Take Charge of Your Life
You cannot succeed if you are confused. Your education, skills and experience are made useless by confusion.
For example, you want to earn more money. So you take a computer class and learn to use Microsoft Office software. You gain the education to earn more pay, but because you are confused about what to now do, you do nothing.
Every failure starts with a confusion.
As another example, you want to raise your teenage boy to be happy and successful. One day, you find strange pills and marijuana in his room. You want to punish him, but you still hate your parents for punishing you. So you become confused and ineffective.
Confusion makes you stop and worry. It spins you around and stops your progress.
If your boss says, "You're fired!" or your spouse says, "I want a divorce," the confusion can wipe you out for weeks.
Confusion makes you give up your goals. You decide you can't start a business, have a happy marriage or get rich. You "accept reality," keep your dead-end job and just hope for the best.
Confusion and the Stable Datum
In Chapter Two of his book The Problems of Work, L. Ron Hubbard shows how you can solve confusions by simply grasping one part of the confusion.
"The switchboard operator receiving ten calls at once solves the confusion by labeling, correctly or incorrectly, one call as the first call to receive her attention. The confusion of ten calls all at once becomes less confusing the moment she singles out one call to be answered.
"Until one selects one datum*, one factor*, one particular* in a confusion of particles, the confusion continues. The one thing selected and used becomes the stable datum for the remainder." -- L. Ron Hubbard, (*Datum: one fact or piece of information. Factor: element or ingredient. Particular: a single thing; separate and distinct).
Example: Your first job was working at Tom's Car Repair Shop. When Tom retires, the shop goes out of business. You feel confused as you've never had another job. Your head spins with too many thoughts. You sit at home and worry.
So you select one thing as your stable datum: "I am a great mechanic. I can fix anything." You suddenly relax. Your head stops spinning. "I'm a GREAT MECHANIC!"
Because you feel less confused and more confident, you get a great job fixing airplanes at United Airlines.
No matter what confusion is blocking your success, the "Confusion and Stable Datum" technique can clear your mind and help you take positive action.
Three Easy Steps
You can use this technique in many ways. For example:
1. Write down a problem, situation or project that is on your mind. It can be anything that is difficult, disorganized or confusing.
2. Write down the result you wish to accomplish.
What is the optimum conclusion? If everything goes well, what will happen with this problem, situation or project? What would make you feel you resolved the problem or completed the project?
3. Finally, write down the NEXT PHYSICAL ACTION STEP you need to take. This is your stable datum.
What can you do? What act will move you closer to the optimum condition? If you had nothing else to do besides work on this project, what single thing would you do?
"Schedule a meeting" is too vague. Instead, be specific. Examples: "Tell Jackson to find the Smith file." "Watch the training video." "Buy a box of folders." "Make ten calls by noon." "Clean out the closet." "Train Nancy to answer the telephone politely."
Selecting a specific action puts you in charge. You feel some control of the situation. You don't even need to do the action; just working it out gives you a stable datum and blows off the confusion.
For example, your finances are a mess. You do not know how much money you have or who you owe. Your bills do not get paid on time. You are so worried and confused, you avoid the problem.
You take one minute and write down the following:
1. "Situation: My finances are a confused mess."
2. "Objective: Organize my finances so I pay my bills properly."
3. "Action Step: Before doing anything else, go to the bank and open a new checking account."
Suddenly, your head clears up. You no longer worry about the big confusion; you just focus on opening a new bank account. You select a stable datum and stop the confusion.
Any action step can act as the stable datum: "Buy a calculator." "Put all my bills in one folder." "Cut up my credit cards." The action step does not need to be the BEST action step for this principle to work; any action step or any stable datum is fine.
You have correctly selected a stable datum when the confusion blows off.
Benefits
* Working out a stable datum for the confusion helps you organize your thoughts. You free up your attention so you can focus on other things.
* As soon as you have time to work on the project, you have a starting point. You can focus on one specific act, not a big cloudy mess.
* You feel less stress and more confidence.
* You feel motivated and energized to take action.
* You are one step closer to your goals and ultimate success.
Before you do anything else today, try the above three steps on your biggest problem, distraction, or confusion.
Copyright © 2021 TipsForSuccess.org. All rights reserved. Grateful acknowledgment is made to L. Ron Hubbard Library for permission to reproduce selections from the copyrighted works of L. Ron Hubbard.
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