Efficacy Over Efficiency: It's All Relative, Really

French electronic music duo Daft Punk inadvertently wrote the anthem of modernity with the lyrics:

Work it, make it
Do it, makes us
Harder, better
Faster, stronger
More than, hour
Hour, never
Ever, after
Work is, over
Work it, make it
Do it, makes us
Harder, better
Faster, stronger.

This celebration of productivity and progress for its own sake doesn’t ask where, how, or why we do this work. In a world obsessed with "faster, better, stronger," we've lost the plot. We're stuck in the means, paying no heed to the end. Just as fast work begets more work, so too does efficiency breed an endless cycle of optimization. But to what end?

It's no use running if your destination is Hell.

Efficiency zealots are like mirages: the greatest trick they ever pulled was to convince the world that busyness equals importance. They seldom stop their hamster wheels long enough to ask why they're running in the first place. 

A pertinent scene from The Matrix comes to mind. Agent Smith's words bear repeating:

I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus.

We've become viruses of productivity, consuming resources without thought to equilibrium or lasting impact. True efficacy, on the other hand, is like common sense: exceptionally hard to find (if it even exists at all). It asks not "How much can I do?" but "What truly matters?"

Mother Teresa, hardly a paragon of efficiency by modern standards, understood this deeply: "It is not how much we do, but how much love we put into doing." Her impact wasn't measured in tasks completed or hours optimized, but in lives touched and hearts moved.

To paraphrase Amos Tversky: It's frightening to think that you might not be productive enough, but more frightening to think that, by and large, the world is run by people who have faith that they know exactly what being productive means.

This took me years to learn: no one truly knows what matters in the long run. The relationship between input and output is comically unjust. A quick, heartfelt tweet can often supersede a massive tome. A smile can prevent a suicide when placed effectively.

So why do we pine for efficiency? We must ask: to what end?

In a world of expediency and affectation, the real act of rebellion is integrity. It's focusing on efficacy over efficiency. It's realizing that slow is smooth, and smooth is fast. 

James Clear puts it succinctly: "In the long-run, prioritization beats efficiency."

This isn't to say we should abandon all attempts at improvement. Rather, it's a call to recalibrate our respective compasses. As C.S. Lewis wisely noted:

Progress means getting nearer to the place you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turn, then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man.

So, dear reader, I implore you: stop quantifying your generosity. Cease comparing your gifts to others'. 

Focus on the output, not the input required, and keep moving forward. 

Remember, growth unchecked is cancer after all. Let's accentuate the positive and metastasize good cells, not malignancies.

At the end of the day, no one really knows what will make the biggest difference. We're all trying our best with the time we've been given—inching forward and groping along in an unfathomable dark. 

With that, be a good steward of your energy, your purpose, your people, and your planet. 

Use the gifts you've been given. 

Perform ordinary acts of grace with a humble heart and good intent.

Because in this crazy, efficiency-obsessed world, true efficacy might just be found in those small things done with great love. 

About the Author

Tom White works as a solopreneur: writing, editing, researching, and ghostwriting professionally for a number of bestselling authors, startup/F500 executives, VCs, and fund managers; advising and consulting on web3/growth/storytelling/customer psychology for a number of different international B2B and B2C startups; and penning a free weekly newsletter on books and behavior, psychology and philosophy: www.whitenoise.email.