Cultivating efficiency

(By Rick Lambert)

One of the greatest hindrances to our work is our inattention to what makes us efficient.  The dictionary defines efficient as “performing or functioning in the best possible manner with the least waste of time and effort.”  We function, but is it the best possible manner?  Efficiency in daily work, whether you work in a cubicle, shop, store or home office is vital not only to our success but even more to our happiness and fulfillment.

There are six fundamental principles to being efficient.  They are not complex at all, but they do require a degree of self-discipline. However, once begun, they are easy to maintain.

1.       Eliminate nagging items first.  There is nothing worse than trying to get through a work day with a ball and chain around your ankle.  Deal with the aggravations first.  It’s like running with weights on your ankles, but when you take them off you feel like you could jump up and touch the sky.  You want to be energized for your day?  Knock out the weighty issues first.

2.      Plan a time for creativity and the development of ideas.  Coffee breaks, coffee shops and a cup of coffee are good ways to step out of the encumbrances of the day.  Ideas give us hope and energy; they charge our ambition. To neglect this is to train your emotional batteries and to become a working zombie.

3.      Find energy in the form of another person.  This may be a person or reading something inspirational like the Bible, a biography or your favorite book on leadership.  Fellowship with a friend or an author can bring healing to your perspective and eliminate the excuses that trip you up.

4.      Keep you work area clear.  It sounds simple, but for most folks clutter clings to us.  Everything that piles up on our desks or work area screams that it is important, and that being out of our sight jeopardizes it being out of our minds.  The problem is that clutter does drive us out of our minds.  I once worked for a large non-profit organization that required desks to be cleared each night.  If you had left over work, you had to make a nice, neat pile and place in your office chair out of sight.  Each morning you could walk in to a clean work center and daily organize the pile and work required for the day.

5.      Re calibrate between projects.  Clean your mental palate for the next round of work.  A quick walk, reading a few pages in a current novel or just getting up from the desk and looking out the window for a few moments will help you prepare for the next project with refreshed focus.

6.      Prepare a doable checklist of things to do THE NIGHT BEFORE you come back to work.  Many of us prepare checklists the morning of work.  But it’s at those times we are fresh, and we often end up packing the list and making it anything but doable.  Try preparing it the night before when you are tired, but realistic.  You can leave your work area, uncluttered and already prepared in mind for what you need to accomplish tomorrow.