For the past eleven months, I’ve spent "quality time" in physical therapy rehabbing from an ACL tear. And one of the things I've been learning – that I would write off as collateral damage if it wasn't so gosh-darn profound – is that efficiency is not always beneficial.
To state the obvious, efficiency can be necessary. It can be the difference between life and death. But as a rule of thumb, no questions asked, efficiency is not all it's cracked up to be. When it comes to muscles and tendons and bones, turns out they don’t care when I explain it’d be great if they could heal faster. They’re on their own time. And me trying to speed it all up is like trying to haul butt on ice, in heels.
But this has had me thinking…
We don’t know what to do with processes that won’t speed up.
It has been humbling (aka embarrassing) to watch how easily I get frustrated with my knee, simply because it is marching to its own physiological clock.
Developing ideas can work the same way.
And there's a reason:
“Innovation and efficiency are incompatible.”
- Simon Sinek
Some of the most impactful things we can bring into the world won’t develop efficiently. Why? Because they're new. Or because they're an answer to something that's complex. But that doesn’t mean we’re off track. It doesn't mean we aren't trying hard enough. Or that we're dumb.
If those are your only answers to something taking longer than expected, you risk the underbelly of efficiency:
The underbelly of efficiency occurs when our need for speed sabotages our idea's necessary development.
Or, if we were to go a layer deeper:
We often damage what we cannot
fully control.
It comes back to control. We want what we want when we want it. And with so much of life sped up via tech, we're not equipped with the patience needed for innovation.
But what if we were?
What if we valued our ideas enough to let them develop at innovation's speed?
If you made it through this whole thing, props to you. It isn't an easy one. And I know if you're here, you can take a challenge.
So, in closing, I challenge you with this:
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