The Efficiency Mindset

Everyone wants increased efficiency.

They want to go faster. They want to do more. They want to pay less. 

In some cases, becoming more efficient can result in doubling or tripling your overall productivity. But there's also the possibility that increasing your efficiency could result in lower productivity. 

 A reporter once asked Jeff Bezos, "Jeff, what do you think is going to change most in the next 10 years?"

Jeff responded by flipping the question on its head and instead asking, "What's not going to change in the next 10-20 years?" 

His answer was simple: people's desire to make everything more efficient. From where he sits at Amazon, people's desire for lower prices and faster deliver won't change and, if anything, that desire will intensify. 

The concept of efficiency isn't going anywhere.

So you might as well invest some time understanding the concept, and making sure that you're using it to your benefit instead of your detriment.

“There is nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency something that should not be done at all.”

—Peter Drucker

Steve the Startender

Beautiful blue skies… the bright sun shining overhead… a salty smell of ocean water lingering in the air as the seaside breeze cooled the sweat beads dripping from my forehead.

Smack dab in the middle of a South Florida summer, I found myself at a casual family-owned beach resort surrounded by sun hats and margaritas.It was a paradise of sorts and it probably would’ve been for me, too, if I hadn’t been working.

Yep, that’s right: fully dressed, from head to toe, walking the beach and pool areas serving food and drinks to people who had come from all over the world to sunbath and get white-girl-wasted. I suppose it could’ve been worse, though—I got to work where the rest of the world vacationed.

After a few days on the job, I met a well-known employee whose prestige had exceeded even the hotel's general manager.

His name was Steve: a tall, scrawny but sturdy man with a buzzcut and military mustache white as snow. He puffed his chest out, held his chin high, and walked with purpose. He wore a charming smile and carried himself with the confidence of a Navy commander.

Steve was the highly-seasoned veteran bartender of our hotel.

His bar was always full.

Some called him “Steve the Startender” because he was known for putting on a show for his guests. Bottle flipping, party jokes, intellectual discussions, marital advice — the guy was an eclectic one-man band that attracted guests from all the other hotels on the boulevard.

What stood out most to me was not Steve’s popularity but instead how he managed his popularity. It was rare to see him standing still. From his special-recipe Rum Runner to classic hand-crafted cocktails, Steve deliver 5-star service to everyone, and he did it faster than anyone.

Seeing someone move with such speed was not uncommon in the service industry but seeing that speed paired with accuracy and consistency was not an everyday occurrence. What was his secret?

Was it simply a matter of muscle memory?

Did he have some sort of bar hacks that made him exponentially faster? How was it that he could produce so much in so little time?

When we finally got to talking, I asked him how he did what he did.

“Simple,” he said, “Get the most done in the least amount of moves.”

He told me how his movements, though seemingly sporadic, were well-planned and precisely executed. He said that he set up his bar very carefully to support these movements so that he didn’t even have to think about what he was doing. He explained that his body can move faster than his mind ever could due to muscle memory.

Steve went on to tell me all about his mindset around doing things more efficiently; his method for walking from one place to another, and for talking to different types of guests, even how he navigates traffic on his way to work.

His mindset, his skillset, his environment: all of it was intentionally centered around getting a lot done in little time, using the least amount of resources as possible.

Simple on the surface, perhaps, but the more he talked about his methods, the more curious I became. I saw him as a wise Buddha of the bartenders.

My conversation with Steve that day had entirely changed my perspective on getting things done. Steve’s work was intentional and precise, carefully executed to every level of detail imaginable. I later learned that he wasn’t just like this at work but that this was his way of life — it was how he did everything.

The seed of efficiency was planted in my mind that day and I would return to college later that summer ready to share what I had learned.

The Efficiency Committee is Born

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius — and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction."

—E.F. Schumacher

I learned many valuable lessons from Steve that summer.

But my biggest realization was this: efficiency is a mindset.

If I really wanted to increase my efficiency and level up my time management skills, I had to learn how to be incredibly efficient with everything I did (not just my work).

From driving to studying, to eating and sleeping, and even networking, I started figuring out ways to get more done in less time. Over time, I discovered that maximizing efficiency wasn’t just a “one and done” deal, it was a skill to be practiced, and that skill is founded on a particular principle: in most cases, less is more.

