Repeating Under-Performance – We All Do It

You are an under-performer.

You are performing below your optimum, I can guarantee it.

There are many things that you do every day that you could do more efficiently, fast and better.

Some inefficiencies are seen, others you are unaware of.

One of my repeated inefficiencies goes like this.

1. A remind pops up on my device to tell me that I’m due to join a meeting.
2. I double-click on the meeting, opening up the invitation
3. I scroll down to find the link for joining the meeting which are somewhere in the text of the meeting:
4. I then click on the link to Join Skype Meeting.

It’s a simple four step process, but it’s a 25% inefficient process if I use steps as the simplistic measure of process flow. Step 3 is nugatory.

That’s not all though, my simple measure of efficiency is missing the fact that the scrolling down activity takes the longest of all of the steps to complete.

I must have repeated this set of tasks thousands of times. They are so deeply ingrained in my process memory that I don’t even challenge them.

So why is step 3 nugatory?

The efficient process goes like this:

1. A remind pops up on my device to tell me that I’m due to join a meeting.
2. I click on the meeting reminder.
3. I then click on the Join Online button that is shown in the reminder and join the meeting: 

It’s a trivial example, but these are the things the we do every day that make us under-performers. Or do they? Is this type of efficiency a good measure of performance? I wonder.