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 certainly looks good on paper. To test this mystical proposition, I wrote a short script that generates words between 2 and 12 characters long whose letter values add up to exactly 100, and then checks which of these words are found in a standard dictionary.
As expected, the script produced hundreds of valid words (see the short sample at the end of the post, showing results just for words starting with the letter A). However, it turns out that many of these words are not particularly 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 fundamentally misunderstand human performance—chiefly, that nothing in nature operates at 100% efficiency. In reality, an information worker achieving even 50% productivity is considered outstanding. As illustrated in the list below, this is a conservative estimate of the average daily activity breakdown for a typical information worker:
|
# |
Activity |
Time (Min) |
|
1 |
Checking out 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 |
Beverage preparation |
17 |
|
5 |
Mobile device maintenance |
23 |
|
6 |
Texting and IM |
14 |
|
7 |
Snacking |
8 |
|
8 |
Preparing food |
7 |
|
9 |
Calling partners and friends |
18 |
|
10 |
Looking for a new gig 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 |