The Best Self-Help is Free: Reason and the Decisional Component of Productivity

This is Chapter 7 of The Best Self-Help is Free, a treatise by Mr. Stolyarov. You can read all chapters of this freely available treatise here.

The productivity of a person is simply a matter of how much productive work he can accomplish. We can, however, separate this attribute into two components: the decisional and the quantitative. The decisional component of productivity entails properly resolving what is to be produced, whereas the quantitative component describes how much of it is produced. In order for productivity on a large scale to be possible, both the decisional and quantitative components need to be satisfactorily addressed. Otherwise, one might have a brilliant, insightful idea about what ought to be done but lack the means to carry it out - or, on the flip side, one might be equipped with all the skills and tools needed to achieve immense productivity but lack an understanding of the ends to which these assets can be effectively put.

In order to properly decide what ought to be produced, man can ultimately consult only one guide: his rational faculty. No matter how much external data or advice he seeks, it is ultimately his reason which must analyze this information and produce a conclusion regarding the most prudent course of action to be followed. Even if an individual relies greatly on the pronouncements of some other human authority, this reliance cannot result in sustained productivity unless he has reached an individual, rational conclusion regarding why this authority ought to be believed. Trusting a man's technical judgment because he is superbly knowledgeable in the given field can be a rational decision; trusting him because he claims divine inspiration, a gut feeling, or the sanction of the general will can only lead to a series of endeavors that are doomed to failure from the onset - perhaps punctuated by a scarce few accidental successes.