Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

But as the story shows, true effectiveness is a function of two things: what is
produced (the golden eggs) and the producing asset or capacity to produce (the
goose).
If you adopt a pattern of life that focuses on golden eggs and neglects the
goose, you will soon be without the asset that produces golden eggs. On the
other hand, if you only take care of the goose with no aim toward the golden
eggs, you soon won't have the wherewithal to feed yourself or the goose.
Effectiveness lies in the balance -- what I call the P/PC Balance TM. P stands
for production of desired results, the golden eggs. PC stands for production
capability, the ability or asset that produces the golden eggs.
Three Kinds of Assets
Basically, there are three kinds of assets: physical, financial, and human.
Let's look at each one in turn.
A few years ago, I purchased a physical asset -- a power lawn mower. I used
it over and over again without doing anything to maintain it. The mower worked
well for two seasons, but then it began to break down. When I tried to revive it
with service and sharpening, I discovered the engine had lost over half its
original power capacity. It was essentially worthless.
Had I invested in PC -- in preserving and maintaining the asset -- I would
still be enjoying its P -- the mowed lawn. As it was, I had to spend far more time
and money replacing the mower than I ever would have spent, had I maintained
it. It simply wasn't effective.
In our quest for short-term returns, or results, we often ruin a prized physical
asset -- a car, a computer, a washer or dryer, even our body or our environment.
Keeping P and PC in balance makes a tremendous difference in the effective use
of physical assets.
It also powerfully impacts the effective use of financial assets. How often do
people confuse principal with interest? Have you ever invaded principal to
increase your standard of living, to get more golden eggs? The decreasing
principal has decreasing power to produce interest or income. And the dwindling
capital becomes smaller and smaller until it no longer supplies even our basic
needs.
Our most important financial asset is our own capacity to earn. If we don't
continually invest in improving our own PC, we severely limit our options.
We're locked into our present situation, running scared of our corporation or our
boss's opinion of us, economically dependent and defensive. Again, it simply
isn't effective.
In the human area, the P/PC Balance is equally fundamental, but even more
important, because people control physical and financial assets.