How the order half lives: Can micro-efficiencies improve your life?
Simple tiny habits – laying out clothes for the week, eating one of three set breakfasts daily – can help. The question to ask is: Am I using them right?
* Fashion influencer Taryn Hicks from Utah sets aside time every once in a while to tighten the shoelaces on all her sneakers, so she can slip them on without having to untie and retie the laces. “It helps me… just… run out the door,” she says, in a Reel on Instagram.
* Life-hacks influencer Nishant Kasibhatla from Singapore wears a white shirt in every video, so he never has to worry about picking the “right” outfit. When you have systems built around the little decisions, it makes life a lot easier, he says. “You can focus better and be more productive.”
* Gabrielle Treanor, 50, a life coach from Wales and author of 1% Wellness Experiment: Micro-Gains to Change Your Life in 10 Minutes a Day (2023), uses habit-stacking to make chores more seamless. “If you’re putting off the five-minute breathwork, pair it with, say, walking the dog,” she says.
People who build micro-efficiencies into their day swear by their effectiveness, as well as the sense of accomplishment from getting multiple things done in one go.
Eating the same breakfast (or one of three fixed options) or dusting during advertising breaks (“20 minutes of cleaning without it feeling like a chore,” as one Redditor put it) lets one strike items off the to-do list without really having to do them. It’s a bit like having a thoughtful valet, except the valet is you.
It used to be Presidents and corporate billionaires that had to think like this. Barack Obama (while in office) and the late Steve Jobs famously kept to a fixed set of outfits, in a fixed set of shades (suits in blue or grey; black turtleneck sweater with denim jeans) so they could minimise trivial decision-making.
The fact that we feel the need for such hacks is a sign of the changed environment in which we operate, says consultant counselling psychologist Ritz Birah, who is based in London and specialises in workplace mental health. “People are more stimulated, more interrupted and more cognitively stretched than even two decades ago. Social media, constant notifications and the pressure to be ‘on’ all the time have intensified mental fatigue. Micro-efficiencies feel like a way to regain control of one’s time.”
With work from home becoming a more mainstream option, there has been a collapse in the natural boundaries that once structured the days too, she adds.
“Micro-efficiencies, in such a scenario, can help create rhythm where there is none. For many, the small rituals replace the commute and morning coffee in the office as anchors for momentum, focus and emotional regulation,” Birah says.
KICK OFF THE ROLLERSKATES
As with so many of our attempts to optimise, striking the right balance is not an easy thing.
In a world already built for efficiency — coffee machines, automated calendars, labour-saving devices, ChatGPT — what sets micro-efficiencies apart, adds Birah, is intention.
Simple efficiency evolves naturally; ways to improve our lives come our way, and we adopt them. Micro-efficiencies are essentially us trying to balance an overfull serving tray as we dance our way through a large room. Can we pile some of those dishes one in the other? Take some off the tray for a while?
Cross a line, and optimisation goes from stress relief to stress trigger. Now the tray is slightly emptier, but you’re on rollerskates. Stop.
That doesn’t feel right, because it isn’t. The point isn’t to simply do more.
A micro-efficiency is only useful when it helps reduce friction.
Before adopting a new habit, Birah suggests, pause and ask: “Does this help me feel calmer, or more pressured and controlled?”
If the latter, stop and recalibrate. Pair a task with something restorative, such as a walk, or an episode of a podcast. “Don’t exhaust yourself by clubbing tasks that require equal intensity and focus.”
FIND THE ‘WHY’
Remember, adds the life coach and author Treanor, saving time is not an end in itself.
Ask what you’re doing with the time you “save”. If the answer involves a “should” instead of a “want”, it’s possible you are being weighted down by obligation and an impossible standard.
“The time we free up should be for ourselves, to do whatever feels supportive and fun,” she says.
The answer to “What am I doing with that time” should be: “Anything I like.”
This could include something healthy and nourishing, Treanor suggests in her book: a few stretches, some breathwork, “a small act of kindness for yourself”.
“Productivity is often linked to goodness and worthiness, especially for women,” Treanor says. “Being constantly useful is treated like a measure of morality, but it’s not.”
Watch out for signs of rigidity, stress or distress; micro-efficiencies should be flexible.
“When habits start to feel compulsory, when rest feels earned rather than allowed, or when flexibility disappears, that’s the line being crossed. The aim, with micro-efficiencies, should be support, not surveillance,” says Birah.
Some habits may not work; grant yourself permission to experiment, discard and try again.
