Don't Uncle Ben's Ready Rice your development

I am not much of a cook. But, I do like to eat healthy meals that I can prepare quickly. For the most part, rice is easy to cook, kind of light, but also filling at the same time. I believe it is somewhat healthy for me, but who really knows. It is such an easy side dish to make and throw next to a chicken breast or turkey burger and boom, you have a nice little meal to eat.

Lets be honest here. Rice only takes about 20 minutes to make. It doesn't take all day. Even though it doesn't take very long to cook, Uncle Ben's came out with an already pre-cooked version of their rice. So instead of slaving over the hot stove for 20 minutes to make some cooked rice that tastes pretty good, they came out with a bagged rice that you could buy off the shelf at your local grocery store and after 90 seconds in the microwave you could be eating.

Guess what! I took the bait. I bought the new rice. "Save myself a solid 18 minutes every time I cooked a meal, I'm in."

The first time I made the 90 second micro-wavable rice. I was like, well, that is okay. Not bad. Then I had it a few more times, and it was real clear to me that this rice didn't taste the same. Nope. It isn't as good as the rice you cook on the stove for 20 minutes.

The 90 second rice has a funny taste and it also has 600 times more sodium than the rice you actually have to cook. Needless to say, I have gone back to the cooked rice. 20 minutes is not that long to have a good and tasteful meal. The time saved and the fact I didn't need to use any dishes to cook the micro-wavable rice just wasn't enough of a benefit to justify what I was losing in taste and in nutritional value.

We live in a society now that is always looking for the micro-wavable version of almost everything. Whether it is food, making money, health, fitness, training, education, success, etc.

The bottom line is that everything of value, or that could be of value to you, and your future takes time to develop. It isn't micro-waveable.

When you go to a nice restaurant, I mean really nice. The food doesn't come out very quickly does it? Nope, that stuff takes time to cook. And I can speak from experience, it is worth the wait.

If it was easy to make lots of money quickly, wouldn't everybody be doing it already? I know I would. Damn, I have been working at it for years and it isn't getting any easier, nor am I getting lots more of it. It takes time to develop and create something of value that other people are willing to pay you lots of money for. Whether it is a skill, a service, or a product.

At one time they created a pill that could help people lose weight really fast. Oh, and it killed lots of people, so that didn't last very long, thankfully.

How many people are looking for more information and more training and education quickly? Just about everyone is. Everybody thinks there is a quick route to the C level office where they can make lots of money.

Let me be clear here. You can get all of the information and knowledge you want. Which is what most education and training is. It provides you with a lot of information and knowledge and it expects you to take that information and knowledge and know how to apply it to make yourself more valuable to your employer or the market.

More Informed Doesn't mean More Skilled.

Nope if you want to become more skilled at something it takes time. It takes consistency, and ongoing development. Followed up with some great coaching, feedback, and reinforcement of the new knowledge that is turned into application, that delivers a return.

You are worth every dollar of ongoing investment. Investment in to a new skill, or development of a skill, turns into real dollars and provides a return. Uncle Ben's 90 second rice provided a return, but it wasn't worth what was lost in taste and nutritional value to get something done 18 minutes sooner. Remember that the next time you are looking to increase your skills. Knowledge does not equal behavior or performance change. Action does.

To your success and your future.

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