This weekend I spent a day visiting my father who has just reached retirement and is going full time working on his garden.

My father has been working on this lifestyle of his for almost a decade now. (That’s older than a lot of you reading this. Heck… That’s approaching my age.) And he’d been planning it for 20 years.

I’ve never been quite as patient as my father.

I’ve always wanted stuff NOW. And I was willing to take some risks to make stuff happen. And when I was younger, I sorta’ looked down on the way my father played it so safe in life.

By all means, my go crazy and take risks approached worked out well for me – I understand it doesn’t for everyone.

But it was definitely nice to go for a walk through the garden he’s been slowly improving for all these years.

Almost nothing is blooming yet but the colors are starting to show and the fruits are starting to show their first signs of growing.

He’s planted plenty of fruit trees. And this year he’s going to have a few chances to pick fresh fruit right off the tree. Organic. Fresh. Sweet. And raised from day 1 by him.

There is a lot of satisfaction in that. – Fulfillment even.

Fulfillment is something that I’ve rarely feel that in my go crazy take risks approach. Maybe it’s my type-a nature? It’s never enough? But I don’t think it’s that…

Fulfillment isn’t about achieving your goals. It’s also about filling in the space under your goals.

(You can climb a ladder to reach great heights but you need to be careful not to climb so fast that you lose the ladder under you. Then you’re just dangling their holding on to your goal for dear life.)

That tree wasn’t a shortcut.

It was a long journey.

But… I still believe shortcuts have their place.

(This brings up one of my biggest fears. People use the strategies I teach to get killer grades but never take the time to understand how fundamentally this stuff can improve their life – if they make responsible decisions. This stuff is like a ladder. You can reach great heights but it’s still helpful to secure that ladder.)

I push limits with the way I write. (I come off a bit extreme at times.) Like this one…

How To Get An A+ on ALL Your Finals

I know that sounds crazy. But tons of students do it. I did it myself. And a good chunk of it is shortcuts.

Shortcuts are good. And I think finals are a great time to use them because you don’t have a decade to wait before you take finals. Your grades will stick with you for life and if you screw them up now – you can never take those tests again.

But most people who read that guide are getting a little something extra with it –

This isn’t about the quick way to an A+. It’s about a way of thinking smarter.

There is a smart way to do stuff. And their is the… other way… the common way… the way you’ve probably been taught (by people that truly wanted to help) to do it.

But when time is of the essence…

Shortcuts can get you to your destination –

but never forget the taste of biting into the apple you grew yourself. That’s the kind of stuff that gets you sleeping real good at night.