It is an honor to post this “lesson on efficiency” written by one of my favorite authors, Eric Butterworth. I hope you will read and enjoy the whole article. But even if you only read and apply the four tips at the end, I am certain your life will be change for the better. Enjoy!
The desire for self improvement is one of the most important elements in human nature, and the degree to which this exists determines whether a person is really alive, with hope for his future. Certainly, it is true that when any individual reaches a point in life when, due to difficulty or age or indifference, he no longer wants to improve himself, he becomes totally satisfied and just sits and watches life pass by. That person, to all intent and purposes, is already dead. Life means growth. Where there is no growth, there is no life. We use the cliché “growing old” and the fact is, when you stop growing, you are old—something to think about for all of us.
Would you like to do a better job? Would you like to become a more effective person? Would you like to increase your efficiency? Of course you would, or you wouldn’t be listening to my voice [or reading this] today. I’ve counseled many persons whose chief problem is the tendency to make mistakes. I remember one businessman confessing, “I want to do a good job for my firm, but there’s something about me, I somehow never say the right thing at the right time. I put my foot in my mouth every time.” Another man fears that his marriage is breaking up because he always does the wrong thing, even though he doesn’t intend to do this. And a teenager complains that he can’t get the right results from homework, saying, “There’s something wrong with me, and it always seems to come out.” Well, he has indirectly pointed out the problem. We make mistakes because of gross inefficiencies in our thought processes. So, we must work to change our thoughts. I say that often: “You can change your life by altering your thoughts.”
If you have grown up with a self-limiting view of yourself and have repeatedly said, “I always goof,” then you must begin to change. You must know that you are a Spiritual Being, endowed with infinite possibilities for success and accomplishment. You are capable, self-confident, orderly, efficient. You are a Child of God. Know that you do everything at hand with ease and promptness and efficiency, that you always have that potential within you to enter into a new experience and a new level of consciousness.
The key to our problems and mistakes lies not in conscious beliefs, but in subconscious patterns of confusion. Prayer and meditation, worked with in the right way over a period of time, can erase inner confusion and open out a way for the expression of Divine Order and natural abilities flowing easily forth. When we really seek to know ourselves in our depths, through the prayer of self-realization, we can build our lives on the foundation of Truth.
Second Timothy, the second chapter, 15th verse, says, “Study to show thy self approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of Truth.” I’ve never felt it sufficient to say, “I’m just going to put it in God’s hands, and He’ll take care of it for me.” I say, if you want to give a better talk or sell more merchandise or make more money, then pray more, certainly, but also work harder, study and prepare. Do your best and leave the rest. We do things right when we, ourselves, are right, and when we bring to this rightness the illumination of Spirit. A typical person needs to pray more, to believe in his Inner Power, and to be guided and sustained. In many instances, however, the need is for good old hard work. The great story here is about the man who asked his boss for a raise. He didn’t receive a reply until his next paycheck. The amount of the check was the same, but in the envelope was this little note: “Your new salary will become effective when you do.”
Efficiency also means getting the most for the least. The really “tuned in” person dedicates himself to Oneness with the Activity of God, and he reaches toward “one hundred percent efficiency.” Those who fail, do so from using less than their Inner Potential. It is probably true that the average person uses only about twelve out of the one hundred tools of his perfect mental equipment. Figures tell us that production workers usually perform at about seventy percent of efficiency, while office workers usually level off at about thirty or forty percent—possibly, even those figures are high.
Efficiency has to do with the ability of making capital, even out of misfortune. You may recall the story of Sarah Bernhardt, who was injured in an accident, and had her leg amputated. But she didn’t whine and declare that her career was over. She began to work immediately on a play in the role of a one-legged soldier. The greatest efficiency is expressed when you look for guidance to see things objectively and to recognize the way that is right and good.
A housefly, trying to reach the outdoors through a windowpane, just can’t seem to understand why it can’t get right to its goal. But you should be more intelligent than that. A person may seek the demonstration of prosperity and may attempt to instruct God, as it were, to increase his salary, but his demonstration may well appear in quite an unexpected way. It may come through a new job, through the sale of property, or simply a new way to get more mileage out of present income. The children of Israel were led by Moses out of captivity into the wilderness, where they had to spend forty years, but in this time, they conquered the desert. Thus, they learned how to conquer themselves, in preparation for the Promised Land. The mistakes we make and the limiting experiences that are our lot are really our opportunities to study for improvement. In other words, it’s not really so bad to make mistakes; it is important to use them as inspiration toward an honest effort to improve. Our lives are constantly being built by what we do and how we act today. What we will be tomorrow, and from now on, takes no heed of how we feel today or how inefficient we happen to be at the moment. What really counts is how we profit from these stages in our growth and what we do to change things.
Here is a simple step-by-step technique that could well be helpful in directing you to build an efficient life:
First: Begin your day, every day, with a time of meditation. This is a must! At some time after rising, take time to be still and identify yourself in Oneness with the Infinite Creative Source. You may have to get up a little earlier, but this will be the most important time of your day, a time to get still and to identify yourself with Oneness and to get yourself in tune with the Creative Flow [of God]. Tremendous things may flow forth into you, and into your life, as a result of this commitment.
Second: Make a mental outline of the work that you have before you, the tasks for the day, and begin to work on them, immediately. Remember the statement, “Do it now.” “Do it now!” This day’s imperative, left undone, becomes tomorrow’s regret. These things become tremendous burdens. You will find genuine satisfaction in mentally crossing off each task as it is completed. It is an orderly way to deal with life.
Third: Be non-resistant to change and interruption. Deal with these situations one-by-one, and as quickly as possible, knowing that somehow there is good in them. Sometimes, I may be busy preparing a talk or an article and along comes an interruption—a knock on the door, the buzzer rings, the telephone—and I’m tempted to be very resistant. And, I must confess, sometimes I indulge a little bit in the feeling of resistance and resentment. But I’ve come to realize that if I just go along with it, out of that interruption, I may get an answer to a “dead-end” that has been puzzling me for some time—an idea, a creative thought that is just the very thing to make the work that I was doing, and that I was interrupted in doing, that much more effective. The delay, then, becomes the channel through which the idea comes. It’s so important to be open and receptive to this type of flowing forth of Creative Mind, and to be nonresistant to change and interruption.
Fourth: When it seems that you have more to do than you feel is within your strength, or within the time allotted to you, relax with quiet deliberation. Don’t give in to the pressure of time. Know that you can do what you need to do in the Eternal Process of Timelessness. Anyone who allows himself to become tense and irritable simply short-circuits his own power by breaking contact with the Divine Source of Energy. So arrange your tasks in order of importance and proceed in the knowledge that you always have the power and the time to do the things that need to be done by you…and to do them well.
Finally: Make an occasional checkup of your work, your work habits. Are you making the wisest use of time? Always be willing to accept a better use of your abilities, a better way, if it serves your purpose. God gives us all, each and every one of us, twenty-four hours a day; it is our privilege, and our responsibility, to direct our limitless energies toward accomplishment.
© Eric Butterworth
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