Book Review: The Problems Of Work - Scientology Applied to The Workaday World by L Ron Hubbard
The Problems Of Work - Scientology Applied To The Workaday World was written by L.
Ron Hubbard as he travelled from the USA to England aboard the Queen Mary ship in 1955.
It was written as a basic book of Scientology theory for any person to understand and apply to their work life.
The book goes over such topics as the Anatomy of Confusion.
We have all been confused in work and life.
Some people are able to handle confusion better than others.
Here is the way to get out from any confusion at work.
The example given is of a telephone operator who all of a sudden finds there are too many calls and does not know what to do.
She gets confused.
So to correct the confusion, she selects one call and answers it, and then selects the next call, and has her own methodology on how to select them.
She may select those calls on the right hand side of the board first and work across, or she may have another method of putting order into the confusion.
It does not seem to matter if the way of putting order into the confusion is correct or not, just so long as there is a methodology in doing it.
The confusion will vanish.
There is also the famous Scientology rule or law on how to get more understanding.
The book explains that there is a triangle with three components of understanding on each corner.
These components are affinity, reality and communication.
Affinity is liking something, in one of varying degrees.
Reality is what people agree upon.
And communication is pretty obvious.
The law here is, that to gain understanding from someone, all you have to do is raise one corner of the triangle.
That is, raise communication, reality or affinity with that person.
You can simply like the person more, or find what is between you that you can agree upon, or just spend more time talking.
Doing any of these will bring about more understanding.
This one chapter is probably the most important part of the book and if someone were to read the book for this single chapter alone, it would be worthwhile.
Then there is the fundamental rule on how to turn "bad control" into good.
We have all experienced bad control.
Well, what makes bad control, bad? Here is an example.
Who has been told to do something, and then before it was done, is told to do something else, and before that was done, told to do another thing instead again? As a subordinate, this drives you mad at the executive who does it to you.
Next is the Secret of Efficiency.
Executives should read this chapter, and it really does explain how to be a better boss.
There are eight chapters in the book, each one dealing with separate principles or laws which apply to every endeavour of work and life.
Another of these laws is the most fundamental law of work, and living, the Doctrine of the Stable Datum.
Here is what enables a person to learn a job fast, as distinct from a person who is slow to learn.
We have all seen people who find it hard to learn on the job, and likely we have all experienced it ourselves.
Here you are encouraged to find something that is very basic that a person can grasp about the job, learn that well, and from there all other learning should grow.
Well, this is a simple way to speed up training.
So, for the trainer this book is a very useful tool to read in greater detail.
The last chapter of the book covers the rock bottom cause of exhaustion.
Who has not been exhausted at work? The book goes over what causes it, how people then bring this exhaustion back to their homes, disrupt the family.
The book also explains how to get rid of, not only the exhaustion, but any upset it may have generated.
The Problems of Work is a great beginning book on Scientology and is written expressly for those who want to apply it in their lives at work.
After all, work is the biggest component of living.
The book also goes over why we need work, and why work is personally giving each of us a purpose.
The Problems Of Work comes with a good lengthy glossary and it comes with sketches through each chapter.
So instead of wondering why some people get work and hang onto it, and why others seem to fail, even though they have more talent and qualifications, read this book.
It will solve many of the riddles and mysteries of work.
It is available in many libraries and was reprinted recently with a very aesthetic cover.
The book is available in most libraries and comes in hard bound, soft cover and audio book versions.
Ron Hubbard as he travelled from the USA to England aboard the Queen Mary ship in 1955.
It was written as a basic book of Scientology theory for any person to understand and apply to their work life.
The book goes over such topics as the Anatomy of Confusion.
We have all been confused in work and life.
Some people are able to handle confusion better than others.
Here is the way to get out from any confusion at work.
The example given is of a telephone operator who all of a sudden finds there are too many calls and does not know what to do.
She gets confused.
So to correct the confusion, she selects one call and answers it, and then selects the next call, and has her own methodology on how to select them.
She may select those calls on the right hand side of the board first and work across, or she may have another method of putting order into the confusion.
It does not seem to matter if the way of putting order into the confusion is correct or not, just so long as there is a methodology in doing it.
The confusion will vanish.
There is also the famous Scientology rule or law on how to get more understanding.
The book explains that there is a triangle with three components of understanding on each corner.
These components are affinity, reality and communication.
Affinity is liking something, in one of varying degrees.
Reality is what people agree upon.
And communication is pretty obvious.
The law here is, that to gain understanding from someone, all you have to do is raise one corner of the triangle.
That is, raise communication, reality or affinity with that person.
You can simply like the person more, or find what is between you that you can agree upon, or just spend more time talking.
Doing any of these will bring about more understanding.
This one chapter is probably the most important part of the book and if someone were to read the book for this single chapter alone, it would be worthwhile.
Then there is the fundamental rule on how to turn "bad control" into good.
We have all experienced bad control.
Well, what makes bad control, bad? Here is an example.
Who has been told to do something, and then before it was done, is told to do something else, and before that was done, told to do another thing instead again? As a subordinate, this drives you mad at the executive who does it to you.
Next is the Secret of Efficiency.
Executives should read this chapter, and it really does explain how to be a better boss.
There are eight chapters in the book, each one dealing with separate principles or laws which apply to every endeavour of work and life.
Another of these laws is the most fundamental law of work, and living, the Doctrine of the Stable Datum.
Here is what enables a person to learn a job fast, as distinct from a person who is slow to learn.
We have all seen people who find it hard to learn on the job, and likely we have all experienced it ourselves.
Here you are encouraged to find something that is very basic that a person can grasp about the job, learn that well, and from there all other learning should grow.
Well, this is a simple way to speed up training.
So, for the trainer this book is a very useful tool to read in greater detail.
The last chapter of the book covers the rock bottom cause of exhaustion.
Who has not been exhausted at work? The book goes over what causes it, how people then bring this exhaustion back to their homes, disrupt the family.
The book also explains how to get rid of, not only the exhaustion, but any upset it may have generated.
The Problems of Work is a great beginning book on Scientology and is written expressly for those who want to apply it in their lives at work.
After all, work is the biggest component of living.
The book also goes over why we need work, and why work is personally giving each of us a purpose.
The Problems Of Work comes with a good lengthy glossary and it comes with sketches through each chapter.
So instead of wondering why some people get work and hang onto it, and why others seem to fail, even though they have more talent and qualifications, read this book.
It will solve many of the riddles and mysteries of work.
It is available in many libraries and was reprinted recently with a very aesthetic cover.
The book is available in most libraries and comes in hard bound, soft cover and audio book versions.