highly sensitive power

When options and variables proliferate, it’s natural to want to get things in order. But a focus on neatness over efficiency can bypass effective resolution. We can clarify, organize, and collate data into infinity, to the point where action with real muscle behind it gets lost in the filing system.

What’s more important: sending in the application for the job you really want, or creating a system for tracking the applications you’ve been sending out? Well, they’re both important, but if having the job of your dreams makes your heart sing, send in the application first.

When I keep the focus on effectiveness, I quickly realize that efficiency often acts as a refuge, a way to avoid the discomfort of pushing into new territory. Effective actions tend to put me into contact with the world at large. My heart beats faster. I must face and master my fears. And it’s absolutely worth it. Effectiveness is forward movement.

What will move you unequivocally forward, toward the place you most want to be? Pick up the phone and make the call. Call again if you don’t connect the first time. Take the class. Ask the person you admire for advice. Call the counsellor you felt drawn to at the seminar and make an appointment. Show up. Finish the project. Take the vacation. Graduate. Write the article and mail it out. Attend the conference. Order the business cards. Pick them up. Hand them out. Submit your application to art school. Submit your art to the gallery. Start. Finish.

We sense the difference between effectiveness and efficiency. Think of your project or dream. Ask yourself what’s the most effective, forward-moving action you can take. You already know.

Flickr photo: Divers at Green Lake Beach, 1936, from the Seattle Municipal Archives.

Related reading: Hero Practice, Books | Joyful Self-Employment