Decision – The mastery of procrastination

Prequote - Conceit is a fog that envelops a man’s real character beyond his own recognition. It weakens his native ability and strengthens all his inconsistencies.

According to Mr. Hill, “lack of decision is near the head of the list of major causes of failure." "Procrastination, the opposite of decision, is a common enemy that practically every man must conquer.” “A study of successful people found that every one of them had the habit of reaching decisions quickly and of changing these decisions slowly.”

Many will take this to mean that these decisions were made without the proper amount of fact finding. This is not the case. Through the powers of organized planning and the mastermind group appropriate facts are accumulated. However, there is a point of diminishing return. The true leader will, at this point, step up, make a decision and stick to that decision.

It is important for the decision maker to use their own faculties to reach the decision. Close friends and relatives often feel compelled to give their “opinions” with "your best interest in mind". As stated by Mr. Hill, “Many people carry inferiority complexes through life because some well meaning and ignorant person destroyed their confidence through opinions and/or ridicule.”

One of the keys to success is the ability to make independent decisions. This does not mean that you do not solicit the assistance of those with more knowledge. It means those that you trust who possess more knowledge, become part of your mastermind group.

A decision maker must be a good listener and have the ability to filter information. If you talk more than you listen, you not only deprive yourself of the opportunity to acquire useful knowledge, but you also disclose your plans and purposes to people who could use that knowledge against you. It is better to tell the world what you intend to do, but first show it.

Finally, Mr. Hill provided the insight that the value of a decision is gauged by the courage necessary to make it. As an example, he recounted the story of the courage required by the 56 men who signed their name to the Declaration of Independence.

We all have life changing moments where the decisions we make will determine the road we take. The complete path of our lives is based on the decisions/choices we do or do not make. Most of these life changing decisions are made based on the price we are willing to pay for success. The signers of the Declaration of Independence were willing to give up their lives for their decision. The ultimate sacrifice.

I found the most interesting point of the chapter was Mr. Hill’s impression that the lack of decision making can be traced back to youth and the failure of the education system to incorporate the habits of good decision making. He stated that the result of this is that 98 of every 100 people are in their current profession because they lacked a definiteness of decision to plan a definite position and the knowledge to choose an employer.”

While I concur that the inability to make decisions can be traced back to youth, I do not believe that the educational system should shoulder all of the blame. The family structure is also a large contributor to the problem.

Parents always want to “give their children more than they had.” However, I see time and time again where this philosophy has hindered the youth’s decision making ability and promoted procrastination.

Many parents do not demand that their kids earn that for which they receive and the parents acquiesce too easily to that which their children want. This has led to an entitlement mentality and allowed the youth to abdicate their responsibilities back to parents. I feel comfortable in making these comments because I have followed this path and strongly believe I have done an injustice to my children.

It is important that we learn early that we are the captains of our own lives and that the decisions we make will have a great impact on the direction of that life. If I could change one thing in how I raised my children, it would be to require them to take more control of their decisions and not allow them to abdicate that responsibility back to my wife and me.

I would change our role from doer to advisor. I am very proud of my children, but they have led a blessed life that has allowed them to make mistakes without paying the immediate consequences of those mistakes. Life has a way of catching up and making you pay for your sins. My concern is that the long term consequence of not paying the immediate pertinence could be very detrimental to their future.

Put succinctly, we have devalued the decision making process by eliminating the courage component. We learn not only from our mistakes, but also from the consequences of those mistakes. If we do not learn this when we are young, we will have a tough time avoiding procrastination and making important decisions later in life.

THE PROCESS

In order to make good decisions, it is important that the decision maker call on the powers faith, desire, autosuggestion, specialized knowledge, imagination, organized planning and the mastermind group. It is difficult to make a good decision without an understanding of the desired outcome. This requires the decision maker to spend some time determining what they value and the path they will take get there.

I have found that most people are lazy and would rather have someone else tell them what is best. They talk to anyone that will listen and solicit opinions. Opinions are the cheapest commodity on earth. People with just a smattering of knowledge routinely try to give the impression that they have much knowledge. By abdicating our decisions to these undeserving assistants, we leave ourselves open for failure.

Often, the most courageous decision is to tell family and friends that they do not know what is best.

