shortcuts ... honey devil's food ... dutch potato pie

It seems that whenever I take, make, or use a shortcut, I stumble, stagger, fall and take twice as long as when I go the long way.

Sometimes.

Until.

Until I have learned how to do something once using all of the steps.

Probably why I like macros so well ... I create them (the shortcuts) that I have taken the time to learn all of the steps so I can go from A - Z on my own.  Quickly.

Done right, the shortcut is an amazing time saver.

Done incorrectly, you wind up going the scenic route. 

The hard way.  

Like when I went to Mount Lemon, found an 'unimproved county road' I could take down the mountain.  

It was the same distance, had no crowd, had no pavement, and took me 3 hours to go down ...