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Authority: Effectiveness

personal development

Since authority is grounded in truth, this principle is immensely practical. Effectiveness is the true measure of authority. Sound decisions must be backed by intelligent action to generate real results. In order to increase your authority, you must consider two questions: Am I making the correct decisions? Am I taking the correct actions?

As you implement your command decisions, you must return again to the principle of truth. Observe the results you’re getting. Are they consistent with your predictions? Learn from your successes as well as your mistakes. Your mind will gradually improve its predictive accuracy when you face similar situations in the future. Experience is the best teacher of effectiveness.

Notice how elegantly the principles of truth and power work together to improve your personal effectiveness over time. First, you identify one of your desires and make a decision to move toward it. Then you use your predictive abilities to select a reasonable course of action. As you progress toward your goal, you need only identify the next action you predict will move you in the correct direction. You use your power to move yourself forward, one step at a time. Even as you take these microsteps, your predictive mind is always looking ahead, continually refining its selections and evaluating the results of the decisions you’ve already implemented.

Maybe you reach your goal; maybe you don’t. Either way, you experience a powerful gain. When you succeed, your successful predictions, decisions, and behaviors are reinforced. When you fail, your mind learns that its predictions were inaccurate, and it updates your model of reality to help prevent you from repeating the same mistakes. When you suffer from blocks to truth and power, this process won’t work perfectly, but you’ll still gain something from it.

Try to realize that failure is your friend. While it’s often disappointing to miss the goal you aimed for, there’s always a consolation prize. When you fail, you become smarter. You teach your mind to become better at prediction. This is an immensely powerful result.

You can’t expect to be competent when you tackle something new, but you can expect that you’ll improve over time. All you have to do is set a goal, make decisions that you think will lead you in the right direction, and keep taking action. Either you’ll succeed, or you’ll learn from your failures. If you fail a great deal, it just means you have more to learn before you’re ready to succeed.

Be willing to make decisions that may fail. Even though failure may have negative consequences, it also yields important positive results. It ultimately teaches you to succeed. You can’t be a true authority unless you commit to being a lifelong student.

* Source: Personal Development for Smart People by Steve Pavlina

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