Inspiration and Life

The Best Use of Time and Energy

Can you be more effective and efficient?

Imagine gliding so smoothly through a day, week, month, and year it’s like a dream. Do you ever experience such occasions? Is it even possible? It is! Let’s look at how you can build such extraordinary times into your life.

The energy of life

Life and living are all about the use of energy. No, I’m not talking about energy provided by electrical power, steam, fuel, wind, or otherwise. This is about the energy you and I expend every moment of life. Yes, the energy created in and by us every second we are awake or asleep. To use it wisely requires us to think about what we are doing and when we are doing it.

One of my favorite authors is a gentleman named Peter Drucker. He lived an exemplary life and is considered the father of modern management. I find most of his work applies to everyday life as well as business.

One of the most meaningful things he wrote was:

“Efficiency is doing the thing right. Effectiveness is doing the right thing.” Peter Drucker (1909–2005)

I remember the impact it had when I first read it. At the time, I was so focused on efficiency due to my work, I had not considered what it meant to be effective. Let’s begin with the end in mind, working from effectiveness to efficiency.

“Doing the right thing is more important than doing the thing right.” Peter Drucker (1909–2005)

Effectiveness — doing the right thing

To do the things that matter most is essential to making your life count. Doing the right things will make the most significant difference and improve the quality of life for you, your family, friends, and colleagues.

Most of us don’t want to “waste” time, yet we do anyway. Enormous amounts of it! We are human, after all!

The important thing is to ensure you plan and intend to do the right things first in your life. Completing these important things allows you to enjoy wasting a little time without feeling guilty.

Is wasting time all that bad? It depends. If it interferes with your quality of life or the life of others, it would seem so. If it is a form of unwinding and relaxing, there is nothing wrong with that! Everyone needs downtime. This wisdom from nearly three millennia ago is still relevant today:

“Observe due measure; moderation is best in all things.” Hesiod (700 BC)

We need variety in life to enjoy it. This includes working hard at times and doing nothing at other times. Best not to do too much of any one thing. No one wants to wear themselves out or become too rested!

It is through doing the right thing that opportunities come. The more right things you do, the more success you have, and the more options you find.

“Effective people are not problem minded; they’re opportunity-minded. They feed opportunities and starve problems. They think preventively.” Peter Drucker (1909–2005)

Efficiency — doing things right

When you know what you need or want to do, you can allocate time and begin doing things right. Being efficient impacts your time, the single most valuable resource you have, so much so that its value is incalculable. Once spent, it is gone. You only get one shot at each minute of each day, so using them wisely is imperative if you want to live a good life. Only what you have created, including memories, will exist in the present and possibly into the future.

How can you best use your time and energy?

What are you creating in your life? Are you doing the right things and doing them right?

Using time wisely uses it both effectively and efficiently. This also means it is important to know what not to do. Giving thought to what you are doing and what you should stop doing pays huge dividends.

“There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.” Peter Drucker (1909–2005)

What is an area you could gain time by becoming more efficient?

As a writer, there are many things I can do more efficiently in life. I use my calendar to schedule tasks, so I can devote time to getting them done. I block out time every morning to write because I have found that is when I focus best. Morning is when I think most clearly, creatively, and write most efficiently. If I push my writing to later in the day, I am not nearly as efficient, and my quality suffers.

You could adapt this to your life, doing things that require the most energy and brainpower when you are in your zone for the day. For some like me, it is early morning. For others, it is in the evening. I easily save a couple of hours a day by scheduling my writing first thing in the morning.

Another place you can create a great deal of efficiency is to work from home, provided you can without interruptions. Think about how much more efficient it is to go straight to your desk and start working. If you were like me when I worked in corporate, you could save a couple of hours of driving alone. And you can add to that the frustration of traffic, parking, walking into the office building, taking the elevator, etc. It is far easier to walk a few feet with a cup of coffee in hand and begin plugging away! Ahh, don’t you love modern conveniences!

Final thoughts

Imagine how much better and smoother your life can become if you focus on the right things and do them right. It was a real life-changer when I first grasped Drucker’s words. How can you use them to improve what you do?

I challenge you to answer the following questions and begin to apply this concept to your life.

• What is so important in your life you should schedule uninterrupted time on your calendar each day?
• What can you do to save time while still accomplishing what you must get done?
• What can you stop doing to free up more time?

Answering these questions can be the beginning of changing your life and your enjoyment of it. Are you ready to do the work to accomplish it? Why not start with the following wisdom from Dale Carnegie:

“An hour of planning can save you 10 hours of doing.” Dale Carnegie (1888–1955)

What better way to start than using one hour to gain ten? Talk about being effective and efficient!

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Bill Abbate Leadership Writer and Editor in ILLUMINATION

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