Only through a thorough self evaluation can the decision maker determine their passion. Following a path laid out by others is a sure recipe for an unfulfillied life. Once your passion has been uncovered, it is easier to use your imagination to develop an organized plan to achieve your stated goals. It is than easy to incorporate the power of autosuggestion to build the desire and faith necessary to make ultimate failure a remote probability. In addition, this focus on your passion will lead you to like minded people that will become your mastermind group.

In most cases, there is no such thing as having all the facts. Those that are paralyzed by indecision and/or are easily influenced by their surroundings will have a difficult time reaching their objectives.

Organized planning

Prequote – “Tell the world what you intend to do, but first show it.”

Once an idea has been formulated, it cannot be activated without a definitive plan. Your achievement can be no greater than your plans are sound. According to Mr. Hill “no man is ever whipped until he quits – in his own mind and no one can succeed without temporary defeat. When defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound.”

This chapter was very list driven. It starts out describing the process of building a Master Mind Group (MMG) and the importance of selecting the proper participants. It then concentrates on the qualities of a good leader and the major causes for leadership failure. It closes by reviewing why people fail to meet their potential, the importance of taking a self-inventory and a description of the components that should be included in this inventory.

Because of the nature of the content, I will hold my personal comments to a minimum and focus on the specific information Mr. Hill has so professionally articulated.

In the development of a plan, Mr. Hill believed that:

• To be of success, the paln must be faultless, and
• You must have the advantage of the experience, education native ability and imagination of other minds. No individual has all that is necessary to ensure the accumulation of that which you want without the cooperation of other people.

Therefore you must decide who to bring into your “Master Mind" Group (MMG). Mr. Hill believed that this was accomplished by:

1. Allying yourself with a group of as many people as may be needed for the creation and carrying out of your plan
2. Before forming the group, decide what advantages and benefits you may offer the individual members of your group in return for their cooperation. No one will work for inadequate compensation.
3. Arrange to meet with the members of your MMG at least twice a week until you have jointly perfected the necessary plan
4. Maintain harmony within the group. The Master Mind principle cannot obtain where perfect harmony does not prevail.
5. Once this group has been aligned, validation of the plan through constant testing and assessment are necessary. If the first plan does not work, replace it. Continue this process until you find a plan that does work.

Most fail because of a lack of persistence in creating new plans. No one can succeed with a plan that is not workable. Temporary defeat is not permanent failure. It just means the plan was not sound.

In developing the MMG, Mr Hill believed that you should only select those who do not take defeat seriously. As with any group, there will be those who decent and/or quit. It is at this point that the group needs a leader. You must decide if you are that leader or if you will abdicate the responsibility to one of the other members of the group. Most great leaders began as followers. They became great leaders because they were intelligent followers.

There are those that lead by consent and those that lead by force. Only those that lead by consent will have staying power and get the group to glean the power produced through cooperative synergy. The following are the attributes that Mr. Hill believed were important in a great leader:

1. unwavering courage based on knowledge of self and one’s occupation
2. Self-control – The man that can not control himself can never control others
3. Sense of Justice
4. Definite of Decision – without it, he shows he is not sure of himself
5. Definiteness of plans
6. Habit of doing more than is paid for – one of the penalties of leadership is the necessity of willingness to do more than is required of followers
7. Pleasing personality
8. Sympathy and understanding
9. Mastery of detail
10. Willingness to assume full responsibility
11. Cooperation – Leadership calls for power and power call for cooperation

In contrast, the following are the ten most common failures in leadership:

1. Inability to organize details
2. Unwillingness to render humble service – Willing to perform any service they would request of others.
3. Expectation of pay for what they know as opposed to what they do with what they know
4. Fear of competition from followers – More pay will be received from directing what others do than could ever be paid for ones own labor
5. Lack of imagination
6. Selfishness – A good leader gives praise to followers
7. Intemperance
8. Disloyalty
9. Emphasis on the “authority” of leadership – Leadership by force
10. Emphasis on title

This discussion of leadership took Mr. Hill to a introspective review of individuals and the determinants of success. He first reviewed the QQS system. This stands for:

Quality of service - attention to detail if the most efficient manner possible

Quantity of service – Rendering all the service that you are capable of at all times with the purpose of increasing the amount as greater skill is developed.

Spirit of service – This is the habit of agreeable, harmonious conduct which will induce cooperation from associates and fellow employees

The most important of the three is the Spirit of Service. A pleasing personality sometimes makes up for a deficiency in quality or quantity. Nothing however can be successfully substituted for pleasing conduct. The go-getter has been supplanted by the go-giver.

