| Sometimes short cuts are not worth taking. They | | | | weeks.My Taekwondo Teacher, Master Hock Lye |
| may bring you quick money but they do not make | | | | Ooi, once offered to give any one who wanted it a |
| you become a better, stronger or more skilful | | | | blackbelt: "Here come and take it." He was making |
| person.On the internet a lot of people are promoting | | | | the point that being given a blackbelt for free means |
| private label products. You pay some money and get | | | | nothing. Any one can buy one in a shop or order one |
| the rights to put your name on software or ebooks. | | | | on the net. There is no emotional satisfaction in |
| In other words you claim credit for having achieved | | | | getting a black belt when you have avoided the hard |
| something you haven't.So far I have resisted the | | | | work necessary to achieve it.One of my Karate |
| temptation to buy these rights. I would feel uneasy | | | | teacher's favourite admonishments was that, if you |
| about claiming to be the author of a book I had not | | | | are not working flat out, "you are only cheating |
| written. What happened to honesty?Another reason | | | | yourself." He was right.In the Contenders boxing |
| for not buying private label ebooks is that they take | | | | reality show run by Sylvester Stallone and Sugar Ray |
| away your chance to become a writer. Why bother | | | | Leonard, some of the boxers pick the toughest |
| to learn the skills of writing if you can buy the fruits | | | | fighters as their opponents. They are not at ease |
| of someone else's hard work and claim their efforts | | | | with taking short cuts by picking a weak opponent. |
| as your own? You lose the incentive to become an | | | | They know that, if they face up to the most |
| expert author in your own right.Some people are | | | | fearsome opponents, they can walk tall anywhere. |
| offering products in the rough. You do some work on | | | | They will have paid their dues.Others are more |
| these and then can put your name to them. This is | | | | concerned to win the million dollar prize than they are |
| more acceptable in my view since most writers | | | | to become great boxers by fighting great opposition. |
| borrow or adapt the ideas and occasionally the words | | | | They pick the boxer they believe they can demolish |
| of other writers. Few books are ever totally | | | | easily. These 'short cut' boxers will probably fail to |
| original.The foreword to one of my books is written | | | | win the prize anyway because they will not have |
| by a copywriter. I offered to put his name to it but | | | | become worthy of it.In the long run, working hard |
| like many copywriters he preferred to keep his name | | | | and paying your dues is in fact easier than doing |
| out of the equation. Maybe he didn't like my book!In | | | | things in a half-hearted way. If you charge into a |
| the martial arts world, many students want to | | | | rugby union scrum with minimum effort and |
| become black belts as soon as possible with the | | | | aggression, you will probably get hurt.If you do |
| minimum of work. They show up to lessons before a | | | | anything properly and thoroughly, you will feel much |
| grading exam is due and are content to scrape | | | | happier than if you are skiving and taking things easy |
| through and get their next belt and then they | | | | at every opportunity. Even making your bed well can |
| disappear until the next exam is imminent.They do | | | | be satisfying and you will sleep better!The great Jim |
| not realize that they are missing out on the | | | | Rohn, as usual, sums all this up perfectly:"The major |
| satisfaction and power of becoming a real black belt. | | | | value in life is not what you get. The major value in |
| They think that having a black belt round their waist | | | | life is what you become. That is why I wish to pay |
| somehow makes them great. It doesn't.You can tell | | | | fair price for every value. If I have to pay for it or |
| the black belts who have really earned their black | | | | earn it, that makes something of me. If I get it for |
| belt a mile off. They take your breath away with | | | | free, that makes nothing of me."However, there are |
| their power and skill or, failing that, with their | | | | ways in which you can make any work you do much |
| determination and effort.I was never very skilful at | | | | more effective and even easier. By using affirmation, |
| my gradings but I did, at least once, get an award | | | | prayer and visualization techniques you can enlist the |
| for effort and, at my black belt grading, one person, | | | | aid of your subconscious mind and the power and |
| at least, described my performance as 'awesome'. He | | | | abundance of the universe. This is not so much a |
| wasn't a friend or relative! I was in some pain after | | | | shortcut as a way to row downstream instead of |
| the grading and had trouble lying down and standing | | | | upstream! |
| up but the joy of achieving the belt lasted for | | | | |