Shortcuts and Quick Fixes Don't Last
Don’t use hacks to advance your career – Issue #114
“Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.” ― Theodore Roosevelt
I have a confession to make. I hate the trend of hacking everything.
Growth hacking. Life hacking. Brain hacking. Body hacking.
I have a negative visceral reaction when someone thinks that they are sharing a clever hack. However, I couldn’t quite put my finger on why it bothers me. What is it about the word “hacking” that upsets me?
I realized that I dislike it so much because it’s the usual bullshit of quick-fix shortcuts. We are hooked on hacks because we don’t have the patience for a sustainable path. It feeds our fascination with easy fixes to hard problems.
Pop some pills to boost your brain. Don’t worry about actually stretching your mind with logical discourse, reading, and learning.
Trick your body into fat loss. Don’t you dare change how you eat or dedicate time every single day to a real workout!
Trick customers into clicking ads and spending more. Don’t bother with building real relationships or caring about them.
There’s always a price
You would think that we would learn. There’s always a price to pay for the quick fix, the hack, and the easy path.
Win today, but you will suffer tomorrow.
Did you know that cocaine used to be an acceptable wonder drug and was added to popular drinks? In 1863, Parisian chemist Angelo Mariani combined coca and wine and started selling it.
It became quite popular with authors of the time (e.g., Jules Verne, Alexander Dumas, Arthur Conan Doyle), and even Pope Leo XIII carried around a flask of it. It was such a fantastic hack to cure fatigue and stimulate your brain!
“I take very small doses of it regularly against depression and against indigestion and with the most brilliant of success.” — Dr. Sigmund Freud
The pharmaceutical company, Merck, began producing tiny amounts of cocaine in the early 1860s. Soda fountains at pharmacies were serving wonderful cocaine elixirs as a medicinal.
It took decades before people began discovering that maybe — just maybe — cocaine wasn’t so healthy for us after all. It wasn’t until 1914 that the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act officially made cocaine illegal.
So much for that energy hack!
Hacking your job search will fail
You might be tempted to think of your job search as a numbers game. Quickly apply online to hundreds — or even thousands — of jobs, and sooner or later, you’ll land a great one.
Really? A great job?
You can research those hundreds of companies and jobs so thoroughly that you would love to work at any of them? Highly unlikely.
However, that’s precisely what one guy attempted. He created a bot that generated multiple variations of emails, cover letters, and resumes, and applied to thousands of jobs over three months.
Let’s just say the results were less than spectacular.
He discovered — as I have — that the best jobs aren’t left to games of chance. You can’t hack the process with automation.
Random applicants are wasting their time. The most talented and successful job applicants don’t play that game.
Hacking your qualifications catches up with you
I know that the competition can be fierce for coveted roles and desirable companies. Also, it seems like hiring managers are always raising the bar on job requirements.
Just yesterday, I saw an “entry-level” data science position that required five years of experience. I guess they are redefining what “entry-level” means?
So, it can be tempting to tweak your work history a bit.
I’ve interviewed some people who weren’t entirely honest about project work in their portfolio. For example, they claimed to lead a project that I knew someone else had owned (the Valley is small). Those interviews ended badly.
It can be tempting to embellish your resume a little. You’re thinking, “If I can just get my foot in the door, then I can prove myself, and it won’t matter.”
The problem is, it will eventually catch up with you. You’ll either get burned during the intensive interview process or lose your job later when someone digs deeper.
Ask Scott Thompson. In January of 2012, Yahoo named Thompson as its new CEO. His background was impressive. He had been the president of PayPal, for example.
However, one small detail caught up with him. You’d think that it wouldn’t matter at that stage in his career after accomplishing so much. But, it did.
In his published biographical statements that went back for years, Thompson claimed that he held “a Bachelor’s degree in accounting and computer science” from Stonehill College. Unfortunately for him, that wasn’t true. He did not have a CS degree.
His little qualifications hack caught up with him. He was publicly humiliated and forced out of Yahoo.
You can’t hack your way to a great career
I’ve shared advice before that helps you bypass barriers to your career success. For example:
Finding an inside champion when you want to work at a company vs. letting your job application and resume get lost in the system.
Stepping up to take on challenging roles when an opportunity presents itself.
Using body language to feel more confident in meetings.
However, those aren’t hacks.
You aren’t trying to get something that you don’t deserve. You won’t get a job if you’re unqualified. You can’t succeed in a promotion if you don’t have the skills.
What I do recommend is that you don’t let artificial barriers stand between you and what you deserve. You can’t listen to that frightened inner voice that tries to hold you back from what you are capable of achieving. You don’t want to miss a great opportunity because you’re always waiting for the timing to be perfect.
“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” ― Seneca
You cannot sustain a great career on hacks. You must:
Be very good at what you do.
Continually remind the world that you exist.
Let people know what you stand for.
Be ambitious, tenacious, and willing to seize opportunities when they present themselves.
Quick Tip
Seek sustainable habits, not hacks.
You already know how to create healthy, sustainable changes to your health and mind. You know the hard work that you must put in for your career to advance.
There are no secrets. However, we sometimes don’t want to accept the truths.
Everything you want will require hard work, consistency, learning, adapting, and permanently changing some of your habits and behaviors.
I may have mentioned this before, but I sometimes run into someone after one of my talks who tells me, “What you shared isn’t some secret. I already knew that I should be doing the things you recommended.”
In response, I’ve said, “That’s great! So, you’ve already started doing all of those things. How is that working out for you?”
That’s when they sheepishly admit, “Oh, ummm… Well, no. I haven’t been doing those things at work yet.”
There may be a few new things that you will discover. However, I’m guessing that you already have a lot of the knowledge that you need to advance your career.
You also know how to conduct a Google search when your knowledge is incomplete. You can find the information you need.
However, applying that knowledge through consistent daily habits is what will set you apart from the masses. Hard work and steady progress will take your career to the next level.
Forget trying to find some magical hack. No hack will last.
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