Have you ever walked into a restaurant and noticed one individual scurry around like a ball of pent up inexhaustible energy? That person is usually the entrepreneur, the proprietor, the chief cook and bottle washer. The question I am posing today is “does that nervous energy benefit or hinder the business?”
Perpetual motion does not always equal effectiveness. I fully realize that some people just “need” to keep moving. They are the same who feel sleep is a loss of the perishable asset time. Does all that movement translate into effectiveness? The contention that I am making in this discussion is that perpetual motion hinders big picture thinking. Without the panoramic view of processes one tends to continually put out fires rather than determine how best to avoid the fire. The goal should be to do as much as possible and no more. Brian Tracy calls this the Military Principle of Objective:” where you bring to bear of the resources necessary to accomplish an objective and no more”.
Brian also encourages movement:
“When you become an action-oriented person, you activate the "Momentum Principle" of success. This principle says that although it may take tremendous amounts of energy to overcome inertia and get going initially, it then takes far less energy to keep going.
Increase Your Energy
The good news is that the faster you move, the more energy you have. The faster you move, the more you get done and the more effective you feel. The faster you move, the more experience you get and the more you learn. The faster you move, the more competent and capable you become at your work.”
However the movement Brian describes is different from the boundless energy of just being busy.
Successful individuals accomplish much because they have boundless energy directed at the most productive functions. Effectiveness trumps perpetual motion every time.
