Efficiency Is Taking Too Much Time
We’ve optimized everything – except happiness. How stepping off the efficiency treadmill can give you back the time (and fulfillment) you’ve been chasing.
We used to have a mildly shameful routine.
At the end of the afternoon – touching base with each other regarding the day’s progress – we’d often lament all that we didn’t get done.
I remember one time, in particular, when Caanan asked me what I didn’t get to. I proceeded to list, oh, about a week’s worth of projects, beating myself up for not squeezing them into a single day.
(Maybe that happened more than one time.)
Now we have a running joke. When similar unrealistic complaining ensues, one of us will say something like, “It’s a shame you didn’t also start writing that book you wanted to complete today.” We just substitute “write that book” with “learn Icelandic,” “design that collection,” or some other outrageous goal.
Time is a tricky thing
We, like everyone else, are clearly not immune to the pressure that modern day concepts of time thrust upon society. We are supposed to do it all. Be it all. Have it all.
So we all try to achieve that despite knowing, deep down, it’s impossible.
In the client work we do, we started to notice a significant shift about a decade ago. The internalized messaging that “the-brain-is-a-computer so: multitasking!” started to fall apart. We began to get more and more complaints from people feeling a severe “lack of time.”
To this day, when clients talk about what fulfillment looks like, they pine for more time to do what matters and to not feel so pulled in multiple directions. Similarly, workgroup members speak of unrelenting demands and unrealistic objectives.
Another measure of success
Over the last decade especially, personal productivity has become a key measure of success, driven primarily by cultural and technological shifts.
Hustle culture and self-optimization have made unrealistic efficiency a success marker. The attention economy has conditioned us to prioritize short form content and “triple screening.” The pandemic normalized big-brother employee monitoring and brought us Productivity Scores. Most recently, AI has enabled us to get even more done with less effort, all while stripping away the joy of creativity.
The message is clear: Achieve more in less time.
And how have most people chosen to do that? By eliminating and/or outsourcing, well, anything that can be eliminated our outsourced.
Efficiency culture.
Efficiency culture is particularly prominent in tech, corporate work, entrepreneurship, and self-improvement spaces, where those who (appear to, at least) master time and resources gain a competitive edge.
Companies in particular have a vested interest in encouraging you to buy into this measure of success. The less time you have to worry about other things, the more time you have for work. Don’t bother thinking about lunch, we’ve got it right here. Heck, don’t even give a thought to dinner. We’ll make a deal with you…. Stay into the evening, and we’ll provide your meal.
(In a classic corporate Houdini, though, many of these perks are now disappearing. Meta has scaled back free cafeteria meals. Google has closed some cafés and cut down on snacks. Intel even got rid of free coffee at some locations. But the productivity expectations accompanied these perks? Still there – worse actually.)
The cult of efficiency continues its domination. Along with the desire (and in some cases, need) to outsource anything that keeps you from meeting your productivity goals.
Shopping for groceries? Who has the time? Grocery delivery services increased 56% in the last two years.
Preparing a meal? Do you have any idea how much time that takes?! In 2024, 26% of Americans ordered food delivery multiple times a week. Most of those deliveries were within 1.5 miles of home.
Cleaning? Outsourced. Gardening? Outsourced. Walking the dog? You pay somebody else to spend time with the creature you got to lower your anxiety and make you feel less lonely.
Turn back time. (I couldn’t resist.)
That last one about the dog may have felt like a low blow. But it’s the truth.
Everyone we talk to – friends, clients, strangers – want more time to do the things they love. They don’t want someone else walking their dog. They don’t want to eat lukewarm, unhealthy meals delivered at extortionate rates.
So what can you do about it?
The answer is surprisingly straightforward but very painful for many to enact.
Start doing the things you efficiency-ed out of your life.
Walk your own dog.
Do your own shopping.
Make your own food.
But I don’t have the time (to turn back).
Deciding to pull the emergency “stop” cord on the productivity treadmill isn’t easy. But reclaiming time for what matters to you is possible:
Recognize what you’ve lost – What activities did you once enjoy but gave up in the name of efficiency?
Take back small moments – Cook one meal, skip the delivery app, take the long walk (maybe to pick up dinner). Start small.
Push back at work – Set boundaries, resist unnecessary meetings, stop glorifying busyness.
Redefine success – Measure time by joy, calm, and a sense of space – not just output.
Expect discomfort – Breaking free from efficiency culture feels like you’re breaking the rules. Do it anyway.
The joy is in what you eliminated.
The other day I told Caanan I had a craving for banana bread. My first instinct was to research the Seattle bakery known for making the best. We have a lot of good bread here in the upper left.
And then Caanan suggested that we make it ourselves. Imagine that.
We’re ambitious guys, who have to work hard to stick to our version of a No Vacation Required Life. And, although we consult with others on defining personalized measures of success, taking our own advice and keeping our skills in tip top shape is a daily practice.
So we made the banana bread.1 And guess what? As we’re reminded again and again, taking the time to make something ourselves didn’t kill us.
It didn’t feel like wasted time at all.
Onward & Upward,
Tip: Add chocolate. Lots of chocolate.