© Elliot Essman 2005. All rights reserved.

These pages contain the complete text of Human Action, public speaking trainer Elliot Essman's philosophy of human achievement.

Elliot Essman Public Speaking Training
Human Action Table of Contents
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What are your contaminants, the things that sabotage your efforts? Everybody's got something. Procrastination is one of the biggies. Fear of failure and fear of success are a dangerous pair we commonly encounter. And then, of course, there are remnants of static thinking that cling so strongly to us that we might not even recognize them.

I have a friend whose fear of financial uncertainty was so great that it kept him back from expressing himself for years. He's a talented engineer, with managerial talent as well, but he couldn't make the jump to his own business even though he's suited for it ideally (except for the one fear that keeps him back). His parents grew up in the depression, and during his childhood the concept of job security was hammered home again and again until it became a major box. For years he expressed his drives in little side businesses, none of which went anywhere because he couldn't put enough time into them.

Finally my friend got lucky. He was “downsized.” His job evaporated. Out in the open, outside of the warm-walled career employment environment that kept the security fear alive and well, my friend's fear began to play a lesser role. With the important support of his wife (who had never been as security conscious as he), my friend used the money-raising talent he'd always had and started and succeeded in the business he could have managed years before. What it took was a shock, a little something to zap a nagging contaminant that spoils the brew.

I remember when I was in college hearing someone just a few years older tell me a similar story. The gist was this. He'd been fired. He steamed for a week in pain, rage and agony, soon got a new and better job with real career potential, and thereafter considered getting fired the best thing that ever happened to him.

A few years later I was fired from my own corporate job, the only time I've ever worked for anyone else in my life. Remembering what this man had said about being fired, I decided to skip the week of pain, rage and agony entirely. I guess I never had trouble with the fear of failure contaminant.

But I did have trouble with the “hey everybody I'm so smart” contaminant. What that meant was that I tried too early to do ambitious things I was not yet prepared for. I first needed business experience, interpersonal experience, leadership and communications experience. So circumstances kept me in a low level entrepreneurial position while I tried and failed scheme after outrageous scheme. I slowly learned from my mistakes, of course, filled in the holes and plugged the leaks in my brewing equipment, and got better at optimizing my talents.

Exercise: Contaminants:

• Find your contaminants. What controllable factors hold you back.

• Determine how these factors have spoiled your good brews in the past.

• Plan how to avoid such contaminants for future brews.