You may have seen this motivational masterpiece. It’s a favorite among performance consultants.
It goes as follows:
IF
|
A |
B |
C |
D |
E |
F |
G |
H |
I |
J |
K |
L |
M |
N |
O |
P |
Q |
R |
S |
T |
U |
V |
W |
X |
Y |
Z |
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
25 |
26 |
THEN:
|
K |
N |
O |
W |
L |
E |
D |
G |
E |
|
|
11 |
14 |
15 |
23 |
12 |
5 |
4 |
7 |
5 |
96% |
AND:
|
H |
A |
R |
D |
W |
O |
R |
K |
||
|
8 |
1 |
18 |
4 |
23 |
15 |
18 |
11 |
98% |
Both are important, but fall just short of 100%
BUT…
|
A |
T |
T |
I |
T |
U |
D |
E |
||
|
1 |
20 |
20 |
9 |
20 |
21 |
4 |
5 |
100% |
So the moral of the story is that if you have the right attitude, you will achieve 100% of your potential. It sure looks great on paper. To test the mystical proposition, I’ve written a short script to first create words that are between 2-12 character long that add up to the value of 100 and then find which of these is found in a dictionary.
As might be expected, the script generated hundreds of valid words (see the short sample at the end of the post just for the letter A). It turns out that many of them are not very motivational.
|
A |
N |
E |
U |
R |
I |
S |
M |
||
|
1 |
20 |
20 |
9 |
20 |
21 |
4 |
5 |
100% |
|
A |
S |
B |
E |
S |
T |
O |
S | ||
|
1 |
19 |
2 |
5 |
19 |
20 |
15 |
19 |
100% |
The problem with all of these leadership gimmicks is that they fail to understand the fundamentals of human performance, chiefly that nothing in nature functions at 100% efficiency. In reality, any information worker productivity in the 50% range is outstanding. As you can see from the list bellow, this is a conservative average daily activity breakdown of a typical information worker:
|
# |
Activity |
Time (Min) |
|
1 |
Checking social media |
44 |
|
2 |
Reading news websites & checking out ecommerce site like Amazon |
65 |
|
3 |
Visiting and discussing non-work-related activity with colleagues |
40 |
|
4 |
Making hot drinks |
17 |
|
5 |
Smoking or doing some mobile device maintenance |
23 |
|
6 |
Texting and instant messaging |
14 |
|
7 |
Snacking |
8 |
|
8 |
Preparing food in the office |
7 |
|
9 |
Calling partners and friends |
18 |
|
10 |
Looking for a new job and or doing some LinkedIn “maintenance” |
26 |
|
Total |
262 |
|
So about 4.3 hours of every 8 hour day are non-productive. If you still have any doubts, feel free to consult Frederick Brooks’ Mythical Man-Month.
|
Word |
Letter Values |
Sum |
|
Abrogative |
1 + 2 + 18 + 15 + 7 + 1 + 20 + 9 + 22 + 5 |
100 |
|
Acromegaly |
1 + 3 + 18 + 15 + 13 + 5 + 7 + 1 + 12 + 25 |
100 |
|
Affectation |
1 + 6 + 6 + 5 + 3 + 20 + 1 + 20 + 9 + 15 + 14 |
100 |
|
Alienation |
1 + 12 + 9 + 14 + 5 + 1 + 20 + 9 + 15 + 14 |
100 |
|
Anchoritic |
1 + 14 + 3 + 8 + 15 + 18 + 9 + 20 + 9 + 3 |
100 |
|
Anglophobia |
1 + 14 + 7 + 12 + 15 + 16 + 8 + 15 + 2 + 9 + 1 |
100 |
|
Anorchism |
1 + 14 + 15 + 18 + 3 + 8 + 9 + 19 + 13 |
100 |
|
Aryanism |
1 + 18 + 25 + 1 + 14 + 9 + 19 + 13 |
100 |
© Copyright 2017 Yaacov Apelbaum, All Rights Reserved.