An invitation to inefficiency
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Things that have been swimming around my brain the last few days:
This is one of those confessions that I hope people will read and be like, “ME TOO! I FEEL SEEN!” but I’m aware it might be one where people are like, “Nope, that’s just you, Bree… weirdo.”
What bothers me is that it bothers me. It’s things like The Great Coffee Inefficiency that shake me awake and make me wonder how I got this way. What is this water I’ve been swimming in that I feel the need to optimize each moment of my day for extreme efficiency?
Has the corporate drive for efficiency and productivity seeped into my life? A hangover of the survival mode we were in when Arden was younger and everything felt like a scramble? Is it just the culture in the US and specifically NYC that has taught me inefficiency should be weeded out at all costs?
Whatever it is, I don’t like it.
I can afford 15 seconds of inefficiency. What I can’t afford is letting that inefficiency make me grumpy because it offends my misguided belief that if I’m not optimizing I’m doing it wrong.
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Perhaps embarrassingly, I have LOTS of stories that go like this. Feel free to ask me about them sometime. But instead of cementing my weirdness in your brain, instead let me transition to a challenge for us all this week:
Do something inefficiently.
On purpose.
Because you want to.
Because it’s joyful.
Because it’s fine!
Go the long way home or try to doodle a really symmetrical star for the fun of it or chop some veggies extra slow. I figure it’s part of my de-programming as a “human resource” and reprogramming as a “human human”.
What do you want to try today that's completely inefficient, unproductive, or both?
Employee Storytelling Specialist
6 个月This resonates with me so deeply, thank you for sharing. It can be so hard to let go of that little chastiser that demands perfection. I only realized how much control it had of me when I would get frustrated with friends and loved ones for “not doing things perfectly”. Still working to get the very demanding little task master in me to chill out and enjoy slowing down. I love the idea of granny hobbies to do that. Thank you so much for writing this ??
Leadership & Executive Coach | People Strategy Consultant | Team Coach | Team Offsite Facilitator | Leadership Podcast Host
6 个月I completely feel seen with the efficiency commentary! It is soooo true.
Apprentice butcher ??. Brand consultant ??.
6 个月Great advice, Bree. Cousin to inefficiency is "differently." I've heard it described like dots on graph paper: Each day we trace the same dots, how can we get different dots on our graph? Who knows what the novelty might inspire? Sit in a different seat, go to a different grocery store, take public transit to work (or don't take public transit to work)...etc. and see what you see.
Creating businesses, brands and change through presence, creativity and experience
6 个月I know it is a cliché to use the Navy Seals motto, but "Slow is Smooth and Smooth is fast". Sometimes the most in-efficient things, like waiting, actually becomes incredible productive.
Claims Corporate Process SIU at Progressive Insurance
6 个月I love this. I used to commute A LONG TIME AND A LOT in a previous life. While I don't miss that waste of time, there was some inefficiency in there that allowed my brain to unscramble after work. So now, after work (whatever I do) I purposefully try to be a little less efficient. I'll find myself walking fast with the dog and purposefully slow down. I drive slower to the gym. Cooking slower is a big one too. It's hard to not just want to do it as fast as I can. But that little grace to slow down does seem to have benefits and applications to other areas of work, relationships, life, etc.