After trying to define Personal Safety Nets® for a Human Resource Director, I looked into the eyes across the table from me. Of course, I knew Personal Safety Nets® (PSNs) are the resources we weave together to create a more caring, connected, and community-minded circle for ourselves, our friends, family, and workplace but apparently I had not succeeded in my effort to explain this. I interpreted total silence as evidence of confusion. A mission and goal that had become second nature to me seemed to be falling on deaf ears.

On the day in question, however, I thought I needed to act fast. I needed something to enhance my presentation. I needed practice and preparation, not just about facts and figures, but to make this entire subject understandable. My mind quickly focused on "effectiveness" - one of our core values. Were my actions and words adequate to accomplish a purpose and produce the intended or expected result? Was I providing a deep or vivid impression? I told a story.

Effectiveness wasn't in more definitions or in louder explanation of our goals. It consisted of making my presentation personal - focusing on real examples and personal stories - connecting to feelings and thoughts, and painting a picture that would unlock the path to clarity and get us both on the same page. It may sound simple, but focusing upon the right kind of effectiveness was going to, and did, make me much more successful.

This is counter to something I recently read on-line. "The pursuit of increased effectiveness in life is a somewhat illusive practice. The very act of working on being "more effective" consumes time and energy that might otherwise be spent on getting "important work" done . . . . People spend an imbalanced amount of time and money every day on the administration of their life - thinking about their long-term plans, short-term plans, goals, projects, to-do lists, schedule, personal mission statement, and the necessary rescheduling of tasks that weren't done today because the day was spent thinking about effectiveness." . . . Really?!

We don't think so! Planning and preparing are important, as with all things, within a reasonable framework. One of our goals at Personal Safety Nets® is to help you reject the idea that increasing your effectiveness is a waste of time. Our goal is to help you focus upon how to make your life better - beginning today, following a clearer, more organized, planned and knowledgeable path.

Thinking about effectiveness causes you to think about the framework of life that is both visible and invisible to your conscious mind. This is done through your efforts and those around you. The framework consists of daily contacts, practices, habits, paths, tools, methods, thought processes, mental patterns, and emotional cycles.What do you really want out of life? Are you planning for it? What may and can happen to you? Are you planning for the known, as well as preparing a solid base from which to encounter the unknown?

No matter how personal safety nets® are defined for you,Tools of Paintingthey will never mean much to you until the definition, meaning and use are personalized. Come visit our website, read some stories, see what others have done with the planned and unplanned events of their lives. Maybe then you'll see that your effectiveness can be more enhanced when you paint your own picture and gain control over the expected and unexpected results.