The Mental Highway
	The Psychology Of Efficiency <  Previous Contents Next  >

You achieve efficiency in your highest expression of you. How well you express your latent qualities sets your degree of efficiency. We each have in ourselves the potential elements of genius. Our business is to find out how to set them free and get them into effective operation. We may have particular characteristics, and do particular things that will make failure certain. These faults self-advertise and sell the idea of our disqualification. Such, for instance, is the panhandler, who is a walking advertisement of inefficiency. We may have certain characteristics and do certain things that will make success certain. The good natured, intelligent, reliable person exhibits his or her qualities so that they self-advertise and sell right ideas of those qualifications and guarantee success.

The Parable of the Talents illustrates the duty of success to the utmost individual capacity. A one-talent person working at his highest efficiency is worth a hundred undeveloped ten-talent people. While we differ in the degree and variety of natural endowments, everyone has the potential elements of success. Success consists in realizing that you have it in you, that you are worthy to succeed, then carrying your qualities to market. For no matter how high the quality of your faculties and abilities may be, they do not spell success until you market them.

You do not actually sell your qualities. You merely sell ideas of them. Success consists in selling your ideas of them rather than selling some one’s else’s ideas of them. A salesperson does not sell so many barrels of oil, but certain ideas of them. The "goods" are delivered afterward. A real estate agent does not sell a house, but an idea of a house. When you sell your services to a purchaser, you merely sell an idea of what your services will be worth to the firm. You deliver the "goods" afterward.

The psychology of efficiency hinges on a right idea of your goods and how to get that right idea across to a prospective buyer’s mind. This resolves itself into the following formula: How to sell the true idea of your best capabilities in the right field or market. This operates in the following order: (1) Develop your best capabilities to the highest possible degree. (2) Learn to describe them truly so that you can present them and sell them, so that the prospective buyer will get a correct idea of what you can do. (3) Identify your market. Find the right field for your goods or services. (4) All that is left to do is to deliver the goods, to make the prospective purchaser know that you are the person for the place, or that your goods will better fill his needs than any others.

Your success depends on your skill in discovering the open way of access to the prospect’s mind, then finding his particular point of interest in your proposition. In what way it can serve him and forward his interests? Having discovered this point, the next move is to illustrate your ability to help him achieve that point of interest until you can close the deal.

Suggestion is the supreme agent in these steps. It is present in your idea, your presentation, your words, your tones, your eye, your gesture, your pose of body, your muscular tension, for these are all ways of expressing yourself — and it is ideas of yourself that you are selling. Avoid antagonism, criticism and comparison when using suggestion. Commending a person’s effort to be up to date is far better than intimating that his methods are behind the time.

Make your suggestion tend to produce direct results in action. Suggesting to an employer that he needs and wants your services is far better than asking for a position. It is good suggestion to show similarity of ideas, also to manifest the probability of growth. Propose the idea that one strong point of your qualifications is just one point in your all-round fitness. Picturing yourself in active service is good autosuggestion. Find out what the prospect wants, and avoid showing that you want something very much. Instead, hold to the idea that you can supply what he lacks. This sort of suggestion leads to action.

The psychology of efficiency resolves itself into a problem of skill and availability. An analysis of your present equipment will be helpful, because you need to know your faults with the idea of correcting them. Maybe your chief fault is poor fuel. You haven’t good "gas." Your mind isn’t filled with right ideas and in such order that you can handle them. Maybe the piston rod rings leak, and you do not get the high compression of determination and persistence. Maybe it is a faulty carburetor. You are not a good "mixer." Maybe the spark plugs are misfiring, and the fire of enthusiasm is lacking. Success means firing on every cylinder, whether you are a two-or a twelve-cylinder machine. Maybe your cooling system doesn’t work and you get "hot" from lack of self-control. Maybe it is a cracked cylinder — broken health.

A car kept in repair is renewed in every part in seven years. Your body renews and replaces every cell every nine months. Go to the repair shop of that supreme fixer, your subconscious mind. Tell it what you want, and revisit the repair shop until the rebuilding process is complete. Success depends primarily on physical capacity. Heart power and stomach power can put anything over. You must have health, energy, virility and endurance to be physically able to do your work.

Mental capacities. You must bring your mental qualities up to their highest effectiveness. You can train every mental power by clearly perceiving what they mean and how they work and then going into action. Chief among them are perception, alertness, accuracy, punctuality, memory, imagination, concentration, adaptability, self-control, determination, tact, diplomacy, and good judgment.

Perception is looking at things with your mind as well as with your eyes — a stick stuck into the water reports crooked to the eye, but straight to the mind.

Alertness is mentally sharp ears. "Yes" pronounced crisply means one thing, pronounced with a falling inflection, it means another. Yes, with a rising inflection, means something else.

Accuracy is the result of taking pains to do, think and say things correctly.

Punctuality is a mental habit most people haven’t acquired. People who would spurn a dishonest action pilfer all sorts of time by being a few minutes behind time. If you have "a little behind hand," amputate it.

