Personal Productivity and Life’s Activities

Personal productivity is the key to wellbeing, self-worth and contentment. 

Nothing will happen in the universe unless there is some energy applied to it and although that has been covered in earlier writings, what has not been covered is that for personal activity, a decision to do it must precede the activity. As far as I am aware a person’s activities, no matter what they are, have never been analysed by any other body of knowledge apart from Causism, but each activity is composed of four essential elements, namely the decision to do it, the commencement, perseverance and finally the recognition of completion. 

Causism’s definition of work: something that has to be done. Using this definition, if you do something by choice, not only will it be enjoyable, but it will not be ‘work.’ It is a pleasurable activity so that doing something you enjoy that earns you an income is the optimum way to live. 

The happiest people are those who have an interesting occupation. Most people need employment to earn the wherewithal to live and if you do not enjoy your occupation, well life will be a drudge. 

On the emotional scale of survival, at or near the top is Enthusiasm. As the word implies, people in this band exemplify joie de vivre, the joy of life. If they have nothing to do, they create something, be it an outing or a new project. Basically they are very active individuals. 

At the other end of the scale of survival sits boredom. At this level, a person has nothing to occupy them. They are immobile and sit around waiting for something to happen. Life is a drudge with no interests, no goals, and no constructive activity. This state can be transient, but too often it is chronic, where an individual only does what they are forced to do.

In the young particularly, it can lead to non-optimum behaviour that in its mildest form is called a mischief. Boredom, per se, is not the area addressed by this article. It can be handled of course, but with different techniques. It is only mentioned to give some reality to the value of personal production. 

The purpose of the production procedure is to create a person who operates to maximum personal ability in the areas of life, in which they operate, be it family relations, work, sport or hobbies. It is not an educational procedure. Its purpose is to address and enhance a person’s natural abilities so that they operate to their maximum potential without any undue effort. 

Production is the result of some activity so that the more active you are the more you produce. Activities can be either pro-survival or non-survival. A tragic, but extreme example of non-survival activities are those generated by Hitler. 

Hitler created the Nazi party that resulted in WW2 and saw the loss of millions of lives and the incredible destruction visited on the UK and Europe. 

Causism is devoted to optimum survival for all, so naturally, we are only interested in the pro-survival aspects of life, not non-survival, or destructive aspects. 

Every being is naturally optimistic and pro-survival, so as covered elsewhere, anything in a person’s makeup that is non-survival is the product of negative energies in their universe, which we call Negative Identities. Everything in a person’s make- up that they do not enjoy comes from a negative identity. The Mace Energy Method uses a series of simple mental exercises to eradicate them, as exemplified by our mission statement: To assist people to be in control of their own lives and live their own dreams. 

The basic principle behind the procedure is the scientific fact that nothing in this universe can be destroyed. To create a material object something else has to be destroyed. A down to earth example is that all wooden furniture involves the destruction of a tree. Another example is the making of an artillery shell that’s sole purpose is to destroy something belonging to the enemy. In doing so, it destroys itself!

Untold man-hours of creative mental and physical activity, plus enormous quantities of material resources were utilised to create the ultimate destructive weapon, the Atomic Bomb. When two atomic bombs were detonated over Japan, each destroyed a city. 

These statements are made to indicate that ‘creation’ and related ‘destruction’ is not a simple black and white concept. Tomes could be composed, especially if the concept of ‘right and wrong’ is included in the discussion, along with John Stuart Mills’s definition of ‘good’, which is “The greatest good for the greatest number”. 

Although nothing can be totally destroyed, you can change its nature, such as burning wood to create heat, or using electricity to give light via a light globe. A power station burns coal or oil to create heat, which in turn creates steam that turns a turbine that generates electricity, which in turn can create heat via a radiator. No matter how many examples you use, nothing in the universe can be destroyed completely. Even energy cannot be destroyed; you can only change its nature. 

The above paragraph is written to indicate that I am cognizant of the broader philosophic views, but it needs stating that Causism is only interested in pro-survival data. 

Using this principle the Mace Energy Method converts a non-survival, negative energy ridge, to a pro-survival, positive ridge by eliminating the negative element. 

