We have been taught to be careful and thorough. We have been graded on accuracy. We are encouraged to be consistent. But being careful, thorough, accurate and consistent can be time consuming, counter-productive, and boring. There are only 24 hours in a day and we have only one life to live. We will get better results and live better lives if we are careful, thorough, accurate and consistent where it counts, and speedy, efficient, and satisfactory everywhere else. “You can’t be too careful” does not always apply. 

Perfectionism is the first trap to avoid. I remember one of my mathematics professors at Tufts University deducting points from a perfect solution because a half-written, unused, abandoned formula off to the side was wrong. I prided myself on being right, armed myself with a big eraser, and my next exam was truly flawless. Perfect fuel for my perfectionism! Luckily, I eventually learned how unworthy and wasteful this characteristic, and gradually learned to squelch it. I wonder how many months of my life have been wasted trying to make unimportant things perfect. Perfectionism is notorious for driving up effort without improving results.

Consistency is another force with which we must reckon if we are to minimize effort and maximize results. Consistency can save time, improve collaboration, and make processes much more efficient. But consistency can also drive up the effort, causing you to do something just to be complete or because you always have. If you need an example from me of worthless consistency, your eyes must be closed.

A lack of clarity over objectives is the third most common and totally avoidable usurper of time. We leap to solutions before knowing what problem we are trying to solve. We argue about alternatives before we have agreed on what we are trying to accomplish. We create plans with great detail for the tasks we know and understand best, and gloss over the parts where we most need to focus. We control methods when we should be defining outcomes. We tell employees to work harder without clarifying goals and priorities. We satisfy urgency with activity, not the thoughtful pause that would help the most. Only with clear objectives is it possible to make a bee line to results achieved by following the most efficient path.

When tackling projects, wrangling over decisions, or admonishing your employees to do a good job, keep in mind that completeness, accuracy, consistency and activity should never be your goals. Define the desired outcomes instead. And then use good judgment to take every reasonable short cut you can.

Below are a few tips you can begin using today to reduce effort and save yourself time.

When making decisions:

• Be clear about objectives before you deliberate over alternatives. What criteria and limitations are important to the decision?
• Waste as little time as possible on unimportant decisions. If several alternatives are ‘good enough,’ involve few people and little time in making the decision.
• Make decisions once and be done. Precious time is lost revisiting decisions. If you find this happening, you either aren’t clear about the objectives or you haven’t thought through the risks.
• Indecision often festers over the least consequential decisions. Ask yourself, “What’s the worst thing that could happen?” If it isn’t very bad, get on with things.
• Support decisions with the resources and authority that will allow those decisions to be sound and quick. Don’t make qualified people jump through approval hoops, and don’t leave unqualified people agonizing over decisions that shouldn’t be theirs to make.

When solving problems:

• Ask first whether the problem – the deviation from the expected or desired outcome – is important. There are lots of problems that just aren’t worth solving.
• Avoid leaping to solutions before you have identified the cause. Time is wasted daily on ‘solutions’ to the wrong problems.
• Get to the true cause of the problem.
• Eliminate the cause, don’t ameliorate the effect.
• Test drive your solutions before unleashing the fanfare or torturing too many people.

When establishing plans:

• Be clear about what you are trying to accomplish.
• Match the detail of your plans to the risk involved.
• Ask yourself what could go wrong.
• Consider how serious and likely each potential problem.
• Devote your resources to the serious and the likely.

Minimize effort and maximize results is as worthy a mantra as any. Call it lazy, if you like. I prefer to think of it as bringing a laser focus to that which is important and avoiding everything else.