Wisdom: The Short Cut to Achievement

“Dude, I know a short cut.” Haven’t you heard that line before? You’re in the car with somebody, and instead of taking the jammed main roads littered with traffic lights, your friend winds through back alleys, obscure subdivisions, and a couple parking lots to get you where you’re going quickly. And since our greatest resource is time—you can never get it back—short cuts should be utilized whenever possible.

But, not every short cut is a good one. Getting through college by cheating saves you a hell of a lot of time on reading, studying, and writing, but since education is there to equip you for the future, the old adage “you’re only cheating yourself” will be made manifest in a life of scarcity and bottom-living.

When it comes to the path to personal achievement, there are short cuts and long ways, and whenever a short cut is available that doesn’t affect your integrity, then by all means, take it!

But how do you know when to take a short cut? There’s only one way: wisdom. And what is wisdom? Wisdom is the application of knowledge and understanding. Let me break it down.

I can “know” my car has an engine. I can know what an engine looks like and basically what it does. And for most of us non-mechanics, that’s as far as it goes. If anything happens to our engine, we have to take it someone who has something more than knowledge. They have “understanding.”

Understanding is greater than a simple knowledge of facts. When you know someone who understands how a car engine works, they tend to get their ear pulled at backyard parties by everyone experiencing car troubles. The guy with a knowledge and understanding of engines has “market value.”

Then you ask that guy, “So, are you a mechanic?” He says, “Nope. I work in a grocery store.” You ask, “Dude, why aren’t you a mechanic?” He says, “I don’t know, man. Just lazy I guess.”

He lacks wisdom.

When someone applies their knowledge and understanding of something to solve real-world problems they are using “wisdom”—and wisdom is the only true means to finding and utilizing short cuts.

A wise king once wrote that a dull axe requires many strokes. He wrote this in relation to the use of wisdom. There’s no glory in hacking a tree down with a dull axe. It’ll take a long time, and you’ll do a poor job of it. To chop it down quickly—and cleanly—a sharp axe is what you need. Wisdom is using the sharp axe, and wisdom is the short cut.

How do you get wisdom? Wisdom is established by the accumulation of knowledge and understanding with a deliberate objective to use it to solve problems. In other words, don’t waste time accumulating knowledge about something you can’t use. First, get the knowledge that will help create market value for yourself, then, when your livelihood is sufficiently financed by your acquired skill set, you can use your spare time to memorize sports statistics, rock history, or indulge in People magazine articles.

This means you have to seriously consider what it is you want to do with your life. What is your purpose? What are your interests? Can they be turned into a way to earn a living or help to make a difference in your world? Once you have a basic idea of where you’re going, your accumulated wisdom will help you take a few short cuts.

Your path will change many times during a general pursuit of your life’s purpose. How accurate can you be in deciding your future when you first sit down to consider it? You can’t. You’re seeing through a glass darkly, but that’s okay. All you need to get you going is a general picture of what you want, and the more knowledge and understanding you gain, the more clear your options will become. Just get your self going. That’s the wisest thing you can do today.

Metal up!