Day 76: Efficiency vs. Effectiveness

Visual Analytics By PNNL - Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

I have spent so many years honing my efficiency, getting faster and faster at meaningless tasks. I learned this as a child, spending as little time as possible on the busywork they called schoolwork. I had this down to an art. In eighth grade I did my Earth Science homework each morning on the bus to school, French homework during Earth Science class, etc. throughout the day. In this way I passed the day in compliance, but strategically, so that I wouldn't have to do anything else at home later that night. At the time I believed I was playing the system, but I was simultaneously becoming accustomed to it. I was being trained mostly to show up somewhere at the same time each morning, sit quietly, do what I was told, and repress my own natural interests, feelings, and points of attention. And I was complying with this part of the system.

I was efficient at existing within the system, but not effective at creating my own reality. Efficiency is the art of doing any given task in the quickest, easiest way. Effectiveness, on the other hand, is the art of prioritizing the important tasks. When I am effective, I am separate from the mutually agreed-upon systems in which most people operate - the consensus reality that falsely binds our actions. As a child, I was given sets of false choices. Would I rather have broccoli or brussel sprouts? Did I want to do my homework during school or after school? What about learning what I want to learn, eating what I want to eat, and focusing on manifesting whatever it is I want to manifest? Rather than efficiently moving toward other people's goals, I wish to effectively manifest my own.