Efficiency dilemma

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Quote: "The more productive or efficient you get, the more productive or efficient you BETTER get."

The efficiency dilemma was probably brought to the forefront of management theory by efficiency consultant David Allen of GTD.

It is essentially the Catch-22 of being good at what you do, or better than anyone else in your office or business.

Generally what happens in the traditional workplace when you are more efficient than anyone else in the office is that your boss stacks more "stuff" for you to do as a reward for your efficiency. There is really no incentive to be efficient when this is the unspoken principle. And if you are so efficient that you are doing a weeks worth in one day, you do not get to go home early if you are trading time for money. Generally speaking, you should probably be running the company- but your manager might even fire you if you are "too efficient." Vertical thinking is generally not allowed in most traditional workplace environments- only Horizontal thinking. This creates a non-creative environment where nothing ever changes and nothing innovative gets created very often. The irony is that vertical thinking allows for purpose which increases efficiency over time.

The ideal scenario is to live a life engaged in (enlightened) Verizontal thinking. (Special thanks to Theme Zoom co-inventor Sue Bell). Most natural born entrepreneurs are absorbed in this state of being.

Also See David Allen
Also See Russell Wright

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