"There ain't no free lunch"
Published on July 1, 2026
“There ain’t no free lunch”
The legendary motivational speaker, Zig Ziglar, would share the story of a king who wanted the people in his kingdom to be smart enough to get the most out of life. He gathered together the 3 wisest scholars in the kingdom and shared his vision. Their task was to put in writing a handbook for living a fuller life. Off they went and didn’t return for a few years.
Forgetting the adage “keep it simple” the scholars, as scholars often do, came back to the king with thousands of pages of “do this, do that.” The king admonished the scholars to redo their work by simplifying what they had to share. They returned a year later with much less material. The wise king, knowing not everyone loves to read, commanded them once again to simplify. The scholars returned a year later with a one sentence guide to a better life. The one sentence: “There ain’t no free lunch.”
In a world of instant gratification in which Amazon can deliver by tomorrow products that allegedly improve our life, we can lose sight of the work required to accomplish anything worthwhile, be it health, fitness, knowledge and most importantly, relationships.
As a lover of reading great books, a patient, Rob, recommended an awesome book, “The Psychology of Money” by Morgan Housel. This was a few years ago and needs to be required reading. Housel’s latest book is “Same as Ever.” It’s well written, short enough to hold anyone’s interest and thought provoking. What’s the one take away from “Same as Ever”? History and current day life challenges reveal “there are no short cuts.” Doesn’t that sound familiar? Basically, patience and persistence are required to master your life. We live in a world in which patience and persistence are in short supply. We’ve all heard the “get rich quick”, “get fit quick” and “lose weight quick” schemes. They do not work long term! You respond to what you teach yourself so why not learn and reinforce patience and persistence?
You were built for a better you. Let the better you show up…gradually.
