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Maximizing Human Effectiveness
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Maximizing Human Effectiveness
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Maximizing Human Effectiveness
By E. L. Zimmerman
The moment you started reading this article, you changed your life.
You didn't notice?
Here. I'll restate it, word for word, for those of
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Forums » Topic Forums » Training & Organizational Development » Maximizing Human Effectiveness
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Maximizing Human Effectiveness
posted at 12/17/2000 11:27 PM EST
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Posts: 13
First: 6/4/2000 Last: 1/10/2001 |
Maximizing Human Effectiveness
By E. L. Zimmerman The moment you started reading this article, you changed your life. You didn't notice? Here. I'll restate it, word for word, for those of you who missed it the first time: "The moment you started reading this article, you changed your life." There. Did you notice THIS time? Now, I'm quite certain that you're thinking about it. Let's face facts: it's a rather bold proclamation. I'll give you Vegas odds that it's written by someone you probably have neither read anything from before nor are you familiar with on a first-name basis, but it doesn't matter. I've crossed the vast distance that separates the writer from the reader, and your life has changed. My opening declaration is doing it's part, quietly drilling a course deeper into your consciousness, becoming more and more a part of who you are with each passing moment ... with or without the slightest awareness on your part. Let's try it another way: "You can't begin reading an article titled 'Maximizing Human Effectiveness' and NOT have your life altered by the mere fact that you've discovered, unearthed, or awakened something inside you that's clamoring for daylight." I'll concede that it's a very bold idea. For those of you who don't know me (probably anyone up to this point), you might find it laced with arrogance or conceit. I promise you that notion is farther from my intentions than any perception could ever be. My sole desire is to provide you, the reader, with a life-altering premise ... a fundamental supposition. If followed, this idea will do nothing less than change the person you were before you happened across this short, sweet, and simple piece from who you are today into the dynamo lurking somewhere under the complex layers comprising your very self. Together, let's strip away those layers and release irrepressible human spirit. Let's start at a mutually agreed-upon foundation. Let's change your life. Let's maximize your human effectiveness. For those who read on, I offer this warning: don't expect elegant prose. Anyone worth his or her paycheck in whatever the profession can tell you, probably far more eloquently than I, that wisdom - in its purest, most elemental form - relies on economy of language, not the volumes of self-indulgent anecdotes from intellectual spinmeisters who want you to buy their audio tape series or purchase their latest addition to a growing series of personal improvement doctrines. I'm no Harry Potter or Zig Ziglar. I'm not trying to sell you anything. I'm just trying to change your life. So, don't expect an explosive, imaginative revelation ... that happened the moment the article's title caught your interest. Read on, brave souls, and I'm quite certain that I've the wherewithal to support everything and anything I've ponied up thus far. However, for the cynics still uncertain about investing precious time into reading yet another piece written by someone who thinks he's God's gift to maximizing human effectiveness, I'll offer up one last exclusive guarantee: if the outlook of your own potential hasn't changed by the conclusion of these few, simple words, read it again. Now, on to business ... I'm not going to talk about your seven habits. I'm not really interested in what kind of soup is in your soul. I don't care about any formula for achieving retirement at age 10; what would I do with the time for the rest of my life? And frankly, my dear, I don't give a hoot about your patience to endure hour after hour of the never-ending development sermons available at a nominal price. I want to talk to you today about one simple idea: maximizing human effectiveness. I'm not going to trouble you with equations for increasing worker productivity. I'm not going to characterize any function or activity you might perform in the course of business or pursuing your dreams. I'd rather not blather on endlessly about the probable 'return on investment' should you decide that the latest buzz philosophy for "being a better workerbee" is, in fact, exactly what's been missing from your life. In fact, as far as I'm concerned, 'distance learning' is a primitive idea better left for those who believe that leaving voicemails is the first step toward 'closing the sale.' People teach people, just as I'm trying to do in tried-and-true black-and-white. Machines don't teach people. Where I work, machines affix postage. They copy. They disperse beverages or snack food, and they do it with remarkable efficiency ... but I could care less for their take on the human experience. In fact, what will a machine ever 'know' about effectiveness when a human has to tell it what to tell you? You can travel the world, reading up on what top minds in the fields of business, psychology, economics, etc., have to say on the topic, but, in my humble opinion, the means to achieving maximum result on ANYTHING - 'anything' not only including work pursuits but also personal ambitions - but following one simple creed. Success isn't a Holy Grail, hidden from only the pure of heart. It's right at your fingertips. It's within in right now. It's happening at this very moment, because success starts when you accept the perceptual responsibility of repeating two words over and over and over again, inside your mind: "I can." When the Olympic swimmer pushes off the wall with aspirations on bringing home the gold medal, do you think anything else is going through that athlete's mind? When a championship golfer visually measures up a stroke that'll best position the ball for the cup, do you think anything else is going through the strategist's brain? When you're interfacing with your next sales prospect, sensing the inevitable rejection just around the corner, do you think anything else should be percolating in that area of your mind wondering what you should say next to put this dialogue on the road to turnaround? When you're faced with an extremely difficult customer who's pressing you back and back and back until you begin to doubt that the company's scripted responses are of any measurable value, do you think anything else but those two words should serve as inspiration to keep emotional fuel in your tank? When you sit down at your desk tomorrow with the intent of 'being the better workerbee,' drawing the attention of your supervisor, and proving that you possess far greater ability than you did the last time you participated in an annual review, should anything else but this simple idea be in your future? "I can." Trust me. You'll never get anywhere thinking or believing anything less. With over ten years in management, Ed Zimmerman is a Consultant providing Human Resources, Positive Turbulence, and Strategic Planning advice to clients in and around the growing Phoenix, Arizona marketplace. For consultation or just a simple 'hello,' he can be reached at ezimmerman@royalpersonnel.com. |
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