Being Effectively Efficient
“Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.”
~Peter Drucker
This is a lesson that resonated deeply with me when I first read it, and it has served me well ever since.
In fact, the interplay of efficiency and effectiveness is something that fascinates me every time I slow down and really think about it. And this dance between doing things right, and doing the right things is intertwined into many other important parables, for example:
- Work smarter, not harder
- Anything worth doing is worth doing right
- Focus on what’s important (not what’s urgent)
- And even: Routine will set you free
The key to outstanding productivity lies in learning to be effectively efficient.
Ruthless Efficiency
I was lucky to learn efficiency in one of my earliest jobs.
I was a low-voltage installation technician for new construction homes. Basically that means my job was to go into homes while they were being built and pull coaxial and ethernet cables through the walls, floors, and ceilings before they put in the insulation and drywall. Then, later, I’d come back and “finish” the job by…
