It's Time to Go Beyond Efficiency

If efficiency were the solution, we would already get everything done on time.

We used to walk or cycle, now we have trains, planes and cars to get us around.

We used to wash clothes in rivers and wash dishes by hand. Now we have machines that do it for us.

We used to write letters, articles and books by hand, now we write them on computers or ask AI to write for us.

In a few generations, we have increased efficiency enormously.

So why are we still running out of time?

Because efficiency is not enough. We need to go beyond it.?

I describe how in my book Beyond Efficiency.

In this article, I share the introduction.

Let me start our journey Beyond Efficiency by asking you a question:

If you could have an eighth day in the week, how would you use it?

While you think about that, let me tell you why I have written this book.

Throughout my life I have been asked how I find time. Especially when I worked (more than) full-time as a program manager at a multinational company, had three small children, and wrote novels in the evenings.

Even though people ask specifically how I find time, that isn’t what they need to know. What they truly want to learn is how to get out of their own exhausting race against time.

Are you in a race against time? Do you continuously chase after it??

If you are, you’re not alone.

People who run after time never catch up. Not even if they work hard and smart while spending less and less time doing what makes their hearts sing.

I have written this book to help leaders like you step out of the race against time and finally win.

Have you come up with an answer to my question?

If I could give you an eighth day in the week, how would you use it?

Most likely, you would grab it with both hands and try to finally catch up. After a few weeks you would come back and ask for a ninth day, since not even eight days a week is enough for all you need and want to do.

Have you ever lent money to someone who continuously overspends? I have, and it taught me that Dr. Phil was right when he said: “Money problems are not about money.”

The same is valid for time. More time will not help if we don’t know how to make the most of the time we already have.

I’m not saying you are a careless overspender of time. I believe you’re efficient and work hard to honour your commitments. But you have a feeling there is a better way. (And there is! I’ll describe it in this book.)

Reading this book will not give you an extra day in the week – it wouldn't help you long term anyway – but it will give you the ability to find more time and harmony in the days you have.

How will this book help you find the time that has been hiding from you? By no longer treating you like a machine, the way most efficiency techniques do.

?You see, time management isn’t about managing time, it’s about managing ourselves in the time we have.

This is the missing piece in conventional time management.

Unlike machines, we need energy and enthusiasm to do something well. Without either or both, we oscillate between wasting and chasing time, pushing ourselves to do the things we have to do, longing for time to do what we want to do. Then time hides from us, and we feel as if there’s never enough of it.

However, when we pay ourselves first with time for energy and enthusiasm, the hidden time reveals itself and we can use it the way we want, not the way we believe we should.

Happy, energetic people always get more done than those who are overcommitted, bored and stressed out.

In this book you’ll discover what the Efficiency Trap is and how to get out of it. You’ll learn about the three hurdles of time mastery and how to overcome them by paying yourself first.

On top of walking you through all the parts of the Courageous Time Management Method, this book describes three useful ways to remove waste from the area where you spend a lot of your waking time – at work.

I hope you are excited to learn and apply what this book offers! When you do, you will:

●????? Stop wasting and chasing time.

●????? Get things done quickly and peacefully.

●????? Find time where there seems to be none. Time for you, your career and your loved ones.

●????? Become an inspiration for those you lead and those you love.

Over and above that, you will create a lifestyle that is healthy, sustainable and loving.

Does it sound too good to be true?

It isn’t. It really is this good. But I’m not saying it’s easy or that you’ll achieve this state without challenging your beliefs or breaking old habits.

It takes courage to move Beyond Efficiency and break away from the conditioning that tells us we need to work hard and be busy to be successful. It takes courage to decide not only what to do but more importantly what not to do. You need to be brave when you look at yourself and your choices and decide to take control of your life.

If you dare to, you can move Beyond Efficiency, out of the Efficiency Trap and into rapid but calm flow.

When you implement what you’ll learn in this book, you too will be asked how you find the time to do all the things you do while being happy, calm and kind.

Link to information about the ebook Beyond Efficiency.