Allows for efficiency without sacrificing quality.
- Automating admin work – Eliminates unnecessary time sinks by organizing activity you do over and over.
- Building a referral network – A scalable, repeatable way to grow your business without constant lead-chasing.
Bad Shortcuts:
- Fad diets – Crash diets promise instant weight loss, but the results often disappear the second you return to familiar habits.
- Buying followers – Looks impressive for a moment, but it doesn’t lead to real engagement, sales, or loyalty.
- Cold DMs to strangers – You might get one or two lucky breaks, but real relationship-building is a repeatable strategy that compounds over time.
2. Is It Harmful?
Some shortcuts seem harmless at first but have unintended consequences. A good shortcut should not damage your reputation, relationships, or industry. If everyone took this shortcut, would it make things better or worse? If it only benefits you while hurting others, what’s the eventual cost of that approach?
Good Shortcuts:
- Using AI as a research and drafting tool – Helps accelerate your workflow without sacrificing originality.
- Creating evergreen content – A smart way to maximize effort and provide ongoing value.
- Collaborating with others – Speeds up learning and audience growth while fostering relationships.
Bad Shortcuts:
- AI-generated content spam – Using AI to assist your work? Smart. Copy-pasting mass AI content across social media without adding value? Cheapens your brand and hurts your credibility.
- Clickbait headlines – Might get you a surge of traffic, but if people feel misled, they won’t trust you next time.
- Gaming the algorithm – Social media rewards engagement, but forcing outrage or controversy for attention poisons your community in the long run.
3. Is It Additive?
A good shortcut should improve your skills, reputation, or business over time. If a shortcut compounds your value—helping you become more efficient or effective—it’s worth using. But if it makes you reliant on a crutch that disappears when the platform changes, it’s a dead end.
Good Shortcuts:
- Tools to transform podcast excerpts into video clips, and vice versa – Saves time and improves your production process, making future content easier and smoother to create.
- Building a library of design templates – A solid baseline that allows for personalization and adaptation.
- Strategic outsourcing – Offloading low-value tasks so you can focus on the work that truly moves the needle.
Bad Shortcuts:
- Buying pre-made business templates without adapting them – Saves time in the short term, but if it doesn’t fit your brand or strategy, it can lead to generic, ineffective work.
- Skipping skill development – Watching tutorials instead of actually practicing makes you feel productive, but real mastery only comes from doing.
- Automating every human interactions – Auto-responder emails, “press 3” phone banks, and chat bots can saves time, and have a place, but if your audience feels like they’re always talking to a robot, trust erodes fast.
4. Can It Survive the Crowd?
If a shortcut only works in secrecy, it’s not a shortcut—it’s a scheme. Good shortcuts hold up even when others start using them. If a strategy is built on deception, manipulation, or exploiting loopholes, it’s only a matter of time before it collapses.
Good Shortcuts:
- Evergreen content marketing – A great blog post, YouTube video, or podcast episode can hold its value over time and make an impact for years–without needing everyone else to stop making posts, or videos, or podcasts.
- Building an email list – A durable, long-term strategy that allows you to connect directly with people who have raised their hand, opted-in, and given you permission to speak to them.
- Networking in real communities – Genuine relationships pay off over time and aren’t dependent on the moving target of algorithm changes on digital platforms that you don’t own or control.
Bad Shortcuts:
- Exploiting platform loopholes – May work for a while, but as soon as the platform updates, the advantage disappears.
- Too-good-to-be-true investment tips – If it only works if nobody talks about it, it’s probably a ticking time bomb.
- Pay-to-Play Awards – Industry awards or recognition programs that let people ‘win’ by paying a fee rather than earning it through merit. These accolades lose credibility over time, and once exposed, can damage trust and authority.
The Best Shortcuts Are Long Shortcuts
Most of the time, the best “shortcuts” don’t feel like shortcuts at all. They feel like real work.
The best ones:
- Make you faster by eliminating wasted effort.
- Make you better by compounding over time.
- Make you stronger by deepening your skills, trust, and authority.
The flashy hacks and secret formulas? They rarely hold up. The real shortcuts—the ones that actually get you where you want to go—tend to look a lot like discipline, consistency, and thoughtful strategy.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing it with someone else who might too–the buttons below can help.
Thank you!
