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A key secret of effectiveness
Monday, 23 July 2007
What is effectiveness exactly? It's a special term that can sell a million books, and make or break a commercial enterprise. It's a key difference between the average and the successful in this life. And the main secret of it is as simple as it is powerful.
Simply put, effectiveness is the art of achieving a result while using the least possible amount of time, effort and other resources.
Read over the last section again and take it to heart. Use it as a lens through which you view the world and you'll achieve a lot more in your life. In almost everything you do, take a moment to think to yourself "How can I achieve what I want while using the least possible amount of resources".
In fact, much of humanity's success in taming the reality we find ourselves in comes down to this one simple idea. Take the internet as an example. We use it for correspondence and sharing various media - writing, movies, games and music. Yet pretty much all of what we're using the internet to trade existed before its arrival.
Rather than sending email, you could write a letter, put a stamp on it then post it. At the other end, a person could do the same to reply to your mail. The effect is similar to that of email or even instant messaging. The difference is that the old way used much more time, effort and other resources. The outcome was the same,it was just slower and less efficient. The internet effectively makes our communications more effective.
Much of modern technology is like this. The plane is a more effective way of travelling than walking. The ATM is more effective than a bank teller. The phone is more effective than a messenger on horseback.
And much of success in other areas depends on this also. The difference between a bad investor and a good one comes down to this definition of effectiveness. The good investor can make more money from the same input using less time and effort. A business that can produce the same as a rival using this definition of effectiveness will trounce the competition.
Many people think there's something noble or pure about doing things the hard way. They take pride in making each move agonisingly difficult - worrying and planning excessively. They may kid themselves that what they're doing is special and worthy of praise, but in fact they're just being vain and stupid.
The key to a lot of success comes from putting in less effort, time and resources to achieving the same result - not more. Develop a mind-set that looks at the world and thinks often about how to achieve results more effectively in this manner. It's a skill well worth developing.
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