With all that has been conveyed so far, it is interesting that most people fail to attain that which they strive for. This is one of life’s biggest tragedy’s. Mr. Hill identified thirty one reasons for personal failure. However, the 31st was a catch-all for anything that was not included in the first thirty. They are:

1. Unfavorable heredity background – there is but little if anything that can be done for people who are born with a deficiency in brain power
2. Lack of a well defined purpose in life
3. Lack of ambition to aim above mediocrity
4. Insufficient education – Education consists not so much of knowledge, but of knowledge effectively and persistently applied
5. Lack of self discipline – Control all negative qualities
6. Ill health
7. Unfavorable environmental influences during childhood
8. Procrastination – Most of us go through life as failures cause we are waiting for the right time to act
9. Lack of persistence – Good starters not good finishers. Quit at first sign of failure
10. Negative personality – Will not induce cooperation
11. Lack of controlled sexual urge – sex energy is most powerful of all stimuli that move people to action. It must be controlled and converted into other channels
12. Uncontrolled desire for something for nothing
13. Lack of a well defined power of decision – Indecision and procrastination are twin brothers
14. One or more of the six basic fears
15. Wrong selection of a mate in marriage
16. Over caution – As bad as under caution. Those that take no chances must take what is left
17. Wrong selection of associates in business – We emulate those whom we associate most closely
18. Superstition and prejudice – Superstition is a form of fear and a sign of ignorance
19. Wrong selection of a vocation
20. Lack of concentration of effort
21. Habit of indiscriminate spending
22. Lack of enthusiasm
23. Intolerance – Usually means that one has stopped acquiring knowledge
24. Intemperance
25. Inability to cooperate with others
26. Possession of power that was not acquired through self effort
27. Intentional dishonesty
28. Egotism and vanity
29. Guessing instead of thinking
30. Lack of capital

All these years later, the quote at the end of this sdction in still relavent and in my mind, priceless insight. It should be read and understood by all. Mr. Hill stated, “You must know your strengths and weaknesses. It is one thing to want money – everyone wants more – but it is something else entirely to be worth more. Your financial requirements or wants have nothing to do with your worth. Your value is established entirely by your ability to render useful service or your capacity to induce others to render such service. “

To assist those that take this quote to heart, Mr. Hill provided a listing of 28 questions that can be used for an annual self analysis. Answering the questions is easy and will provide you with your perception of the truth. It becomes more difficult and exposing when coworkers and family are requested to validate your perceptions.

The 28 questions are:

1. Have I attained my goals for the year?
2. have I delivered service of the best possible quality?
3. Have I delivered in the greatest quantity possible?
4. Has the spirit of on conduct been harmonious and cooperative?
5. Have I permitted the habit of procrastination to decrease my productivity and if so, how much?
6. Have I improved my personality?
7. Have I been persistent in pursuing my plans?
8. Have I reached decisions promptly and definitely?
9. Have I permitted any one or more of the six fears to decrease my efficiency
10. Have I been over or under cautious?
11. Has my relationship with associates been pleasant? If not, has the fault been mine?
12. Have I dissipated any of my effort through a lack of concentrated effort?
13. Have I been open minded?
14. In what way have I improved my rendering of service?
15. Have I been intemperate with my habits?
16. Have I expressed any form of egotism?
17. Has my conduct toward associates been such as to induce them to respect me?
18. have my opinions and decisions been based on guesswork?
19. Have I followed the habit of budgeting my time?
20. How much time have I devoted to unprofitable effort?
21. How may I re-budget my time and change my habits to be more efficient?
22. Have I been guilty of any conduct that was not approved by my conscience?
23. In what ways have I rendered more service and better service then I was paid?
24. Have I been unfair to anyone?
25. If I had been the purchaser of my services, would I have been satisfied?
26. Am I in the right vocation?
27. Has the purchaser of my services been satisfied?
28. What is my present rating on the fundamental principles of success?

There is but one method of accumulating and legally holding riches and that is by rendering useful services. No system has ever been created by which men can legally acquire riches through mere force of numbers, or without giving in return an equivalent value of one form or another. The system does not and cannot promise something for nothing because the system, itself, is irrevocably controlled by the law of economics, which neither recognizes nor tolerates for long, getting without giving.

Imagination

Prequote – Happiness is found in doing, not merely possessing

According to Mr. Hill, imagination is literally the workshop wherein are fashioned all plans created by man.

