If everything is available at your fingertips, then how are you using the time you’re saving?
This was the question that instinctively slipped out of my mouth when I heard a recently employed oh-so-cool millennial mention that he gets chopped vegetables from the shop to save time in the kitchen.
Convenience has become one of the defining features of modern life. Name it and it’s available with a few clicks. Still a few steps away from rubbing the magic lamp, but not that far away.
Craving for something and it arrives at your doorstep. Want to watch something, pick up the remote. Standing in queues has become a rarity.
Looks like progress, isn’t it? All that saved time and life becoming easier. But on a serious note, what’s all this convenience doing to you?
You may think of it as a tool, making your life efficient. But is it that simple?
Convenience is slowly, and inconspicuously, shaping your behaviour. Every time you choose an easier option, you’re getting further stuck in that pattern.
Your repeated decisions begin to create a habit. And habits eventually become your identity.
The Invisible Cost of Easy
The whole idea of progress is based on making things easier for man. From the invention of wheel to the apps on your phone to everything else in between.
The challenge is not letting convenience slowly change your relationship with effort. That’s not progress, but its toxic residue.
Imagine a life where each of these conveniences are removed. Unthinkable.
Discomfort begins to seep in. Each of those tasks that required your patience, persistence, or even discipline begin to feel unreasonable.
Like it or not, each of us has become accustomed to immediate results with minimal resistance.
Earlier I would spend a few hours in the kitchen to ensure the kids ate healthy yet interesting food every time. Now, in spite of a well equipped kitchen, I instinctively reach for Swiggy or Zomato.
It’s a gradual disengagement, not a dramatic decline. My culinary skills haven’t disappeared. They just got swept aside, sacrificed for convenience.
It’s not that I forgot how to cook. I just stopped putting in the effort to practicing a skill that once came naturally. This change was slow, almost unnoticeable. It no longer felt like a choice.
Every time I chose convenience, I was building a habit of ordering in instead of making it myself.
Every Convenience Is Also a Trade-Off
This doesn’t mean convenience is bad. It does free up time and energy for more meaningful pursuits.
The problem is when convenience becomes the default response to every challenge.
The opportunities for growth get overlooked as it removes opportunities to build up your competence. Effort feels like an effort.
The personal growth loses out on some important lessons like persistence and patience and creativity.
Fortunately, I managed to break that habit. But when I saw my kiddo fall into the very same trap when staying in the hostel, I knew the time had come for the difficult conversation.
Instead of focusing on growth and learning (which would never have landed well in the first place), I showed the growing expenses and reduced savings. It worked.
Now we’ve discovered the joys of quick and easy cooking, both budget friendly and healthy. And the valuable skill acquired for sustenance is the added bonus.
What Are Your Choices Teaching You?
Life is often dictated by the small, repeated choices you make each day. Your habits, standards, character all reflect the cumulative effect of those choices.
Convenience is one of those.
So the next time you choose the easier path, ask yourself if it’s going to save time. And if yes, what are you going to do with it.
More importantly, ask yourself what’s this choice teaching you.
Maybe it will be the eyeopener you need to realign your choices. Think about what those repeated shortcuts quietly take away from you. And that should be your concern.
