Doing More in Less Time

There are a handful of skills that end up forming the backbone of most projects and domains you could care to imagine: reading, typing, writing, reasoning, searching for information, developing an understanding of new concepts, applying those concepts, making decisions, forming opinions (note: this list is not intended to be exhaustive so much as a reasonable starting place). It stands to reason that, because of how frequently these skills are employed, getting faster at them would result in manifold gains in life at large. Yet how many of us take the time to learn how to type properly or rehearse making decisions? 

Developing these skills can enable us to get more done in less time. There are three ways this can happen: speed, efficiency, and leverage. 

Speed is the raw rate at which we do something. It’s most applicable in skills that are primarily physical rather than mental, namely typing and (speed) reading. The focus in developing these skills happens in making sure your form is as crisp as possible. Most speed skills hit a physical limit – at the end of the day, you can only type so fast. Still, most of us could stand to double the rate at which we type or read.

Efficiency is about minimizing unnecessary movements. It comes up in more mental skills that can slip into running in circles if we don’t know what we’re doing: writing, reasoning, searching for information, or developing our understanding. One way to improve efficiency is to record and carefully study the steps in the process and see where the unnecessary repetitions are. Then we can experiment to trim down to the essentials. Efficiency also has a limit: everything has a minimum number of steps that it takes to complete, when all the extraneous steps are removed.

Leverage deals with picking areas of focus that yield the most result. If you’ve ever heard of the 80-20 rule (80 percent of the result comes from 20 percent of the effort), that’s leverage at play. Leverage shows up when we have a wide range of options, like in applying concepts, making decisions, or forming opinions. Developing better leverage involves building up good models of the situation and is benefited by seeing lots of examples of how different possibilities play out. I am not sure that leverage has a limit in the same way that speed and efficiency do: if there is one, it may be our own imagination and experience. 

Another take on leverage is that it is about maximizing work not done. See the old adage, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” By making appropriately future-looking decisions or by putting aside all but the highest value tasks, we can generate outsized returns in short order. And I know there’s no limit on the work we can not-do. 

Speed, efficiency, and leverage are often in play all at the same time in any real world situation. Let’s take, as an example, everyone’s favorite office chore: sending an email. Speed comes into play in that you have to type out a response. Efficiency shows up when we write and rewrite the email (second-guessing is a nefarious form of circle-going). Leverage is present in how what we say will either bring the discussion to a close, or create a spiraling back-and-forth drama.

Thanks to Early Readers: Sean Langhi, Phil Geurin, Nicole Carver