Do not confuse efficient action with effective action. To be effective means you are doing the right things but to be efficient means you are doing the right things the right way. Let me give an example most business owners can relate to: Let us say business has slowed down, firing your employees might be the most effective thing to do but is it efficient? When you fire good workers you reduce employee morale and overall long term productivity.

Efficiency thinks long term, Effectiveness focusses on the now. The most physical expression of efficient action I can think of is in personal fitness. Month after month, there are lots of people who go to the gym hoping to achieve personal fitness. But at the end of the year, only about 50% of these people achieve any kind of results. So, what differentiates the people who see results and the ones who don’t? Look at the table below for possible answers:

Both groups engage in effective actions (working out is effective) but only the group that succeeds is efficient.

When I first started my business, I was effective in my approach to working with clients but not efficient. I had no systems to deal with common client issues and so problems usually took longer to solve. I was effective in my approach to dealing with client issues, but inefficient in the sense that I could never grow with my ongoing process. I knew something had to change and I started developing systems that allow me to address client issues relatively quickly. Even though my efforts to address client issues were noble when I first started, my actions were inefficient and the long term results was I could not grow my business. I undertook a lot of actions in the beginning, but all of them were inefficient. Inefficient actions ALWAYS bring about failures.

Taking time to reflect on your actions is paramount to success. From time to time we all need to evaluate our actions and decide if we are being efficient or effective.

Effective actions gets things done and efficient actions gets things done right. While it is good to be effective we also want to be efficient.

Efficient action does not always have to be something big. A lot of times when we think about accomplishing something we automatically turn our minds to doing big things like “superman”. However, one of life’s little secrets is that it’s not the big things we do that make us successful but success is an accumulation of all the little things we do efficiently. Efficient actions do not overlook “little things” For even the tiniest of actions can take you to places you could never dream off. For example saying thank you to your customers, could make them loyal to you. As small as saying thank you may sound, people appreciate those little kind acts.

So now that you know the difference between being efficient and effective, how do you learn to do the right things the right way that is how do you learn to be efficient?

You learn to be efficient by:

1. By learning from others
   
   1. Hiring consultants
      
   2. Reading
      
   3. Listening to podcasts
      
   4. Attending seminars and conferences
      
2. Networking
   
   1. Master minds
      
   2. Friends
      
   3. Family support
      

As an entrepreneur you should never stop learning because the second you stop learning, is the second you stop growing and start dying.

To summarize, effective actions can only take us so far. To be truly successful we need to engage in efficient actions. If you never take efficient actions you will never become successful. For instance if you go to the gym each day and never use the right techniques, you will never tone your muscles. To learn to be efficient you will need to keep learning and put your heart into what ever project you are engaged in.

Here at Lifestyle CPA, I teach you to take efficient actions in your business so you too can be successful. What is the point of starting a business of you never wants to take it to the next level. No matter how big or small you want to become, you need a growth plan. There is no such thing as a stagnant business: a business that is not growing is dying.

Now your turn:

• Are your actions efficient?
  
• What does efficient action look like for you?
  
• Are your current actions going to eventually get you to your dreams?
  
• Do you move from project to project hoping someday you will hit the big one?
  

Leave a comment below with your answers.

……. I wish you a very EFFICIENT day!!!