I again go back to the difference between being “in the groove” and being in “a rut”. Is it possible that the missing magic ingredient is imagination? Why is it acceptable to stop the creation process? Further, is it allowable to be creative in one portion of our lives and not in others?

I have observed, and I do not believe many would disagree, that children are blessed with incredible imaginations. I will never forget when my daughter at the age of ten informed me of the ride she had experienced in the corvette of one of my friends. Her story was so vivid. I could almost see the breeze blowing in her hair and the smile on her face. She described the route they had experienced and the awesome feeling of speed. I was so happy for her. There was only one problem. The wonderful ride had never happened. It was pure unencumbered imagination. Some would call this an unadulterated lie. I called it incredible. It also made me wonder why my imagination was in park. I could not remember the last time I had allowed myself the opportunity to use my creative talents.

Throughout life we are peppered with facts and figures and the “correct answer”. Please think of all the things we would not have in our lives if creative types had stayed “within the lines”.

An education and a career should ignite the creative juices. I would contend that in most cases it does just the opposite. We are taught how to conform and provide our prospective employers what they are looking for. Maybe, just maybe, these employers do not know what they are really looking for. Maybe, just maybe, it is up to the young and ambitious that have not had their creative juices thwarted by years of “that is not the way we do it” to teach us where we should be spending our money and energy.

While this is an interesting thought, why does it rarely happen? I believe it is because these young and energetic future leaders have not, for the most part, been allowed to exercise their influence or they have chosen not to.

Take the job selection process. The process has not changed much from the days when I graduated. Resumes are written that basically say “Please give me the chance to start at the bottom of your organization.” Visits to the placement office to see which Company’s will visit. This is the universe. If Companies do not visit, they do not exist. Signing up for those that look good and some cursory research. Finally, praying that someone will find us worthy of employment. This is not always the case, but for the most part it is the rule.

Mr. Hill did not believe this was the proper method of determining our future. He believed that it was important to study companies and determine the one that you believe is the best fit. Once this was determined, perform detailed analysis to ascertain exactly the value you would bring to that company. This analysis would then be transcribed into a definite, detailed plan on how it would be implemented. It was than sent to the decision maker and followed up. If there was more than one company, a different plan was sent to each company.

Again, it is important to understand that this book is over 80 years old. Maybe now it is not as easy to get to the decision maker. This brings us back to imagination. If we go about looking for our first substantial employment in a generic mundane manner, what message does that send? We still must find a way to stand out from the crowd. What can the prospective employee do? Internships, networking, early identification and research on their target – would any of these things work?

Most companies get more applications for employment than they could ever give justice. This means that most applications get a cursory review and are passed over. Applicants have a snapshot to get attention. If the best we can do is use thicker or different color paper, our efforts are woefully lacking. Imagination brings differentiation.

Mr. Hill states “Mans only limitation lies in his development and use of imagination”

It has taken me too much time to realize that the structure of most companies and educational institutions are not conducive to the development of imagination. We lay out exactly what is expected and dissuade active participation. More often then not we want to prove we are right rather that ask the questions “What do you think” or “How did you come to that conclusion.

If given the chance, most individuals will take the easy road rather than the road that requires the magic of imagination. There is rarely a day that goes by that I do not have someone state “I do not know how to do this” or “we have a problem.” It is easier to upward delegate the problem than it is to kick start the imagination and come up with a proposed solution.

The pre-quote from the chapter on specialized knowledge stated that “every adversity carries with it the seed of an equivalent or greater benefit. By precluding the use of imagination, companies and educational institutions are robbing our next leaders of this greater benefit. We are not allowing them to learn from their mistakes and demanding the development of their imagination.

However, the blame is not all with Companies and the education system. It is my opinion that the joys of reading and writing are in danger of becoming lost talents. The use of video games, computers, cell phones and television as babysitters has created a generation that does not see the value of reading and writing. Granted, for some, these "distractions" have sparked the creative jucies, but most are inactive participants in the passing of time. There is little if any educational value transmuted.

The creative faculty becomes more alert in proportion to its development through use. The converse of this fact is that nonuse of this faculty leads to cynicism of ones ability to change ones position in life and resignation. One day becomes just like another and all that is wrong is happening to us by forces outside of our control.

All good things start with an idea which is an impulse of thought. Mix in a definiteness of purpose that trasmutes in to a passion and all things are possible.

