Thursday, February 23, 2006

Efficiencies

I'm starting to see a pattern in my life. I've gotten so impatient the last few years. I mean, everything has to be a shortcut or "efficient." I realized this as I was driving home tonight after work. I was cooking dinner for a friend, and had to meet at my house. I wasn't particularly in a rush though.

But strangely enough I'd roll up to the stop sign and barely pause, legally enough, but I realized that I was doing so to be more efficient. Or in my thoughts "efficient."

So I looked up the word. (Thank you dictionary.com)

  1. Acting directly to produce an effect: an efficient cause.
    1. Acting or producing effectively with a minimum of waste, expense, or unnecessary effort.
    2. Exhibiting a high ratio of output to input.
Unnecessary effort huh? Who's judging what's unnecessary? For safety or even pure "pass your driver's test" reasons, I perhaps should do more than pause. I should fully stop, like the blue haired matrons who always end up in front of me.

And when someone beeps in impatience behind me, are they determining unnecessary effort? And why is effort so unnecessary? Why don't we just make the effort regardless of whether it's indeed necessary or unnecessary?

I pondered these questions today and in that unwitting and perhaps I'll change my lifestyle way. Living in Los Angeles may slow that learning curve; everyone here exhibits "efficiency." So does my corporate life. But I wonder if some of the best moments of my life are being lost in efficiency...

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

That's a tough course correction, to be sure. It seemed as though I
could, and probably would, accept a
life of unending agitation, either
at work or at home, just to keep up
appearances and make a mark as a "player" in the game. In the end,
there aren't any big prizes handed out, and it takes on the look of
playing Blackjack for matchsticks.
Would our priorities change, if
mortality suddenly hove into view? If the answer is "yes", then is it
better to sort things out, before
they start shoveling dirt in our faces? Makes me wonder what kind of distractions it will take, to
distract us from our orthogonal
social interactions, so we can get
on with living (without boiling the marrow out of life)...
Bravo, jTLC!

2/25/2006 12:33 AM  
Blogger JadedTLC said...

Alright everyone ! I've got to stop explaining stuff and just say it like it is. And let you decide what it means.. I hope i can learn to be more honest.

3/03/2006 10:19 AM  

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