© 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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And in life we must remain balanced, within a relatively narrow range of emotional temperatures and energy and activity levels. If you have a great day skiing, you may feel wonderful but still want to warm yourself up afterwards. After a great summer jog you'll cool off and re-hydrate yourself. So it's important to keep the concept of human integration in mind. We use walls to help us when we need structure. We break through them when they get in the way. We eradicate limiting beliefs and mental contaminants so our creative spirits can soar free to dream and create, but we then come down to earth and get down to the nuts and bolts of achieving our goals. We are constantly balancing the biological and trans-biological forces within us.

This “temperature” concept covers important human areas such as moods, energy-levels, resource allocation, goal-setting and, especially, time-utilization. When I get ideas, I often have the problem that I get too excited to even write them down. I carry a portable dictating machine for just this reason. It's a real pain to transcribe all my thoughts word for word, but I do it later on when my head is a little cooler. Some time ago, something happened that made me very hurt and bitter. But I knew then that my temperature was too high. I resisted the urge to pick up the telephone and vent my anger. I knew the right thing was to just move on. I spent a miserable silent day alone. But then what happened no longer heated me up. I no longer wanted to tell anyone about it and I was glad I hadn't when I had been all steamed up.

In the same way, when I go through the joy of conceiving large projects with what I consider great ideas, I don't rush out and tell everybody I know. I wait for cooler times.

You have your own temperature range, mood range, and excitement range within which you operate most effectively. You can gradually expand your range so you can run hotter and still be effective. But knowing your range, and learning to work within it and get satisfying things done, is essential if you want to end up with a fine tasting, full bodied and well balanced brew.

Exercise in Personal Temperature

On a piece of paper, draw a fever thermometer with a degree scale and make a few dozen photocopies. At set times during the day, on impulse and without thinking, mark your emotional “temperature” on the sheets. Chart your “temperatures” this way over the course of a week or two. You should begin to get a better handle on when optimum times will be for you to go forward with projects, and when you are too supercharged or not charged enough to work effectively.