POWER PRINCIPLES - ALBERT ELISHA OBERDORFER

ALBE R T ELISHA OB ERD O RFER
POWER
PRINCIPLES
15 S i m p l e, D o-able L i f e H a c k s T h at W i l l
M a k e Y o u Mult i p l e T i m e s More Productive
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POWER PRINCIPLES.
PRINCIPLES are a kind of unwritten
laws.
They are universal truths.
They are what the law of gravity is in the
realm of physics.
Once we learn to work with those
principles, we will see their powerful
effects.
Modern aviation is built on identifying
aerodynamic principles and then applying
those principles in the design and use of
airplanes.
They work for everyone.
At all times.
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If you drop
a stone, it
falls. That’s
a universal
principle.
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It works for
everyone.
Everywhere.
All the time.
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Power
principles
are
fundamental
success
principles
that work
regardless.
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CONTENTS
POWER PRINCIPLES. 3
1 THE POWER OF FOCUS. 13
2 THE POWER OF WHY. 17
3 THE POWER OF A MISSION STATEMENT. 19
4 THE POWER OF AN ACTION PLAN. 21
5 THE POWER OF A DEADLINE. 23
6 THE POWER OF A CHECKLIST. 31
7 THE POWER OF THE PARETO PRINCIPLE. 33
8 THE POWER OF IMMEDIATE ACTION. 37
9 THE POWER OF A COMPLETED TASK. 41
10 THE POWER OF REPETITION. 47
11 THE POWER OF A MORNING ROUTINE. 49
12 THE POWER OF THE FLOW. 55
13 THE POWER OF THOUGHTS. 59
14 THE POWER OF WORDS. 61
15 THE POWER OF LOVE. 63
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Without a clear focus,
everything is blurry.

1 THE POWER OF
FOCUS.
Another word for focus is clarity.
It’s like you are looking through a lens,
and everything is blurry.
You would have a hard time in life if you
used a pair of glasses that is completely
blurry.
With that, nothing that you tried to do
would work.
Because you couldn’t see anything
clearly.
But if you have a clear focus, then
suddenly you will be able to understand
what you should be doing to reach your
goals.
So step one before doing anything is to
clarify your goals.
What is it that you would like to achieve?
What is it that you clearly want in life?
Experts repeatedly say that writing goals
down works best.
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“Shoot the ball
anywhere you want!”

It is not enough just to have some vague,
fuzzy goals that you are holding in your
head.
Goals should be written down.
The clearer we can be on our goals, the
higher the percentage that we will achieve
them.
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2 THE POWER OF WHY.
IF YOU’RE why is clear, then this will
help you when the going gets tough.
Having a clear why will help you to
motivate yourself to push through.
So, what’s your why?
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3 THE POWER OF A
MISSION STATEMENT.
THIS IS connected with goal setting.
We should have a written mission
statement that clarifies in words what
mission we see ourselves having in this
life.
The mission statement should be in line
with our core values, a set of values,
guiding principles that we base our life
on.
Our core values need to be in line with
who we are as a person.
So that we then do things in alignment
with who we are as a person.
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4 THE POWER OF AN
ACTION PLAN.
A GOAL without a corresponding action
plan is just a fantasy.
So once we have clarified our goals (in
writing), we then need to think about
what we can do to reach that goal.
This is called an action plan.
Our action plan needs to be aligned with
our goals.
Yummy!
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5 THE POWER OF A
DEADLINE.
DEADLINES help us to get work done.
Without any deadlines, probably very
little ever gets done.
The best are deadlines that have serious
consequences.
Like a deadline for submitting an
assignment.
When students get penalized for
submitting an assignment late, they will
do their best to keep the deadline.
If those penalties are spelled out, and then
also adhered to it works best.
A man named Cyril Parkinson once
postulated what has since become known
as Parkinson’s Law.
Parkinson’s Law says that tasks get done
according to the amount of time that is
allotted to them.
If you have a lot of time to do a task, that
is probably how long it will take you to
complete it.
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If you have very little time, you are most
likely to complete that task in that time.
I remember when I was joining a studentexchange
program at the University in
Newcastle, Australia.
I did a few Australian literature and film
study courses, including a course on 19th
century Australian literature.
To get our grades, we were assigned to
write a 2500 word paper on a particular
topic.
Most of the students, I included, started
writing their paper one day before it was
due.
This meant that most would write it
overnight, into the early hours of the day
when it was due.
A quick draft, and then a quick grammar
revision. That was all.
But this didn’t mean that the papers were
not good.
In one semester, I had to write two such
papers.
On the first one, I got an A, and on the
second paper, I got a B.
I only got the B on the second paper
because I submitted it a day late, and I lost
points because of that.
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Using this ‘technique,’ I got better a better
overall grade (a B+) in that class than
many of my Australian classmates.
Was it because I am so smart?
I don’t think so.
It was because I focused all my energy, all
my efforts whole-heartedly on writing that
paper, without any destruction.
I was totally focused on getting it done in
as little time as possible.
Because I had to.
This brings us back to Parkinson’s Law.
Imagine that there is a little fire that you
need to extinguish.
If the fire is still very little, we lack the
urgency to do it.
But the bigger the fire gets, the more
urgent it is that you extinguish it.
Until the fire is so big that you have to
extinguish it.
This is the same with deadlines.
The closer we get to a deadline, the more
compelling it gets to take action.
But the problem is when we don’t set any
deadlines.
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Stephen Covey, in his famous book, “The
Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’
noted that we can categorize tasks in this
way.
He suggested 4 baskets.
1) Urgent and important tasks. (Tasks that
we need to do anyhow.)
2) Urgent and unimportant tasks. (Tasks
that we should stay away from. In other
words, not do them.)
3) Not urgent but important tasks. (Tasks
that we should focus on.) And,
4) Not urgent and not important tasks.
(Tasks that we also shouldn’t do, as they
are classic time-wasters.)
So we focus on doing tasks in basket
number. Tasks that are important (that
potentially have hugely beneficial effects)
but are, and that is the problem, not
urgent.
How can we get ourselves to do those
tasks if we set no clear deadlines?
I think if we can come up with a clear
penalty and reward system, it may help
us to get going and to take the necessary
action.
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_________

