Every shortcut has a toll booth further down the road. You just can’t see it from the on-ramp.

Routes that skip a step usually relocate the cost rather than removing it. The payment comes later, in a form that is harder to connect back to the original decision, which is why shortcuts keep looking free from the beginning of them. Some are genuinely worth taking, and it helps to know which part you are deferring.

When you take one, name what you are skipping and when it will come due. A shortcut chosen with the bill in view is a plan; one chosen without is a surprise waiting.