As just stated we are interested in personal welfare and by extension, personal activities, so let us revisit and analyse personal activities. 

Every activity has four essential elements: 

1. The decision to do it;

2. Commencing it;

3. Persevering with it; and

4. Recognising its completion and then deciding to do something else, even if it is only to admire what has been achieved. 

Any of the four elements of activity, no matter what the activity is, are prone to a possible shortcoming. 

Some people are ditherers; they cannot make decisions, others are those who make decisions to do something but never get around to starting it. Another class is the person who cannot persevere; they leave an assortment of incomplete actions where ever they operate. The fourth element is, which is very subtle is best illustrated by a little story: 

A friend of mine was operating a small business and one day in my office for a social visit, the conversation drifted onto his business. Very rapidly I was listening to a tale of woe; there was nothing right about it. If it was not the staff, it was the customers, or the location, or the hours he had to work, or his suppliers. 

His demeanour surprised me because I knew him as being quite enthusiastic about life, very energetic and capable, and when buying the business he was all ‘gung ho’ about it, so after a little thought I said, 

“…… , when you bought that business what goal did you set yourself?”  “Oh, that is easy” he replied. “To double the income, but it’s more than double that now!” 

I was not surprised to hear that, because it was the sort of data I was looking for, so responded with the question, “……., are you still trying to double the income?” 

He looked at me for a moment without answering, and then his face lit up. He did not have to voice the answer, but to cut a long story short; his business was on the market within days. You see you cannot do what you have done. You can do it again, but you cannot keep doing it if it is done. If you attempt to do what you have already done, you very quickly feel emotionally down, as illustrated by my un-named friend. He had completely forgotten his goal or the decision he had made when buying the business. 

In practice, if he had graphed the business’s statistics, he would never have fallen into the trap that he did. 

Recognising the importance of this tendency, when using the production regimen on a client, we have a very simple but practical exercise to make this very real to them. 

A very important aspect is that if any of the above four elements are not completed it ties up some attention units. Let me explain. To carry out some action efficiently it requires that all your attention be devoted to it. The story related to the Anglo-Saxon King Alfred is a prime example of failing to do so. According to legend he was left to watch some cakes being cooked but did not have all his attention on the task and they burned. His host was not impressed! 

To explain the situation, let us assume that we, like King Alfred, are endowed with one hundred attention units but, but when we get distracted from an activity, as he undoubtedly was, we do not have all our attention units on the task at hand. If we now start another project and leave that incomplete also we have left some more attention units tied up there. Now, what happens when a person is unable to have the self- discipline to complete tasks? The more tasks they leave incomplete the more attention units they have tied up elsewhere, so their efficiency level is greatly reduced.

Consider the case of a person with a cluttered desk. In extreme cases they do not even have the essential, IN, OUT, PENDING SYSTEM, but if they do they’re ‘In Tray’ is never emptied. There is a letter there asking for a decision, but cannot decide what to do about it, so put it back in the ‘in-tray’ or maybe in the ‘pending tray’, while they think about it. Their ‘trays’ starts to overflow and more attention units are tied up on more incomplete actions. 

I used to offer a Time Management service that handled this tendency, but when I returned after some time, their desks were as cluttered as ever. Knowing what I now know, I would first help them clear up their backlog but then run the Productivity Procedure on them. 

Here is an exercise to emphasise the importance of finishing tasks. Recall how you felt after completing some task that you had kept putting off, but eventually got around to doing. The basic principle behind Causism’s Mace Energy Method is the scientific fact that you cannot destroy anything, not even energy; change its form yes! Destroy it no!

In this method, clumps of negative energy in an individual’s universe are transformed into positive clumps, which always produce pro-survival outcomes. These clumps are of course what we refer to as Negative Identities. In the process, we have destroyed Negativity and created in its place Positivity. This aligns with the concept that in this universe destruction is an essential component of creation. 

Some more on the 4 basic elements in all activities 

The word “activity” in the World Book Dictionary has several definitions or nuances, but all have their root in the word ‘act’ which is to do something. Life itself is a continuous series of acts, in other words, doing something, even if it is only sleeping. 

