Blog
No Shortcuts!
There are many different ways to capture public attention. One of my favourites is track and field athletics – especially track. Whittle it down and my favourite is probably the 1500 metres. The men’s world record is held by Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco, who won the 1,500 metres at the IAAF Golden League Golden Gala in Rome, Italy, in a time of 3 minutes 26 seconds, on 14 July 1998. He beat the existing record by more than a second, and it has stood for, at the time of writing, nearly 27 years.
Now somebody could say that’s a lot of fame for less than four minutes of work. In fact, it was the culmination of years of disciplined training, conditioning and mental strength, as well as a single-minded pursuit of the goal. Winning is not guaranteed but there are no shortcuts to victory.
A less famous race was held in the winter of 2003 over the Hilly Fields in Colchester, involving the 4th form boys (aged 14-15) of my school. I wasn’t too keen normally on this muddy pastime, but I was sporty and I ran well on that particular day. I worked my way up through the field and on the final torrid lap I was in second place. I’m not sure I would have caught the leader but that became immaterial as on the long straight upward incline to the finish, a boy appeared out of the bushes and took the lead. He clearly had taken a shortcut, probably half a lap, and was suddenly in front. He ran through the tape and I was listed as third, still my highest-ever finish.
In most worthwhile pursuits there are no shortcuts. The work put in produces the result. In any sort of editing role there can be an element of flair or skill, but, in the end, the work no one sees is what makes the difference. In the case of proofreading or copy-editing, there is a need for a systematic and sometimes repetitive sweep of the document, searching for different errors or possibilities of improvement, to ensure a perfected document. A thorough job achieves the result.
What an amazing experience it would be to come around the final bend with the tape in view, and, with every muscle and sinew at full stretch, to break the tape and win that gold medal! Well, you and I may never see that; but we can give our best to whatever we do. No shortcuts!