Memory grows stronger by every effort to remember. It grows each time you affirm, "I have a perfect memory." It gets clearer as you repeat a thing to be remembered and holds strongly to the object of your attention. It recalls the apt-to-be-forgotten when tied up with the sure-to-be-remembered.

Imagination grows by use. Use it daily to picture out the success of your undertaking, and never let it run undirected.

Concentration directs the attention of the mind to one thing and keeps it away from everything else. Practice looking so intently as to shut out sound, listening so intently as to shut out reports of the eyes, or thinking so intently as to practically inhibit all the senses.

Adaptability is a wonderful attainment, to be able to adjust to new and unexpected conditions. It is the ability to "back up" gracefully when you realize that for each backward step you take, eventually you will take two forward. It is the temper of the Damascus blade, which can bend double and not break.

Stability is the power to "stay put." It grows every time you stick to a purpose. Stability is the habit of "being there" when the occasion calls you.

Determination is that resolute state of mind that holds to its objective no matter what diversions arise. It is the "center" of your whole army of qualities, and unless it holds, you will lose the battle.

Tact is the skill to find a way of easing the pressure, relieving the tension, smoothing ruffled feelings, turning away wrath and impatience, and disarming injustice. Often tact alone will open the way to achievement.

Diplomacy is mental maneuvering for an advantageous position. It is finding the way out of an impossible situation. A young sales agent went to a house all primed with his story, but was completely baffled when the door opened an inch and a cold eye demanded what he wanted. He hesitated and then good naturedly remarked, "Madam, I believe I have forgotten the password." The door opened and he had a chance to present his case.

Good judgment is a wise forecasting the outcome of any project. It is a faculty that all people pride themselves as possessing. Its motto is "I told you so." Really good judgment is based upon your own experiences, upon others’ experiences under similar circumstances, and upon the current working facts in the case.

Heart Qualities are certain emotional qualities necessary to any large success. They are ambition, hopefulness. Optimism, enthusiasm, cheerfulness, self-confidence, courage, persistence, patience, earnestness, sympathy, frankness, expressiveness, humor, loyalty, love of others. You possess these to some degree, but you must develop them to their highest expression to give you a perfect emotional equipment.

Ambition furnishes you with motive power to continue to perfect success.

Hopefulness is a mental anchor out to the future success, which sees the invisible and holds to it as a reality until it comes into expression.

Optimism sees the bright side of things. Business is always good. The weather is fine. All things work together for good to him that thinks good.

Enthusiasm kindles all the fires of energy, keeps all the powers at flood-tide, and carries a difficult position by storm. It grows from your sense of your real worth and the value of your goods or services.

Cheerfulness keeps smiling, lives on the sunny side of the street, says the helpful word, is glad to be alive, and is busy every moment in the "cheering up" business.

Self-confidence rests upon your realization of your ability. Claim for yourself every quality and power you see in others. Concede to others every excellence you discover in yourself.

Courage grows out of optimism and self-confidence. No matter what it is, it can be done, and you can do it, and will do it.

Persistence keeps steadily at the task, whether you work or play, you keep your objective clearly in sight.

Patience teaches you how to play the waiting game. Waiting for mental processes to be completed in others, for gathering of material-factors that will build your temple of success.

Earnestness keeps you from lagging in the race, and inspires others with the idea that you believe in yourself and your proposition.

Sympathy helps you to put yourself in the other fellow’s place, think with him, and know how he feels.

Frankness brings you out into the open, puts all the cards on the table, and takes away from others the idea that you have any ulterior motive.

Expressiveness gives music to your voice, a light to your eye, a charm to your personality.

Humor saves many a bad situation with a good story or bright saying. Keep the fun stop in your organ well tuned, but do not use it too much or others may deem you a "comedian."

Loyalty to the best in yourself, to others, and to your undertaking is the main element in the stuff called integrity.

Love of others is the oil that makes all the wheels go. It gives all confidence, for you cannot fear that which you love. It reacts on you, and you cannot help others without helping yourself. Go over these one by one to see how fully you have developed them, then begin to build them up.

Certain Ethical Qualities are essential to success. The ethical principle is that your business is equally helpful to others as to you. To this end, your intentions are right. You mean to be honest and truthful. You are of good moral character and reliable, dependable. You love your chosen work because it enables you to serve others and yourself. Certain Spiritual Qualities are essential.

Idealism enables you to see the higher purposes of life, and to cherish the unselfish desires. It is the imaging power by which you construct the ideal of a finished and glorious, success.

Vision enables you to see the large outcome of your work. It keeps you from looking at life narrowly.

Faith is confidence in the reality of your ideals and vision. It holds to this reality until you have turned it into external form.

Desire to serve — The secret formula of genius is "I am among you as one who serves." Every quality in you is embedded in the obligation to serve.

Ability to understand others — Success depends upon your ability to know the other’s need and to supply that need. Approach others through their curiosity about your proposition, and their self-interest about what degree it can be of use to them. This is the key to human nature.

This is an outline of every essential element of success, from an attractive physical appearance to the highest qualities of character, and you can safely neglect none of them. You need to cultivate their use, increase the degree of their activity, and steadily improve their quality.