The difference between efficiency and effectiveness

What I hear consistently from founders, managers and even individual contributors is that they don't have enough time.

• "I want to?work?on the business, but I don't have time."
• "I want to teach my team how to do this differently, but I'm stuck with customer issues."
• "I want to clarify our priorities, but I'm busy with sales.
• "I want to build a process for this, but I'm too busy doing the?work."

There are too many fires to put out and they have only one tool in their toolbox, which is essentially to execute the thing right in front of them.

I get it!?That was my only tool for a long time too.

As a COO, my primary concern was finding ways to execute more quickly. I was thinking of productivity.?"How do I get more done in less time?"?My whole mindset was around efficiency, better resource allocation, and finding ways to move more quickly. So, I would create better to-do lists, install new project management software, and build new systems and tools for my team to execute better.

But none of this solved what I was experiencing.?I was burning out.

I was always stuck needing to execute something to move the business forward. So much execution relied on me that I couldn't take any time off. I couldn't take weekends off.

I would consistently wake up between 2 -3 am with new ideas, new to-do items, and filled with energy. I would often execute them right then.

Needless to say, my energy was drained every?day. Eventually, I hit a wall.

I knew it was time for me to?stop?focusing on doing things quicker and?start?changing my approach on execution.

Here's what I discovered.

First, design your?work?week with intention and?second, create a strategy to get there.

I discovered this after studying tactics on time management, optimizing for energy, the impact of quality sleep and insights on motivation and habit formation.

The big idea here is that, without a vision for the end goal (a.k.a. your intention for how you want to live your life), it's nearly impossible to create a better strategy to help you get there.

So, the default becomes a strategy built on efficiency, as opposed to a strategy built on?effectiveness.

• Efficiency?is all about doing things faster, using less resources to get the same outcome, and generally doing more with less.
• Effectiveness?is more about making choices, with the big picture in mind, that lead to the decisions that transform and elevate the entire company.

By first designing a workweek with intention, the problems I was solving became,

• "What type of relationship do I want to have with my?work?
• "What do I want my relationship with my partner, my son, my family and friends to look like?"
• "What kind of life do I want for myself?"
• "What types of things do I want to focus on versus not focus on?"

Once I laid this foundation, the strategy appeared. I was able to create a way to be fully present in my company and be present in my life.

I took everything I learned from research and my own experimentation to create the?Ideal?Workday?Planner , an intentional lens for designing your?work?and your life the way you?want?to live it. This tool allows you to?first?design your?ideal?workday?and workweek, and?then?determine the blocks of time when you are available for?work-related activities.

The framework allows you to consider how you would live your life if it were completely unencumbered and you had complete control of your time.

It prompts you to think about...

• exactly how would you want to spend your time?
• what would each hour of the?day?look like?
• how much time would you spend in deep?work?
• how much time would you spend building relationships?
• how much time would you sleep and take deep rest?

When you're intentional about how you spend your?day, you can:

• devise ways to get the same amount of?work?done (without you doing all of it).
• see the processes or structures that need to be implemented so you don't have to do it.
• cultivate stronger relationships both inside and outside of?work.
• more deeply sit in the seat of leadership instead of tactical?day-to-day?execution.

Using this framework, I've supported founders and managers to design their?ideal?workday?and help them teach this to their teams.

We consistently hear feedback that this tool has helped leaders grow their revenue, focus on high priority items, delegate more, and build morale across the team.

Because lack of time is the #1 issue I hear founders and managers struggle with, I want to share the?Ideal?Workday?Planner ?with you. When you download this framework you'll also receive?examples of how other leaders structure their week, giving you lots of ideas for inspiration.