Millennial Executive: Is the Easy Way the Good Way?

In case you missed it, our Vice President of Online Strategies has her own blog called “The Millennial Executive.” Since the SOM blog (Samantha on Monday) started on this site, we don’t want our readers to miss out on her newest article!
The article is published over on The Millennial Executive and has been partially reproduced here with permission from the editor.
Below, Samantha is telling you how the easy way could be the wrong way:

Don’t Take the Easy Way, Take the Right Way

For me, life has come pretty easily. Not to go down the whole racial-side of this conversation but I am a white female that grew up with privilege. This, in itself, has allowed me to make the transition from child to adult with ease. I have always had a security net of family and friends ready to lift me back up from any mistake. Heck, I have lived a life where I can afford mistakes!

But that isn’t the complete story. I’ve also been fortunate enough to be naturally intelligent and athletic. Ok, ok, ok, I know, this is starting to sound like an ad on how amazing my life is but it’s not all rainbows and puppies. My natural ability to understand things easily and, at the same time, my natural hand-eye coordination granted me an easy upbringing filled with friends and successes.
You know, those formative years where you discover who you are and what it will take you for to meet your goals? Well for me, it came down to playing a game—how can I beat the “system” by working easier not harder? Now, usually the saying is “working smarter not harder” but, in my case, it’s easier. I easily understood the content that was being taught to me. I easily made the sport team tryouts. I easily made friends. As time went on, I easily graduated high school, undergraduate, and graduate school. I figured out the system and I worked it with ease.
So now that we are all caught up on my easy life, let’s get to the point: This easy life has taught me lots of things but has left me with many thoughts on what it means to live life to the fullest. Sure, there goes another saying you have probably heard many times before, but what does it mean? What does it mean to live a life fully? Just because something is easy, does that mean it is not worth having or fulfilling?
I’m going to argue that sometimes easy is fulfilling and worthwhile. Well, it is for a while. At some point, the easiness of something starts to tear up your soul. Dramatic much? Oh, yeah, the truth hurts! At some point, you start to question the effort you put into things. You start to question your own motivations. You start to question your achievements. You start to question your goals. You start to question everything you have ever done—did I make the decisions I made because it was easy or because I truly wanted that?

You can find the whole article (including more tips for a successful startup) by clicking here.
You can also view more of Sam’s articles on our Business News Page!