Efficient Is Not The Same As Effective

Sometimes I’m asked if I’m an efficiency expert, and I always say no.

I’m a productivity expert. My LaserBrainTM method isn’t about efficiency, but effectiveness.

That’s why I say it’s perfectly fine not to get up at oh-dark-thirty when your sleep chronotype is anything other than lion/morning lark. The rest of us, who aren’t early birds, have a personal clock that wants to rise later and our best work is done a bit later in the day. Getting everything done in the morning can be efficient, but for non-early risers it’s not effective.

Efficiency is great for machines and for non-biological systems. Trimming waste from processes is fairly easy (and I can work with you to find and remove productivity bottlenecks in your business.) Removing unnecessary handoffs and re-imagining procedures to run smoothly is pretty clear-cut once you start process mapping.

But for biological systems like the ones between your ears? Efficiency isn’t always effective.

Improving productivity to improve effectiveness

Even the auto-complete (essentially a stripped-down AI) wanted me to type “Improving productivity to improve efficiency” instead of effectiveness for the above headline. But productivity as I see it is not a goal in and of itself. It’s a way to enjoy a more fulfilling and sustainable life.

I don’t work with my clients to give them more time to do more random stuff at work. I’m not going to prop up the ego of busyness, even if “I’m so busy!” is often worn as a badge of honor. I don’t work with them to support an unsustainable pace at work that will almost definitely lead to a nasty case of burnout.

I work with people to support them in being more effective at work. That doesn’t mean that they get faster in doing everything. It means that they do the work that only they can do as the business owners, and delegate or automate the rest. They know what their priorities are and work on those.

After working with me, my clients don’t go to the office with an impossibly long list of to-dos. They know what their priorities are each day that will move their business forward and keep it profitable. They have a time set aside each day or each week that allows them to focus on their business uninterrupted. 

That’s because when you focus on one thing, and one thing only, using your attention like a laser beam, you accomplish your tasks very quickly. Especially when you’ve matched this time with your brain’s best time to do this kind of work.

It’s not rocket surgery (ha ha). It’s pretty simple, but the problem is it’s not easy – modern culture actually makes this simple task really hard to do. You need boundaries and the absence of distractions, but if you can do that, you’ll be amazed how much you can easily get accomplished.

Efficient vs. effective productivity

In case it hasn’t been clear so far, here’s an example of a business owner being efficient. 

• She quickly disposes of every task in front of her, even if a staff member could do it, because she does it faster than anyone else. It’s her business, after all. 

• She keeps her inbox at zero at all times, because as the emails come in, she makes a decision about what to do with them.

• She gets up at 4:30 am because that’s “winning the morning”, even though she’s not really ready to go to work until about 9 am.

• She types all her notes directly into her CRM and also types her tasks out.

• She doesn’t really have time to talk to people during the day, so she texts or comments on social media.

• She scrolls through her phone whenever she’s in a line in case there’s an email she can quickly deal with, or on her social media to show engagement and avoid boredom.

• Whenever she’s got a few minutes, she tries to deal with something that requires her attention. Five minutes here and five minutes there eventually add up to an hour, after all.

Now if this business owner were a robot instead of a human, all this would be perfectly fine. Robots can go all day and all night and can work while recharging, though even robots occasionally will need to be pulled off the job for maintenance. They have essentially unlimited time and don’t get distracted.

Are you a robot? (Don’t worry, I won’t make you prove it.) If not, then you can’t do the same things as a robot. They’re purpose-built and we humans are not. We have intrinsic needs for socialization and fun activities, however each person defines that for herself. We like beautiful things, nature, and blue water; these things nourish us.

Typing is a robot job and only satisfies robot needs. Your brain needs you to handwrite some things due to the hand-mind connection it engenders. This isn’t particularly efficient, especially if you’re a fast typist. But it’s more effective because after you write things down, your brain considers them handled – and will stop waking you up at 2 am to remind you.

Everyone's attention span is limited, and making decisions drains decision-making ability. As does switching between tasks, whether you are trying to “multitask” or just going through daily activities.

Not only that, but you shut down for seven to eight hours a night for required scheduled maintenance. You also need some rest time during the day, during which you can’t work, read emails, or scroll social media because you need to be recharging.

Improve and sustain productivity by concentrating on effectiveness 

An effective business owner knows when things have to be done analog in order to satisfy the needs of her mind and body and keep them in peak performance shape. She doesn’t do the tasks that others on her staff (or robots, or other business owners) can do, instead focusing the light of her attention on one important task at a time. 

She prioritizes and is also realistic about her time, not scheduling ten things when there’s time to do three to five. She gets a lot done during the day by limiting distractions, which frees up her time to do fun things. Like spending time with her loved ones and doing non-work activities she really enjoys. And since she’s been effective all day, she doesn’t feel guilty about a shorter work day.

She knows that while she could in theory always send out another email or create another “social” media post, her brain needs social connection and fun to stay sharp and energized. She doesn’t set herself up to make a lot of decisions or to switch between different things all day, knowing those drain her ability to think clearly. 

She batches her tasks and doesn’t allow anything that isn’t important work to impede on the time she has scheduled for focused work. She deals with her emails several times a day, rather than checking them as they come in. She doesn’t look at them at all during focus time.

She’s working with her brain instead of against it, so she’s not working longer or harder but working smart.

Recap (tl;dr):

If you want to accomplish things at the office and have a thriving business, you need to be effective. Often being efficient can be effective, but not necessarily when it comes to humans. 

If you’re curious about being more effective, schedule your free Laser Focus Accelerator session by clicking here.

Photo by Paul Esch-Laurent on Unsplash.