Tag: efficiency (Page 1 of 3)

A friend once asked me why I’m obsessed with efficiency and learning (thanks Joe). And while I replied to him with some rambling, slightly incoherent response (but it was from my deepest self), I’m still pondering that question, for my true answer differs slightly from that presented in the previous module. Where does this desire come from? I suppose you can say my desire to learn comes from my desire to create a meaningful impact on the world. I firmly believe that the more I learn — cold hard facts, the mechanisms that run the world, or about other people and their perspectives — the more it empowers me to make a difference in the future.

And what exactly does a meaningful impact mean? I’ll refer you to US Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart and his famous quote: “I know it when I see it.” That is what a meaningful impact to me is, where people can instantly recognize it. Too many have tried to create complex formulas and definitions to encompass or quantify impact; I’d much rather stick with this “definition,” which is tidy, simple, and — most importantly — efficient.

Why should you pursue efficiency? Everyone has their own reasons, and I’ll give you one of my reasons: efficiency allows me to make the most out of my time. As a result, I have extra time to pursue learning projects and time to relax (downtime allows for relaxation, which I believe triggers moments of pure brilliance). As Peter Drucker (look him up) put it, “There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all.”

This previous point is important: being efficient does not mean cramming work into every single one of your waking moments — that is called stupidity. Humans need moments of relaxation and rejuvenation in order to maintain their highest levels of ability. If you try to follow such a foolhardy course, you will run headfirst into Stein’s Law: “If something can not go on forever, it will stop.” You can not go at full-speed indefinitely. Efficiency is about picking your moments of intensity and focus. Don’t run yourself into the ground.

Finally, let me tell you one way how efficiency should not be used: efficiency should never be used to justify laziness. You should never use efficiency principles to explain why you only put in minimal effort, explaining that the Pareto Principle demonstrates that the results-to-effort ratio is markedly higher in the beginning of starting a task. While it might be attractive to use basic optimization models to justify what really is your lack of will and drive, life doesn’t work that way. No one is impressed with your results-to-effort ratio; people only care about your results. Using “efficiency principles” to attempt to justify mediocrity makes a mockery of the discipline.

Cal Newport is the author of a myriad of books on student learning and advice (How to Become a Straight-A Student being one of them). He’s a CS professor at Georgetown University, and his website has an extensive amount of efficient tactics people can implement in their daily routines.

Scott Young is an efficiency guru, but mostly leans towards learning efficiency. This is a guy who undertook his own self-created “MIT Challenge,” in which he tried to learn MIT’s four-year undergraduate computer science curriculum in twelve months using MIT’s online course materials. He was successful in passing all his courses, and you can read more about the challenge here.

You can’t really talk about efficiency without mentioning Tim Ferriss. The man who coined the term “lifestyle design” epitomizes efficiency in his pursuits; he’s someone who really practices what he preaches. I don’t agree with all his methods, but it’s impossible to argue with his impact on the “efficiency” community.

Chris Guillebeau is a writer dedicated to spreading his social movement, “The Art of Non-Conformity.” He writes a bunch about his traveling adventures (he’s visited all 193 countries in the world) and how to live a remarkable life. Check out his books here (they’re all fantastic and digestible) and his life manifestos here.

Tools

Wunderlist is a great application that allows you to keep a list of your tasks. It has a clean and intuitive interface, which is why it’s my task manager of choice. You can use whatever one you like best, but I just find Wunderlist the most convenient and elegant. To-do lists are necessary because they allow you to keep in mind the important events and duties that you have. If you had to keep them all in your head, it would consume valuable mental effort and slow you down. Whenever you have a deadline or task pop-up, just jot it down in your task manager and forget about it. Then, each morning, spend five to ten minutes designating each task into its corresponding block of time, and then forget about it again. Task managers like Wunderlist allow you to keep your mind free and focused on the more important things in life.

Toggl is an application that allows you to track the time you spend on everything. Essentially, you log your daily activities and the time you spend for each, and Toggl returns a formatted and clean spreadsheet which allows you to visualize your time usage. I recommend to everyone to try Toggl for one week and then analyze the resulting timesheets to identify time sinks and correct them; you will get a much better understanding of the best times that you should be working in order to calibrate your schedule. However, do not use Toggl for any longer than a few weeks, as it is extremely mentally and psychologically draining to have to keep logging all of your activities.

Tips

Batch processing: Clumping a variety of small tasks into one “batch,” and then completing the “batch” all at once is a recipe for success. It’s helpful to think of the brain as a “pseudo-computer” for this example. Your brain only has so much RAM (random-access memory), and switching in between tasks consumes a large amount of mental RAM. The best way to solve this is to “batch” all small tasks and finish them all at once, instead of spacing them throughout the day and causing more worry. Your brain has to reconfigure itself to optimally perform a task. If you practice batch processing, you’ll be less tired and less neurochemically depleted, which allows you to focus more during the more-important tasks, thus allowing you to accomplish more.

Sunk cost fallacy: You might think that you’re a completely rational human being, but you probably aren’t — but don’t worry, most of us are just like you. Sunk cost fallacy is when you continue pursuing a cause because you falsely believe that you must continue with the cause, since you have already invested your time into it. An example is when you refuse to quit a commitment because you’ve already spent the past six months on it, or if you continue eating a terrible food item because you already paid for it. The better thing to do is to find the appropriate moment and then cut your losses (if you’re involved in something, make sure you’ve completed your prior commitments before quitting, as that is your duty and responsibility).

Be on the lookout: One critical component of being efficient is being on the lookout for all available resources and seizing opportunity. If you’re doing something, find some way to leverage other people and resources to make completing the task faster. Talk with people, look up information on the internet, constantly be asking questions. Some day, these interactions and attempt at compiling information will reward you handsomely in the form of expedited results. (Side note: this is why I love learning — in addition to it being so fun, it has so many potential payoffs in the most random of future scenarios). Be open minded and always explore.