Effective is doing the right things for the right results. Efficient is optimizing. It’s the least waste of time and effort.

Before you try to be more efficient, first try to be more effective. There’s no point in optimizing ineffective things. I think of this as first asking, “What do I want to accomplish?”, then asking, “Where can I optimize?”

My manager pointed out to me a while back that today’s problem isn’t information overload, it’s filter failure. Here’s a quote by Clay Shirky, New York University new-media professor, writer, and consultant …

What do we do when we get overwhelmed? We we’re up to our neck in stuff, or worse, in over our head, we shut down, compartmentalize, or we channelize.

The military knows this and they know it well, because lives are at stake. Hospitals know this well because again, lives are at stake. Yet this simple pattern can affect us at home or on the job.

I’ve been asking people inside and outside Microsoft what their definition is of … the good life. I think it’s important, so you know what it is when you’ve got it, or you know what is is that you’re chasing, so you can make smarter choices.

I’ve long been a fan of writing things down to free myself up. A while back, a friend of mine got me in the habit of carrying a little yellow sticky pad everywhere I go. It lets me jot things down, wherever I go, so I never have to keep things buzzing around in my head.