There Are No Hacks in Real Change

Posted on February 18, 2023 by Bryan Yates, One of Thousands of Performance Coaches on Noomii.

The unspoken goal of marketing is to convince us our lives are missing something, that we have an emptiness that needs salving. Advertising works hard to persuade us that this emptiness can be filled (or at least mitigated) by the acquisition of some job, person, institution, product, or service. We externalize, and outsource, our own serenity.

#Hack culture fits into this model. The idea is that there is something missing in us—a deficiency in our fitness, work, romantic lives, nutrition, way of being—that needs reprogramming. At a deep level, it speaks to our core insecurities about money, work, status (competitiveness), and health. A hack, however, is little more than a synonym for shortcut.

There are no shortcuts to change and growth. None. Anything achieved quickly can be lost even more quickly. A classic example that I’ve witnessed first hand countless times: people who rapidly lose a lot of weight frequently put it back on even more rapidly.

Here’s what I hope for you in the coming year. Let’s embrace slow growth and change. Let it metabolize slowly and deeply. Building lasting endurance takes a long time, but over time that is the kind of muscle (and spiritual) memory that you can tap into quickly when it’s needed most. In the current LinkedIn-community usage of the term, you can’t “hack” your way to that kind of inner fitness.

An older version of hack means to “cut with rough or heavy blows.” For example, hacking off dead branches from a tree. In this case, hack is absolutely required for change. Our growth IS entirely dependent on removing those parts that are no longer serving us. To endure well we must be able to pack lightly to travel far. So, I hope that you are able to release whatever may be holding you back or slowing the journey into your future. Let’s abandon (or at least rethink) the marketing of hacks in 2023.

One final thought on something I hope you discover for yourself. You’ve already got absolutely everything you need (and nothing you don’t) to thrive on your road ahead. It’s all right there to be discovered, uncovered, unpacked, and put to use. Find this and you’ll always be empowered.

I’m looking forward to further refining with whom, how, and where I coach & mentor in 2023. This has been an ongoing (and consistently challenging) process of progress rather than perfection.

One approach I’m already planning is a monthly series called “Second Mondays.” We will bring together a rotating group of middle-age (and fatigued) professionals and business owners for co-mentoring sessions. The idea is to tap into the “inner athlete” to improve their performance in their relationships (with themselves and others), life, and work. Think of it as a personal “board of directors in passing” to find creative solutions together.

If you’re curious, just email, text, or call me. I’m now going to lose all my social media passwords for the rest of the year. Wishing you a healthy, serene rest of year.

Purity & Love,

Bryan