Kate and Briggs: There’s no such thing as a free lunch…

Written by Anthony Demangone

One of these days, I need to write down some life lessons for Kate and Briggs. When they leave for college (both on scholarship, mind you), I’ll hand them an envelope.  Inside, there’d be some life lessons to share how the world works. At least from my point of view.  

It will annoy them to no end, but it will make me feel better.  I’m OK with that.

Near the top of the list would be this: There’s no such thing as a free lunch. 

You want to be a top-level athlete?  You’re going to have to spend time in the gym and forego late-night parties so that you can train the next morning. 

You want your business to grow?  You’ll deal with the headaches of growth, which are often overlooked by those fixated by the thought that bigger is better. 

You want to turn around an organization?  You’ll need many tough conversations and even more tough decisions.  And “tough” is probably not strong enough a word.

For every action, there’s an opposite reaction.  I’m not sure it is always an equal reaction.  But this much is true – any time you push in a new direction in your life, something else will push back.

Given this “rule” of life, it might be tempting to stand still.  To maintain the status quo.  To refrain from rocking the boat.

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