Effective Vs. Efficient
by Lynn McIntyre
"Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things" - Peter F. Drucker
It is a fact of life – we all need to get the greatest possible value from our time – both personally and professionally.
Those that are able to make the shift to be truly effective in everything they do in life, will be those who achieve true success.
The quote above makes us think about whether we are always doing the ‘right things’ to be as effective as possible. We can challenge ourselves as to whether we are more than just efficient – productive without wasting time – or if we are truly effective – striking and impressive in everything we do.
The distinction is emphasised through Stephen Covey’s Time Management Matrix from the book ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People’. The methodology looks at spending more time on important tasks that are not urgent – as opposed to important tasks before they become urgent.
When we are dealing with important tasks before they are urgent, we are able to maintain greater control, have greater quality of our time and exist in a less stressful environment. The determining factor is the level of control that we can all have over our time. Fact of life remains there are only so many hours in any given day, however we all have the power to be more effective, if we are conscious to take control where we can.
The ability to be aware of where our opportunities for control lie, is necessary for true effectiveness. A valuable exercise is to analyse what we can control compared to what we can influence, and what we need to accept.
The power of this exercise comes from firstly deciding what we need to accept – what is a fact of life – and distinguishing that from what we can have an influence over, and what we can control. Through this awareness we are then able to focus our energy where it counts.
“The only difference between a rich person and a poor person is how they control their time.”
Taking Control
With the right focus, we are all ultimately able to control our beliefs, attitude, behaviour and actions. Personal development in this area provides a foundation for the future and will often be the key difference in desired results being achieved by individuals.
Having an Influence
Through development of comm-unication skills we are able to ensure that where possible we have the greatest influence we can – again for achieving ultimate results.
This methodology challenges us to think of both what we do and how we do it. It highlights that we all have the power to choose effectiveness over efficiency. Once we have awareness of this power we can then work on what changes we need to make as individuals to take control of ourselves and our time.