When I started applying this mindset to every area of my life, magical things started to happen. 

One example is when I brought my new "mindset of less" to my fraternity’s weekly meeting...

Depending on the agenda and who was in attendance, these meetings would last anywhere between two and six hours. They were often poorly run and fueled by confirmation bias. Everyone had an opinion. Everyone had a joke to crack.

These meetings might’ve been the most time-consuming (and most unproductive) items on my calendar, yet there was no escaping them because they were mandatory for all members.

So a few friends and I got together to start a sub-committee that would help recover our sanity during these meetings. We called it the Efficiency Committee. It was designed as a “loss prevention” mechanism at these meetings because we felt like we were wasting so much time and energy. 

Every time someone would go off on a tangent or voice an opinion that was already stated, one or more of the committee members would wave a big red sign in the air indicating the verdict: Efficiency Committee DISAPPROVES.

At first, it was a bit of a joke, drawing more laughs than the usual one-liners. But after a few weeks, we started to see a pattern: our meetings actually became more productive.

I didn't know it at the time, but the big red sign functioned as a point-and-call strategy.

The Efficiency Committee (EC) became a helpful tool for cutting through the nonsense that usually filled these meetings. And it wasn’t long until the big red sign was no longer needed.

People began to understand what productive meetings actually felt like. After all, the members of our little subcommittee weren’t the only ones who hated wasting time. Nobody likes wasting time, but not everyone realizes when time is being wasted. 

As Henry Ford put it, "time waste differs from material waste in that there can be no salvage." 

Ever since that big red sign, my mind has transformed the meaning of productivity and time management. It's become easier and easier to monitor my own efficiency and bring a greater sense of awareness to everything I do.

If I notice myself or someone else doing something inefficient, my mind automatically issues a red flag that reminds me, “hey, there’s probably a more efficient way to be doing this.”

Of course, this change didn't happen over night.

This took months of training my brain how to think differently. It starts with a single seed of learning how to do more with less.

Mastering a Mindset of Less

“It’s not the daily increase, it’s the daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential.”

—Bruce Lee

The Efficiency Committee serves one purpose and one purpose only: to help you do more with less.

Whether it’s driving, cooking, cleaning, making new friends, or running a business, the EC will revolutionize the way you think about time management.

You’ll start making better decisions, creating unique solutions, and living your life in a whole new way.

So how do you start training your brain to think more efficiently?

You must hire your own Efficiency Committee.

Think of it like a mental committee, comprised of a small group of voices inside of your head that votes on everything you’re doing (like the movie Inside Out).

All committees are formed to give advise and/or offer a statement of approval or disapproval. Your committee will function the same way.

As you improve your time management skills, the EC becomes an internal counsel for approving or disapproving actions and activities based one question: “How can I do this using less?”

Less time, less energy, less movement, less money... it means taking a step back to look at the desired result and then hacking away at the unessential. 

At first, this question will be most useful when applied to time-sensitive activities. With practice, you’ll start figuring out how to apply this concept to every dimension of your life. 

How to Use the Efficiency Committee

You might already apply this concept in your everyday life without knowing it.

Driving is a good example...

Imagine, you’re driving down the road in the right hand lane and the car in front of you puts its turn signal on. You know this car will be turning soon and you can predict when it'll be turning, which means you’ve got a good guess of when the car will start slowing down, and by how much. 

At this point, you have two options:

1. Continue driving behind the car, or

2. Shift into the lane next to you

Those who haven't adopted the mindset of less wouldn’t even think about checking the next lane. They'd stay in the same lane, then slow down as the car in front of them slows to turn. After the car in front is gone, they'd accelerate back to their prior speed.

Not only does this maneuver require more acceleration (which uses more gasoline) but it also requires more drive time. Also consider that those few additional seconds could be the difference between a green light and a red light.

More time. More fuel. More energy. Efficiency Committee DISAPPROVES!

On the other hand, those who've got a solid understanding of efficiency, and have a mental committee to keep them on track, would handle this situation entirely different.

