A machine may be made up of many gears, doing many things – the machine as a whole may have many functions. And yet, it may all be turning due to motive power applied to a single, central gear.
That’s you. You’re the central gear.
You’re the motive power; the gear that turns all the others. All the other functions of your life happen because of that central effort.
Now, if we look at a machine – a watch, a car, whatever – and it isn’t working, we might first check the motive power. Is it on? Is power being applied to the turning of the central gear?
If it is, then one of two things is wrong. The central gear might not be properly connected to other gears; it might be spinning freely, with nothing to catch its effort and power. Or there might be too many gears connected to the central one, such that they’re jamming each other up and working against one another.
The incredibly important point is this: neither of those problems are solved by applying more motive power to the central gear!
If the gear isn’t connected to anything, then spinning it faster isn’t going to do squat. And if it’s jammed, then applying more motive power is just likely to break something.
Reconfiguring is necessary. If you’re putting in your effort and you’re not getting results you want in your life, then you need to install different gears. Your goal shouldn’t be to change the way you’re spinning, either! You’re spinning just fine – but you might be hooked up to the wrong machine.
Take a look at the things you put effort into in a given week. How many of those things are being ignored or wasted? How many are generating secondary effects that are acting against you in some other way? Don’t change the amount of effort you put in until you’re sure that motive power is the problem.
It likely isn’t.
The Opportunity Machine 