Specialized Knowledge

Prequote: "Every Adversity, Every Failure, and Every Heatache carries with it the seed of an equivalent or a grater benefit"

Specialized Knowledge

It is said that knowledge is power. This is not exactly correct. Knowledge is only power if it is intelligently directed through practical plans of action. In looking into the quality of knowledge, Mr. Hill determined that it could be bifurcated into general knowledge and specialized knowledge.

General knowledge is of little use unless it can not be transmuted into practical action. I have always been dumbfounded by individuals that offer up incredible volumes of information that is nice to know, but adds no value to their life. They are the Cliff Clavens of the world.

I recently read an article about a gentleman that was an MIT graduate. He was able to recite the statistics of sports teams with amazing accuracy. While this information was impressive on its own; it adds no value to life. However, that is not where this gentleman stopped. He used this information to handicap games and assisted teams in making draft selections. He has become one of the experts in this field. He was able to take general knowledge and transform it into specialized knowledge. He is now making a very handsome living doing what he enjoys

In looking at specialized knowledge, there are a couple of real fallacies. Most people believe that it necessary to go to college to become an educated person and for those that follow the path to a university, many believe the education process ends at graduation.

Unfortunately, there are a multitude of examples of the first fallacy in most institutions of higher learning. These are the professors concerned with tenure who have never been in the workforce or applied the principles they expound in the class room. Many of these are on “autopilot” and cruising to retirement. Unfortunately, they lack passion. The victims of this tragic comedy are the students that believe they are being prepared for the real world.

In another article I read about the fundamental failure of the American education system when compared to the Chinese and Indian systems. In China and India, the focus of the family is on education. The real competition is to be the best in specialized fields such as math and science. In America we focus on our children being the best in athletics. We spend a fortune on getting lessons for sports and then send our children to “free” public education. Even the amount of time our kids spend in classes is less than both India and China.

Each fall we witness the parade of kids going off to college at a cost of many thousand dollars a year and they do not have a clue of what they want to do. They have not found their passion. Why. In my case I did to little as a parent to motivate my children to this end.

Mr. Hill states “an educated man is one who has developed the facilities of his mind that he may acquire anything he wants or its equivalent without violating the rights of others.” Please note that the words college or university education are never mentioned in this definition of educated. In fact, we all know examples of people that we believe are educated that never finished college. Thomas Edison had but 3 months of organized education and Henry Ford had less than a sixth grade education. Granted, it is tougher to succeed today with this level of education, but not impossible. Mr. Gates is ample proof.

My point is not that a college education is a waste. It is that education for no other purpose but the accumulation of general knowledge is pointless. Higher education should be a tool for acquiring specialized knowledge to facilitate the transmutation of a passion into a predetermined benefit. For this to be the case, we need to focus our thoughts on determining our passions and direct our activities to complement these passions. Through these activities the necessary specialized knowledge will become apparent.

The final point with regard to higher education was very profoundly stated by Mr. Hill. He noted that “the truth is that schooling does little more than to put one in the way of learning how to acquire practical knowledge. The person that stops learning at the end of the schooling is destined to mediocrity.”

After several years in the workforce, it has been my observation that the key to success is the continued activation of the human mind. I recently listened to a class on selling by Jeffrey Gitimer. I had to laugh when he described the three levels of life. According to Mr. Gitimer, we start out with excitement and energy on our path to success we call this, “being in the groove.” We then get into a routine and minimize our quest for knowledge and end up in what we call “a rut.” Finally, we stay in that rut until our life is dull and pointless and we end up in “a grave”. All three stages are crevasses only differentiated by depth. The keys to staying "in the groove" are imagination and continuing the education process.

Mr. Hill went on to state, “Power is acquired through highly organized and intelligently directed specialized knowledge, but that knowledge does not have to be in the possession of just one man. The man who can organize & direct a mastermind group who possess knowledge useful in the specific endeavor is just as much a man of education as any man in the group.”

In most endeavors, those that are successful are able to meld mastermind groups into cohesive teams. Through the fusion of each members specialized knowledge, the creativity and overall knowledge base grows exponentially. However, working with groups brings a whole new set of difficulties. This is the reason that the successful leader must acquire specialized knowledge regarding the psychology of people in general and teams in particular.

The final thought was again the principle that we are the products of our own habits and those we decide to associate with. Mr. Hill stated, “We rise to high positions or remain at the bottom because of conditions we can control if we so desire. Both success and failure are largely the results of habits and the close association with those who refuse to compromise with circumstances they do not like is an asset that can never be measured in terms on money.




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