Using Efficiency to Pay Attention to the Biggest Endeavors in Life

Lately, the idea of becoming efficient in all aspects of life has dominated my thoughts. Performing each action with the path of least resistance, getting the most out of the least; those are the ideas that have me hooked. When conversing with a good friend about this topic, however, I came to the realization that I don't want to be "all about efficiency." I don't want it to dominate my thoughts on all aspects in life, and when a feeling doesn't match a thought, we have a problem, so I sought out to find out why.

The thing is that as humans, we are purposeful creatures. Everything we do, enjoy, dislike, is for a reason, whether we know it or not, whether it be an active choice or something inherited. So even efficiency itself has a purpose. We use tools for a reason, we try to make more money for a reason, we try to make things easier for a reason.

I think the reason is simple: We become efficient in some aspects of our lives so we can take on the big or seemingly important things with all of our energy. And why shouldn't this make sense? Not everything can be made into a simple formula, and some of the most fruitful endeavors must be taken slow, explored a bit.

One of these important things is relationships. Even the main man Plato himself is quoted with, "Be slow to fall into friendship; but when thou art in, continue firm and constant." A person is a complicated bunch and trying to understand them without much exploration would be a bad move. A good friend is someone with whom you've experienced a lot with, you've gone through good times, bad times, and worse times. If you both come through though, in the end you'll have the best of companions.

Another important area is understanding yourself. Sure you may think you know yourself, but have you really asked the tough questions? Do you really know what you want out of this life? Without deep exploration of your own thoughts, ideas, and self you may find you were becoming efficient for something you didn't even want.

This falls under the self, but your own personal philosophy is something that is best taken slow. Don't be afraid to stay off the wagon and walk a little while. There are some things that just aren't required for your survival and its best to take your time sorting them out. Don't be too quick to have an opinion on something just because society says you should. With a little exploration, you can be sure what you believe fits your style.

Efficiency is something that should be our focus in some areas of our life so we can be lazy and take our time in others. I used to think that efficiency in life was walking the straight and narrow, but now I see it as something different. Efficiency is packing not too heavy and not too light, the right amount so you can take your time exploring the mountain before reaching the top.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I'm not gonna lie, this was a pretty thought-provoking post. Many people are prone to getting into the "all or nothing" mode. That, or they become careless about thinking into things. Efficiency provides somewhat of a happy medium to balancing things in our lives. We can work at using efficiency in our daily lives, throughout our routine activities, and it will become a habit, helping us so much in the long run. We are left on our own, without our friend efficiency, to deal with tough stuff. Relationships, like you said, cannot always be handled with the coverall of efficiency. Each relationship in our life must be dealt with with much care, every relationship being so different from the others. They are so special, and require most of our energy. They should, too, because relationships can be the most rewarding gifts when we cultivate them with all of our energy.

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