6 THE POWER OF A
CHECKLIST.
WORKING from a checklist is timesaving
and makes us more productive.
That’s because if we spend time planning
a task, we can then carry it out more
effectively.
Because we are more focused.
We precisely know what we want.
It’s like when you go shopping.
If you spend time planning and writing it
down exactly what you need to buy, you
will be much more effective and efficient
when you are in the shop.
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7 THE POWER OF THE
PARETO PRINCIPLE.
WILFREDO PARETO was an Italian
economist who discovered what appears
to be a pervasive principle that operates
in all areas of life.
It is the law of the vital few versus the
trivial many.
It is also called the 80/20 principle.
In business, for example, 20 percent of
customers generate 80 percent of the
revenue.
Twenty percent of criminals commit 80
percent of the crimes.
Twenty percent of drivers cause 80
percent of all traffic accidents.
Twenty percent of employees are
responsible for 80 percent of the results.
And so on.
What this means is that before we are
doing a task, or when we come up with
our task list, we should be thinking ‘what
are the most important tasks.’
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We can write a 1) next to the most
important task and then proceed to do that
task first.
And after that, do the second most
important task.
And then the third most.
And so on.
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8 THE POWER OF
IMMEDIATE ACTION.
THERE is a notable success indicator.
People who take immediate action are
more likely to have overall success than
people who don’t.
Brian Tracy, a famous success teacher,
humorously refers to people who don’t
take immediate action as ‘someday islers.’
Those people would like to do something.
But before they actually do it, they take a
vacation on ‘someday isle.’
And on ‘someday isle’ they meet all those
someday islanders who spend all their
day taking about excuses whey they are
not doing things.
When we take immediate action on an
idea, there is always the possibility that
we can then adjust the course.
Or stop doing what we find is not
productive.
We can’t steer a boat that is mored to a
dock.
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We can only steer it once it is in motion.
The lesson in this is this.
To get anywhere, we ought to first get
going.
We can always adjust the course afterward
if need be.
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Pure bliss!

9 THE POWER OF A
COMPLETED TASK.
Brian Tracy, a famous motivational
speaker, puts it that way.
All success can be summed up in this
principle.
Successful people are people who know
how to complete tasks.
Not working on tasks but completing
tasks.
He rightly says that completing a task
makes us feel good.
That’s because
when we complete
a task, we feel like
a winner who has
crossed the finish
line.
DOPAMINE.
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And whenever we finish a task, the
brain releases a chemical that is called
dopamine.
We feel good.
So we become addicted to completing
tasks.
We become addicted to succeeding.
But we need to learn to manage our phone
use.
Because for that same reason, cell phones
are so disruptive.
Every time a ‘bling’ comes on, and a
new message pops up, and we respond to
this new stimulus, the brain also releases
dopamine.
The feel-good drug.
But the problem with this is that every
time we respond to this stimulus, our
attention is broken.
And it takes us 15 minutes to get back to
what were doing before.
So, to be able to do things successfully,
we need to learn how to control our
mobile phone usage.
The reason why people are addicted to
their phones is this.
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Every dopamine rush gives you a little high.
And you keep wanting more of it because
your tolerance level keeps increasing.