They'd glance over to see if the neighboring lane is clear, then proceed to change lanes before the car in front starts braking. This simple, quick decision saves wear and tear on the brakes, increases fuel mileage by avoiding deceleration, and shaves time off the total duration of the trip.

Sure, it may only be a few seconds shorter or only an ounce of fuel saved, but let's look at the math...

If you commute to work twice a day during the week, and also use the care a couple times over the weekend, that's more than 600 times you find yourself driving your car in one year. Driving for just 40 years equates to 24,000 opportunities to use less resources. 

It doesn’t seem like much at first but eventually, it all adds up. It’s this mindset of less that puts you on the road to improved efficiency.

Maximum efficiency is found at the intersection of intention, preparation, and precision.

Reaching maximum efficiency is the result of being highly intentional. When you know what needs to be done—the result that must be achieved—you allocate your resources accordingly.

That means preparing your environment with the right mindset, and developing precision of decision and action using the right skillset.

Practice Round #2...

Look at the below list and imagine this is your To-Do list for a typical Sunday afternoon.

  • Finish reading the chapter from your book for tomorrow’s book club meeting
  • Catch up on the latest news stories so you’re not out of the loop at work on Monday
  • Do a load of laundry
  • Clean the bathroom (it’s been a while)
  • Grocery shopping for next week’s meals
  • Cook dinner for you and the spouse

Now take a minute to consider the order in which you might complete these tasks.

Go ahead, number this list to maximize efficiency and see what you come up with. Keep in mind, you’re not looking for what’s right and wrong, you’re looking to "do more with less."

If you’ve hired the E.C., here’s one way you might go about it:

  • Throw in the laundry and download the audiobook version of your book.
  • Head to the grocery store, listening to this week’s chapter in the car and while you’re shopping. It’s rather easy to do the shopping because you thought ahead and pre-sorted your grocery list so the items correspond to the correct department (produce, deli, freezer, etc.) and you’ve arranged in-store shopping route to flow seamlessly so you never have to back track.
  • By the time you’ve arrived home, you’ve finished the chapter and begin transferring the groceries from the car to the kitchen. Before unloading the groceries into the fridge and pantry, you pre-heat the oven and tranfer the laundry from washer to dryer.
  • Then you put the groceries away, leaving out the ingredients that will be used for dinner. You’ve picked an easy-bake, one-pan recipe to minimize prep time, cook time, and the number of dishes used.
  • Food prep begins and you ask Alexa or Siri to read you the latest news headlines from NPR.
  • Now that dinner is prepped, you throw the pan in the oven, set the time for 45 minutes, and load the dirty dishes into the dishwasher.
  • Then you head to the bathroom with a pair of rubber gloves, eco-friendly cleaning supplies, and the latest episode of your favorite podcast. You start cleaning, saving the tub and shower area for last. When it comes time to clean the tub area, you actually take a shower and clean your body at the same time (after all, you’ve been working hard, right?).
  • You emerge feeling refreshed and your body is just as clean as the bathroom. The oven timer goes off just as you’re done getting dressed.
  • You recruit your spouse to pull the pan from the oven and set the table while you unload the dryer and start folding clothes.
  • Dinner is finally ready; good thing you doubled the recipe so there are some leftovers for lunch tomorrow. You both sit down to enjoy some food together and plan for the week ahead.

In this example, everything on the initial list was completed in minimal time, in addition to a few extras that weren’t even on the list (feels good to get ahead, doesn’t it?).

efficiency committee approves!

In Summary

Being efficient requires that you actually start thinking about things differently before you start doing things differently.

The EC is a mental framework — a mindset — for getting the same (or more) results using fewer resources. It’s a more conscious way of thinking and doing that brings intentionality and precision to your actions.

The next time you’re feeling overwhelmed by a daunting To-Do list or running a bit behind schedule, take a step back to consult with your E.C.

  • What shortcuts are available?
  • What methods and processes can be changed or rearranged?
  • What is the least amount of moves required to accomplish the task at hand?

Hire the Efficiency Committee, begin to adopt a mindset of less, and you will have laid the foundation for better balance and greater freedom in life and at work.

  1. Home
    2.  ›
  2. Time Management Skills
    3.  ›
  3. Efficiency