Efficacy

The first time I recall hearing this term it rolls off the tongue of a Professor of Illuminating Engineering in a capacious auditorium at the University of Illinois in the mid-1980s. The coursework for my interior design degree back in the day includes material of some substance, not just “coloring” as a not-so-kind acquaintance used to say.  The curriculum is quite technical, and fascinating at the same time.  I wish I could say I remember exactly its definition, but given that it’s been almost 30 years (eep!) since I’ve set foot in a university lecture hall, I’m leaning on the Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering at Penn State, where they define it as “the ratio of light output from a lamp to the electric power it consumes, measured in lumens per watt (LPW).”  Translated loosely into my words, it’s how effective a light source is relative to the energy it takes to emit the light.

As the bewitching hour on this last day of the year draws near, and we contemplate the resolutions we will declare at midnight, loudly (but for some maybe not so clearly), I’m thinking about change, and the energy we expend as we strive for transformation.

Resolutions fail to come to fruition because we burn out. We promise ourselves monumental change, and then expend enormous amounts of energy in the name of attaining it:   I’m not just talking about the physical energy required to take action, but the mental energy we burn trying to infuse new and foreign behaviors into our daily routines, and worse yet, the emotional energy as we listen to the voice in our heads berating us for lack of follow through. Most of us surrender without ever sustaining the outcome we’re desperate to reap.

I’m a self-described change agent.  This week I contemplate my success at the office this year, and over the past three years. A common theme materializes; each team I lead looks dramatically different today than when I started, yet without upheaval.  They’ve all been reshaped, slowly over time. Just as I have. I look at myself, who I was in April of 2012 when I wrote the very first post for this blog, and who I am now. No raging infernos, dynamite or explosives required, just a steady flame of conviction.

Transformation is about producing a desired effect.  It’s kind of scientific, too, because it’s also about producing a desired amount of that desired effect. It’s pretty normal to question whether we have the power or capacity to do this at all, yet alone with precision. So instead of taking it on ourselves, we make our success contingent. It’s easy to say our results are dependent on what others around us do.  And convenient to shift the blame when we don’t get the results we want.  We let the accountability reside anywhere but with us, because what does it say about us if we fail?

But here’s the thing, and it’s the same thing I’ve been saying over the course of the last 270 blog posts:  The power is within you. All you need to do is want it.  Someone else can’t want it for you, you can’t want it just because someone else does, and your success is not predicated on the presence of that someone you think you need around. You've got this.

I’m encouraging you to think differently about your resolutions this year. What is the change you want to make in your life for no one other than yourself?  This is the only resolution to make. It’s the only one guaranteed to increase your lumen output, and the very best one to make for those around you. Because when you burn brighter you make the world a better place.