Efficient (Adj.): achieving maximum productivity with minimal wasted effort or expense.
A system is efficient when it runs smoothly to achieve the desired outcome. When it is as streamlined as possible, taking the least amount of effort to reach the goal.
The most efficient car goes from point A to point B, with the least amount of gas and effort spent, it is not the fastest car. So why do we think of work efficiency as the person who can grow their business quickly or the person who can achieve career success rapidly?
The person who started the multimillion dollar business likely put in 80 to 100 hour weeks trying to get it off the ground. The person who got promoted every year had to stay at the office twice as long as everyone else. For most people, that amount of work would drain them of all other energy, leaving them no energy for anything but work.
It’s not so simple when trying to determine the efficiency of a task when it comes to human behavior. Unlike a car, there is no set measure that we can rely on to tell us if we are being as productive as possible.
How Can We Measure Efficiency?
When we measure something like a smartphone for efficiency we look at the amount of energy it uses to do the required task. We can measure human efficiency by the same standards, how much energy we use to complete a task.
This will vary from person to person. For example, someone with much more experience in a job is likely to do it with less effort than a new hire. The key is to find what you excel at and can do better than most people. More importantly, is finding something that you can do that you enjoy, which will increase your energy when you do the task, rather than deplete it.
Joe Hudson, the “coach behind Silicon Valley’s unicorn CEO’s”, uses enjoyment as a measure of efficiency. In an interview on Modern Wisdom, Joe explained if you do an activity you enjoy, it typically leaves you with more energy. In some cases the enjoyment is the product of the activity, so you can still feel tired after doing it, but because you enjoyed doing it, it is still efficient.
An example of this is lifting weights or working out. When I come back from the gym or from a long bike ride, I’m tired, but it is a good tired. It is not the drained from a long day of work tired.
To apply this in the context of work or starting a business, find what you enjoy and you will be able to work longer and harder than everyone else and not feel drained.
How Does It Impact Happiness?
Efficient work brings greater happiness than draining work. That much is obvious. Work that you enjoy is more enjoyable than work you don’t. Efficient work allows you to achieve bigger goals, which can also lead to greater happiness.
Joe Hudson conducted a self experiment, only doing things he enjoyed for two weeks. Halfway through the experiment, he was staring at his trash can that was making his apartment stink. He wanted to take the trash out to stop the smell, but he couldn’t because he didn’t enjoy the task. In that moment, Joe realized that he had to learn how to enjoy taking out the trash.
This was eye opening when I heard it. I’ve always believed that it is impossible to go through life without doing things we don’t enjoy or want to do. Joe flipped this belief on its head.
We can go through life only doing things we enjoy, we just have to reframe what our enjoyment of the task is. Find some small part of the task you enjoy. For Joe, it was no longer having an apartment that smelled like garbage. I don’t particularly like going to the gym, but I do like how I feel afterwards and the strength that I am building from it.
Reframing our perception we are able to enjoy anything. What would your life look like if you enjoyed everything you did? How would this impact your efficiency?
