An awful lot of time-management techniques show an obsession with efficiency. And being efficient – getting tasks done quickly – is certainly important. But efficiency for its own sake is worthless.

Sure, you could spend three hours implementing a new system that lets you automatically tag every email as it comes in. But I doubt that you’re going to look back in ten years’ time and say, “Wow, my inbox was always so well organized.”

If you pay too much attention to efficiency, you might actually become less effective. You’ll stop focusing on the things that really matter – the “great work” in your life, the projects that really would make a difference in ten years’ time.

Here’s how efficiency is damaging:

Playing the Numbers Game

Efficiency tends to reduce everything to numbers:

• How many emails did you answer this morning?
• How many words can you type per minute?
• How long did you take to make those phone calls?

Now, I’ll be the first to agree that paying attention to metrics can help you with your time management. But not everything can be reduced to a number. For instance:

• What about that long, heartfelt email from an old friend? Should you try to answer that in under two minutes?
• What if you’re writing the copy for your company’s new product? Is it better to knock it out as fast as possible – or to take the time to make it really good?
• How about that potential client who had a lot of questions? Should you cut them short to get all your calls done – or spend the time because you’re hoping that they’ll put in a big order?

Change It:

Cut yourself some slack, and remember that there are many situations that can’t be reduced to numbers. When you’re interacting with other people (clients, colleagues, friends or family), try to honor them as important and worthy of your time … don’t just think about the results you might get from them or the time that you’re spending.

Shying Away From Challenges

Becoming obsessed with efficiency can make us cowardly. If you’re focused on being as efficient as possible – getting through tons of work, never making mistakes – then you’ll be afraid to take on new challenges.

When we tackle something new, we might fail – or only partially succeed. We make mistakes, or do things badly. But this is how we learn and grow. Taking on that new project at work might give you the confidence to ask for a raise, chase a promotion or even change careers. Tackling something new at home – like learning to cook – might take time and involve some initial hiccups, but it could open up a whole new source of joy in your life.

Change It:

Try saying “Yes” to one new opportunity this week. Don’t dismiss it because you think it could be a waste of time, or because you’re worried you won’t do it very well.

Inability to Enjoy Life

Efficiency doesn’t have much to say about relaxing, recharging and simply having fun. Sure, you’ll come across some tips along the lines of “take frequent breaks so you can focus better while you’re working” – but you won’t find much that helps you really live a richer life.

People who become obsessed with efficiency can become rather joyless. They might find it hard or impossible to “switch off”. They may be constantly worrying about the utility of a particular aspect of their life. Efficiency says “keep doing more.”

On a broader level, focusing too much on efficiency may mean that you ignore what you really want from life. You might be keen to take a sabbatical or make a substantial commitment of time or energy as a volunteer. You might want to change to a new career that you’d love – but that would bring in less money.

Change It:

Instead of trying to be efficient, think about being effective. How can you make a difference in the world? What would you really love to do with your life?

Of course, efficiency does have a role to play. If you’re doing work that you enjoy, you’ll want to do it well. You’ll also have chores to complete that might not be fun or fulfilling, but which need to get done – and so you’ll want to find ways to get these out of the way as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Be careful, though, to keep efficiency in its place. Don’t let it become an end in itself – just a means of supporting the rest of your life.

How efficient – or effective – are you? Share your thoughts in the comments…

Don’t Forget To Follow PickTheBrain on Twitter!

Related Articles:

The 21 Habits of Healthy People

The Benefits of Meditation

Are you the sort of person who gets really fired up and excited by new ideas, who dives straight in … and who then loses enthusiasm and ends up with dozens of half-finished projects all on the go at the same time?

If so, I can sympathize! In the past, I’ve had all sorts of works-in-progress – like novels, craft projects, self-study courses, ebooks – on the go. I tend to jump on new things with lots of energy, only to find that I’ve taken on too much to cope with.

Of course, you’ll probably know all the drawbacks of having lots of partially-completed projects hanging around. If your projects are ones which pay (like articles, ebooks, websites), then you’re not making any money because nothing’s finished. If your projects are related to a hobby, particular a crafty one, you’ll probably find that you’re using up a lot of physical space. And in almost every cases, half-done projects take up mental space.

I’ve learnt that there are three key options for dealing with projects that are lurking in an unfinished stage. They are:

• Ditch That Project – Completely
• Salvage What You Can
• Decide to Finish It

Here’s how to know which option to pick, and how to go about it.

Ditch That Project – Completely

Sometimes, you start something and – for whatever reason – you lose interest. I’ve started learning several programming languages, only to give up in the early stages. You might have begun knitting a sweater, learning a language or creating a website, only to find you’re not enjoying it much.

Momentum coach Charlie Gilkey characterises these projects as “dead”. That might sound brutal, but sometimes you need to be brutal with cutting down the amount that your brain is trying to cope with:

Why have a dead category? Because some projects are neither completed, on hold, nor active. A perfect example is a project that you’ve decided to abandon. It’s important to know what’s in your project graveyard so you don’t keep trying to work on it. This category gives you hard edges; hard edges can save your sanity.

(Charlie Gilkey, Stop Shuffling and Start Creating, Productive Flourishing)

If you realise that you simply have no interest left in a project, make your mind up and ditch it. You’re not taking any action on it anyway – you might as well make that a conscious decision.

You’ll probably want to:

• Give away, recycle or throw out materials related to the project
• Contact anyone else involved to let them know
• Resist the urge to take on anything extra to replace this dead project – you know you don’t have the time for it!

Salvage What You Can

Sometimes, you’ve lost enthusiasm for a project but you still want some sort of useful outcome. In many cases, it’s possible to salvage something from the work, time and money that you’ve already put in.

For example, if you started writing a 100-page ebook and only got 20 pages done, you might not want to ditch that project completely. How about using those 20 pages as a series of blog posts or newsletter articles?

If your project involves academic or professional qualifications, it might be worth pressing on until you’ve completed a particular stage or until you’ve got the credits for your current module.

When you’re looking at salvaging a part-finished project, try:

• Finding the next point at which you can have something complete (even if it’s not what you originally intended)
• Selling back any materials involved
• Potentially handing over a part-finished project to someone else to complete

Decide to Finish It

If you can’t bear to abandon your project and if you can’t salvage it part way, then make up your mind to finish it – and really commit yourself to this. You’ll want to:

Set a Deadline

In some cases, you’ll have external reasons for a deadline. Often, you’ll need to pick a somewhat arbitrary date. How about your next birthday, or a particular holiday? Tying your deadline to a calendar event can help you stay focused.

Once you’ve set a deadline, write it in your diary or on your calendar, and take it seriously. If your project involves other people, let them know the deadline – knowing that people are waiting for the finished project will help keep you on track!

Make a Checklist

One reason why we often put projects down and fail to pick them up again is because we’re not sure what to do next. If projects have been lying untouched for a while, it can be tricky to remember where we got to.

Make yourself a checklist that covers all the major steps that you’ll need to complete in order to get from where you currently are to the finish line.

Set Milestones

Finally, combine your deadline and your checklist to make a series of milestones – interim dates where you want to reach a certain point on your checklist. This helps you stay on track, and shows you how a little bit of work on your project on a regular basis can get you a very long way in a year.

How many half-finished projects do you currently have? Do you keep starting things without finishing others? What might you need to ditch? What can you salvage? What are you committing yourself to completing?

Don’t Forget To Follow PickTheBrain on Twitter!

Related Articles:

What is EQ and Why Should You Care?

Words That Heal And Empower