Naturally enough the variety of activities is numberless, in other words too numerous to list or catalogue. Some activities are non-survival, with using the hydrogen bomb sitting at the top of the list, but in Causism we are only interested helping people to survive better and an important tool towards that aim is the Activity Procedure. 

All activities, each and everyone, when analysed, are found to be composed of four basic and fundamental elements; Decision, Commence, Persevere and Finish. Many people have hang-ups in some of these aspects that impede their ability to live life in an optimum manner. 

DECISION

Making a decision is easy you may say and put that way it certainly is, but what if the decision involves parting with a lot of your hard-earned cash, or saving it, or whether in a more down to earth example, deciding whether to wash the car instead of having a snooze. Each decision, to do or not to do, should optimally be made after having weighed up the pros and cons. This procedure is not about any of the pros and cons or the whys or wherefores but simply about restoring any lost ability to make a clear-headed decision on issues that need to be made, instead of waffling. 

An inability to make a decision is the trademark of a waffler, someone who is happy for others to make decisions for them. They are definitely not in control of their own lives and able to live their own dreams, which is the aim of Causism for all. 

COMMENCEMENT

Many people, the inefficient ones that are, have a catalogue of decisions waiting to be activated because they have not reached the start phase. They keep putting off the commencement; they are what I refer to as the gunners. “I’m gunner (going to start) tomorrow.” Or “ I’m gunner do it soon, but not now”. There is always a reason why it can’t be done now, but these reasons are not problems of the physical universe, the reasons are locked up in their psyche. They keep putting things off, procrastinating. The procrastinator has a head full of good intentions and ideas that never see the light of day. His environment is often cluttered with visible evidence of this shortcoming. 

I will digress for a minute. I find myself thinking about my grandfather who lived with us for his final years. There was an incredible affinity between him and me; we would go window-shopping in hardware stores, even going to a church meeting, which bored me to tears, but I was still happy to accompany him. I remember coming home late from school one day. Where I went or what I did I do not remember, but getting home was not on my agenda and therefore was not very important.

I remember being met at the front gate by my sister with the abrupt greeting, “Grandpa is dead!” I was berated sometime later for not even crying, but getting home late from school became a pattern in my remaining school years. I must have driven my poor mother up the proverbial wall. In technical terms, I was procrastinating about the decision to start for home. This episode was the subject of a session some years ago when it became real to me that I was aware of his death while still at school that day and kept putting off going home to have the news of his passing confirmed. 

The above paragraph is an example of how hidden influences effecting decisions and behaviour can lay dormant effecting everyday life. 

PERSEVERANCE

This is the personality trait that drives a person to keep going no matter what the obstacles. It is the lack of perseverance that sees so many uncompleted tasks in some people’s environment. Visits to a friend many years ago is a good example of a lack of perseverance. On the first visit, I had to step over a vacuum cleaner on the floor. It was, what is now an old- fashioned horizontal cylinder type and that is why I had to step over it.

When I visited several days later I was confronted with the same routine of stepping over the vacuum cleaner in exactly the same position. The wife, a lovely person, but now deceased, allows me to use the incident to emphasise the effects of lacking the perseverance to complete tasks. She just could not persevere to complete things she had started. 

COMPLETION

This aspect of activities is more important than is perhaps realised and ties in with perseverance. In a nutshell, if you do not know you have finished a task, the tendency will be there to keep persevering until frustration or some similar emotion takes hold. A true-life experience will demonstrate this. I was taken to visit an artist and during the visit, I was shown an array of partly completed paintings, all in a variety of stages of not being a completed product. The reasons/and or justifications for their being so many unfinished works were numerous, but behind this was the inability to persevere to completion and then recognise the fact. 

Another aspect of this is an artist who is continually touching up painting because they are not satisfied with it. You could label such an artist as a perfectionist, maybe he is, but basically he is unable to complete an action. The optimum routine for a productive life is to recognise that you have completed a task or project, then, perhaps experience the satisfaction of having done so, before thinking about doing something else. 

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