The Question That Made Me Rethink Efficiency
Photo by Earl Wilcox on Unsplash
TL/DR:
Efficiency is a good tool, but where you apply it matters more than how good you are at it.
The reward for being efficient at a job is usually more work, not more time.
Some parts of your life you enjoy don’t need to be efficient.
Get efficient at work, chores, and exercise so a bigger share of your time goes to what brings you joy.
Efficiency without discernment risks sucking the fun out of the things you love most.
The Whole Shebang:
“How long did that take you to throw?”, an acquaintance at the pottery studio asked me the other day, about the pot I was holding in my hands. Truth be told, I really had no idea.
I asked why he was wondering, and he told me that he wanted to get more efficient in the studio. More efficient with his throwing. More efficient with his time.
And, look, I’m no stranger to efficiency. I LOVE efficiency (in some contexts). But it’s not something I’d ever thought about at the pottery studio.
Because pottery is a hobby. One I’m obsessed with. One I love. One I enjoy. One I like to languish in.
Anyway, I’m pretty sure that this guy who was asking me wasn’t asking for professional reasons; he was a hobbyist, like me.
And so, his question was curious. And I kept thinking about it.
Why is he so concerned about efficiency when he’s doing something he ostensibly enjoys?
Me? I don’t want pottery to take less time. In fact, I want it to take more time.
I produce so many pots (er, maybe I am efficient in the studio, whether I like it or not!), that one of my goals this year was to spend MORE time on each pot. (Because I honestly don’t know what to do with all the pots, I’ve started asked my kids’ schools if I can supply them with planters because I want to throw bigger, and I don’t have the space, or that many plants, at home. But I digress.)
I’m not in it for the end product. Although that’s a pretty fun side benefit, I’m in it for the process. Because it’s an enjoyable way to spend my time.
One of my favorite things about spending time in the pottery studio is that I get to be totally, fully present and engrossed in the making of something.
I don’t track of time in there.
I don’t worry about how long something will take.
I just set an alarm on my phone so that I know when I need to start cleaning up in order to get home in time for whatever obligation awaits me (and trust me, I need that alarm because with my ADHD time blindness, I’d otherwise just stay in there forever).
But then, I’m just in it.
And here’s the thing:
There’s nothing wrong with efficiency as a concept; in fact, it’s a pretty good one. But you want to be careful where you apply it.
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I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be efficient in the name of “more”. More productivity. To be able to do more work.
For the first 15 years of my career, I worked for other people, and do you know what the grand prize of being efficient was? More work. [Womp, womp.]
In fact, I used to have a boss who would tell people “Alexis can get done in 20 hours, what takes others 60”. I used to think of this as a compliment, but I’m not so sure anymore.
Now, I think about efficiency very differently. I want to be highly efficient in my work, in my chores, in my exercise. Not so that I can do more of these things, but so that a greater share of my time can be allocated to the things that bring me joy.
To pottery.
To reading.
To spending time with friends and family.
To cooking.
Heck, to watching TV.
So, to answer his question, no, I don’t know how long it took me to throw that pot.
And quite frankly, I don’t care to know.
I’m not there to produce as many pots as a I can in the shortest available time. I’m there because I enjoy the feeling of my hands in the mud. Because I like the challenge of getting better at something. Because I love making art. Because I get to chat with my pottery friends. None of those are things that get more enjoyable with efficiency.
There’s a danger in efficiency without discernment, efficiency for efficiency’s sake. It’s that you risk sucking the fun out of the things you enjoy.
And I don’t know about you, but I want as much of my time to be joyful as possible.
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