Every time people respond to the stimulus
on their phone, they get a dopamine rush.
They get a little high.
And it is like with any addiction.
Their tolerance level increases.
So they need to have more of it, to
experience that same excitement.
That’s why mobile phone use is so
addictive.
To break that addiction, people need to
learn how to go on a dopamine detox.
By putting their phones away for a certain
period of the day.
Otherwise, mobile phones severely curb
people’s productivity levels.
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10 THE POWER OF
REPETITION.
BRUCE LEE once made this famous
statement.
“ I fear not the man who has practiced
10,00 kicks once, but I fear the man who
has practiced one kick 10,00 times.”
There is power in repetition.
This is how we achieve mastery in a
subject.
And this is how we form habits.
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11 THE POWER OF A
MORNING ROUTINE.
“MORGENSTUND hat Gold im Mund.”
This is a German proverb.
It literally means ‘Morning hours have
gold in the mouth.’
An equivalent English proverb says, “The
early bird catches the worm.”
There is something special about morning
hours.
If we can learn to harness the power of the
morning by using it to focus on our most
important tasks first.
Just by adhering to a straightforward
principle, we can become multiple times
more productive.
Use the most valuable time in the morning
to focus on your most important tasks first.
In other words, don’t waste the precious,
valuable morning time on trivial things
such as checking your social networking
accounts.
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THERE IS
SOMETHING
SPECIAL ABOUT
MORNING
HOURS.
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Establishing a mourning routine can help
you to get focused on what is essential.
I start the day with prayer.
I know of people who start their day with
a set of songs
that give them
encouragement and
lifts them up.
I know of one
person whose
favorite song is
Edelweiss.
Whatever it is that
centers you, that encourages you, that lifts
you up.
So that you can start your day with
positivity, courage, and hope.
“Edelweiss, Edelweiss
Every morning you greet me
Small and white clean and bright
You look happy to meet me
Blossom of snow, may you bloom and
grow
Bloom and grow forever
Edelweiss, Edelweiss
Bless my homeland forever.”
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12 THE POWER OF THE
FLOW.
YOU ARE more likely to get in a flow
state if you can focus on a task for an
extended period without interruption.
That’s why are the constant sound alerts
of a mobile phone so disruptive.
They will severely impact your
productivity level.
If you let it.
So to get into a flow state—a state where
you can totally focus on the task in front
of you, where you are entirely focused—
you need to control your circumstances.
Shut the door to your workroom if you
have to.
Put a ‘Do not disturb’ sign on the
doorknob.
Enable the do not disturb mode (the moon
sign) on your iPhone.
Put your phone in flight mode.
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Do whatever you need to do so that you
can focus on the task in front of you
without interruption.
This will do wonders for your productivity
and ability to focus.
When you get into the flow state, you
will find that you can do things almost
effortlessly.
You will find that time seems to stand still,
and looking back, you will be amazed
how quickly hours have passed that you
were focused on a task.
You will find that you are more creative
in this state and that the mental clutter in
your head will have subsided enormously.
This is the power of the flow state.
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13 THE POWER OF
THOUGHTS.
THOUGHTS ARE powerful.
They make us.
They drive our emotions.
If we can change the way we think, we
can change the way we feel.
To start a day productively, find
something you can be grateful for.
There is power in thankfulness.
Whatever our situation is that we are in
right now, we can always find something
we can be thankful for.
Once we do that and focus on what we are
thankful for, our emotions will adjust.
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14 THE POWER OF
WORDS.
WORDS HAVE enormous power.
They create.
This is why it is crucial what we say.
Because we will get what we say.
The bible clearly recognizes this.
In Proverbs, King Solomon, the wisest
king to ever live apart from Jesus Christ,
states, “Death and life are in the power of
the tongue, and those who love it will eat
its fruit.” (Proverbs 18:21)
This means that words shape our reality.
We need to be extremely careful to declare
good things over our lives.
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15 THE POWER OF
LOVE.
LOVE is the most potent force in the
universe.
In fact, love is what holds this universe
together.
It was created in love.
To be successful in life, we need to align
ourselves with love.
If we do things in love, because of love,
we will find that there is an incredible
positive force behind it.
On the contrary, if we do things from a
place of negativity, not from a place of
love, we are being driven by a destructive
force.
The greatest description of love can be
found in the bible.
Paul, the great apostle, talks characterizes
what love is in a letter called 1
Corinthians.
In the thirteenth chapter of that letter, he
defines love in the following terms.
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“Love suffers long, and is kind; love does
not envy; love does not parade itself, is
not puffed up;
Does not behave rudely, does not seek its
own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;
Does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in
the truth;
Bears all things, believes all things, hopes
all things, endures all things.
Love never fails. ...” (verses 4-8)
Yet, we cannot give something that we
don’t have.
So to operate in that kind of love, we first
need to receive it.
And what is the source of this kind of
love?
Where can we find this kind of love?
There is a fascianting real-life story
of a Harvard neurosurgeon, D. Eben
Alexander. 1
This man experienced a near-death
experience due to an E. coli meningitis
infection.
The infection induced a week-long coma
and shut down the entire cortex of his
brain, which is the part of the brain that
gives us consciousness.
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Yet while his brain was in this comma
state, he experienced God as the center
and source of love.
The kind of love, Paul described before.
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Power Principles: 15 Simple Do-Able Life Hacks That
Will Make You Multiple Times More Productive
Copyright 2020 © Albert L. Oberdorfer
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted,
in any form or by any means, electronical, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the
written permission of the author.
PICTURE CREDITS
Unless otherwise stated all images are courtesy of
Pexels.com. and Pixabay.com. The image on the back
cover is from the author. Any inadvertent omissions can
be rectified in future editions.
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Endnotes
1 See Eben Alexander, ‘Proof of Heaven: A
Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife.’
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