The Efficiency Paradox

“You need to be efficient with everything you do!” – Random guru.

The reality is that if you think about things from start to finish, optimize to increase efficiency, many times you could have already completed the task by just doing it already without having to analyze the full process.

Longer tasks and/or repeated tasks should be done efficiently.

However, shorter tasks, especially non-repeatable ones, should just be done without any regard for efficiency.

Otherwise, efficiency will cripple you. The desire to do things right the first time, obsessing over perfectionism, and analysis paralysis are just the more commonly known negative slants on elements of efficiency.

Usually efficiency is a factor of time primarily more so than making the right vs wrong choice. It’s a way to deal with the process of going through with a decision. The decision to go from point A to B on a trip has been made, but how you go about it is where efficiency pops up mostly.

“I know how to lift a weight, but I’ll go to the gym after I learn a bit more about the best way to lift weights,” is the devil of efficiency cropping up.

Just get started, tweak as you go, and you’ll move faster.

What other things parade in your life as something good, like efficiency, but is actually secretly crippling you?