Growth Online		 Effort Increases Energy, Capacity, Results
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by Roy Posner

We normally believe that putting out a certain amount of physical energy will produce a certain finite result. However, there is another perspective. It is that by making the full effort and expending all of one's energy, life takes over and fulfills what one could not fulfill on one's own. In other words, life supports your extra effort and takes up where you left off. This in turn reenergizes you as you are pleased by the unexpected greater result. Here is an example:

A salesperson at a computer center was relatively new to the sales force, and in his first few months his sales were modest compared to the veterans who were already there awhile. Each month when sales were tallied he seemed to come up just short of the veterans results (for example, they would get $50000 in sales; he would get $40000). A few times he was asked to come in on weekends to work, which he did.   During one period just after the end of year holiday rush he was asked to come in a weekend after he had already worked five days straight during the week. In the past he wouldn't have agreed to such a request for need of rest, and other reasons.

Reluctantly, he accepted the invitation to come in on that weekend.  After five minutes in the store a customer walked in and ordered $30000 in sales, nearly equal to a months worth of sales for him in the past.  In addition, in the next few weeks even higher than usual sales accumulated for the remainder of that month. At the end of the month most of the veterans sales tallied around $50-60000.  Our salesperson, however, accumulated $110000 in sales, the highest total monthly sales in the computer center's history.  He ended up making more money in that month than in any month previous in his life. He created immediate prosperity in life by changing an attitude.  He also had more energy than before because just because he made the extra effort. In addition, as a result of that effort he became more confident, prosperous, and happy,  which in of itself made him feel even more energetic.

Our conclusion then is that a higher level of effort can actually increase rather than decrease one's energy level. It can even invoke a positive response from life as in the above instance.

Here's another example:

In Dee Hock's book Birth of the Chaordic Age, he describes an extraordinary situation where many years ago, he was trying to get a new concept -- the credit card -- established. At one point things apparently were not going well in his life, as he was reduced to learning franchise banking at a mere branch office. One time while working in the bank, he and his assistant were unable to balance the books at the end of the day. The brusque assistant suggested that the missing deposit was likely in the basement in the garbage. Dee was now utterly humiliated by this turn of fortune in his life, considering his previous position as a major BofA executive; but shakes that off as pride, and goes through 10 barrels of garbage to find the missing slip! At one point his co-worker arrives on the scene and indicates that she has found it, solving the problem.  Hock then narrates that only a few days later an official contacted and informed him that Bank of America had decided to go ahead and franchise the BankAmericard credit card scheme he had worked so hard to develop, and his help was also needed in the implementation. This was a great moment in Dee's life, and in the history of the credit card. Essentially on that day the VISA credit card and corporation were formed.

It was Dee's willingness to put out the last bit of effort in going through the garbage that led to this great positive response from life.

By the author of this article, Roy Posner
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SELF-ANALYSIS:
-Think about a few situations where you took an extra effort which led to a very positive opening in your life. What caused you to make that extra effort? Was it caused by life's pressures? Can you instead make making an extra effort part of your own initiative rather than life's compulsion?

-Examine situations in your life where you need to take a greater amount of energy or effort. Take that extra effort. Thereafter see if you have a whole new level of capacity, energy, and success that wasn't there before.

Further Reading
-To learn more about the phenomenon of "life response," click here.

 For additional Growth Online thoughts on the power of hard work and extra effort, click here.

 

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