Be careful about being too efficient. Only doing things that are shown to be efficient rules out those events that by chance may end in a happy or beneficial way. Being effective sometimes requires serendipity.
The 80:20 rule is sufficiently famous that we don’t need to pursue it here although it may be worth reading the blog How To Effectively Use The 80/20 Rule The point here is that making 20% of those things that can be made efficient will be the most effective way to improve efficiency. Please note this is not the same as making 20% of all the things that are done in an organisation or by an individual more efficient. First we must identify the 80% that are not effective and make sure we eliminate or massively reduce those and then concentrate on the most important 20% of the remainder.
That’s the logical way of looking at things and it works, short term, but don’t use it all the time. Sometimes you need the inefficient bit to ensure you get the effective bit of serendipity. Attending conferences and events in person is an example of this. There is absolutely no doubt that attending a virtual conference is more efficient and productive than travelling all the way there, possibly having an overnight stay, and ruining your carbon footprint just to attend the event in person. However, that does not take into account the effective nature of serendipity. If I don’t go, or attend virtually then I can say with almost 100% accuracy that nothing beneficial will happen by chance. I won’t bump into that person that has been searching for someone like me, I won’t have that accidental conversation which brings about an opportunity I had not previously considered.
Another version of the 80:20 rule is to work efficiently for 80% of the time and dedicate 20% of your week to those things that in the the short term do not give a return but allow serendipity to kick in at an unpredictable moment.
If you want more details or help making yourself or your organisation more effective then please Contact