Ampersand Answers: Efficiency

Efficiency is not laziness. It is self-respect with a calendar.

Rick Levine, Capricorn Horoscope 

The Question: 

How can I get better at efficiency?  

&mpersand Answers: 

My grandmother was a Sagittarius, and her motto, had anyone asked her, might have been “Efficiency at all costs.” When the shirts she bought my brothers every Christmas went on sale in July, she ordered, stored them in her ‘to be wrapped’ closet, and her shopping was done.

Sometimes Grandma’s efficiency got a little out of hand.  

I think efficiency, a word from Latin roots meaning, to have an effect, is way over-rated. Way. Sometimes the most efficient way is the scenic route. 

The point is to hold efficiency—having an effect—as something you value, and to pay attention to things that are less efficient, but could enhance your experience. You want efficiency and a timeline, not one or the other, not both. 

It has been said that tasks fill the time you allot for them. Most often, that’s true, so that when you’re up against a timeline, a calendar, and efficiency, by all means, go for it. But when you’re not, slow down. 

In fact, ironically, slowing down is how you get better at efficiency. 

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