Lately I’ve been obsessed with one idea at work, efficiency. For me, it’s the only real way to make the day lighter and the job kinder to my mind. Most stress doesn’t come from the task itself, it comes from how we handle it, messy handoffs, unclear priorities, slow decisions, or doing things twice because we didn’t do them right the first time.
I sometimes hear people say, “I’m dying under a mountain of work.” Then I look closer and realize the pile isn’t that big, it’s just tangled. That used to be me too. What looked like “too much” was often “too scattered.” When I started tightening my process, the load didn’t shrink overnight, but the weight did.
Here’s what I’m practicing,
Inefficiency multiplies stress and creates issues down the road, delays, rework, misunderstandings. Efficiency is not about speed alone, it’s about reducing friction so the same effort goes further. When the path is clean, even a heavy task feels manageable. When the path is cluttered, even a small task feels impossible.
One reminder I keep on my desk, “Efficiency is doing better what is already being done.” — Peter Drucker
I’m not chasing perfection, just smoother days. If I can remove one bottleneck, one repeat mistake, one unclear instruction, that’s a victory. Small improvements stack, and stacked improvements change the way we work and the way we feel.
Have a great day!
Link to the source of the image.