Consistency is another thing held up as a moral virtue, “but we all have inconsistent energy levels and different forces shaping our lives,” Treanor adds. “Feel free to stop, pause, break with routine. When it feels right, start over. It really is that simple.”
Because the question isn’t: Did I check off every box exactly right? The question to ask is: Am I happy with my day?
* Fashion influencer Taryn Hicks from Utah sets aside time every once in a while to tighten the shoelaces on all her sneakers, so she can slip them on without having to untie and retie the laces. “It helps me… just… run out the door,” she says, in a Reel on Instagram.
* Life-hacks influencer Nishant Kasibhatla from Singapore wears a white shirt in every video, so he never has to worry about picking the “right” outfit. When you have systems built around the little decisions, it makes life a lot easier, he says. “You can focus better and be more productive.”
* Gabrielle Treanor, 50, a life coach from Wales and author of 1% Wellness Experiment: Micro-Gains to Change Your Life in 10 Minutes a Day (2023), uses habit-stacking to make chores more seamless. “If you’re putting off the five-minute breathwork, pair it with, say, walking the dog,” she says.
People who build micro-efficiencies into their day swear by their effectiveness, as well as the sense of accomplishment from getting multiple things done in one go.
Eating the same breakfast (or one of three fixed options) or dusting during advertising breaks (“20 minutes of cleaning without it feeling like a chore,” as one Redditor put it) lets one strike items off the to-do list without really having to do them. It’s a bit like having a thoughtful valet, except the valet is you.
It used to be Presidents and corporate billionaires that had to think like this. Barack Obama (while in office) and the late Steve Jobs famously kept to a fixed set of outfits, in a fixed set of shades (suits in blue or grey; black turtleneck sweater with denim jeans) so they could minimise trivial decision-making.
The fact that we feel the need for such hacks is a sign of the changed environment in which we operate, says consultant counselling psychologist Ritz Birah, who is based in London and specialises in workplace mental health. “People are more stimulated, more interrupted and more cognitively stretched than even two decades ago. Social media, constant notifications and the pressure to be ‘on’ all the time have intensified mental fatigue. Micro-efficiencies feel like a way to regain control of one’s time.”
With work from home becoming a more mainstream option, there has been a collapse in the natural boundaries that once structured the days too, she adds.
“Micro-efficiencies, in such a scenario, can help create rhythm where there is none. For many, the small rituals replace the commute and morning coffee in the office as anchors for momentum, focus and emotional regulation,” Birah says.
KICK OFF THE ROLLERSKATES
As with so many of our attempts to optimise, striking the right balance is not an easy thing.
In a world already built for efficiency — coffee machines, automated calendars, labour-saving devices, ChatGPT — what sets micro-efficiencies apart, adds Birah, is intention.
Simple efficiency evolves naturally; ways to improve our lives come our way, and we adopt them. Micro-efficiencies are essentially us trying to balance an overfull serving tray as we dance our way through a large room. Can we pile some of those dishes one in the other? Take some off the tray for a while?
Cross a line, and optimisation goes from stress relief to stress trigger. Now the tray is slightly emptier, but you’re on rollerskates. Stop.
That doesn’t feel right, because it isn’t. The point isn’t to simply do more.
A micro-efficiency is only useful when it helps reduce friction.
Before adopting a new habit, Birah suggests, pause and ask: “Does this help me feel calmer, or more pressured and controlled?”
If the latter, stop and recalibrate. Pair a task with something restorative, such as a walk, or an episode of a podcast. “Don’t exhaust yourself by clubbing tasks that require equal intensity and focus.”
FIND THE ‘WHY’
Remember, adds the life coach and author Treanor, saving time is not an end in itself.
Ask what you’re doing with the time you “save”. If the answer involves a “should” instead of a “want”, it’s possible you are being weighted down by obligation and an impossible standard.
“The time we free up should be for ourselves, to do whatever feels supportive and fun,” she says.
The answer to “What am I doing with that time” should be: “Anything I like.”
This could include something healthy and nourishing, Treanor suggests in her book: a few stretches, some breathwork, “a small act of kindness for yourself”.
“Productivity is often linked to goodness and worthiness, especially for women,” Treanor says. “Being constantly useful is treated like a measure of morality, but it’s not.”
Watch out for signs of rigidity, stress or distress; micro-efficiencies should be flexible.
“When habits start to feel compulsory, when rest feels earned rather than allowed, or when flexibility disappears, that’s the line being crossed. The aim, with micro-efficiencies, should be support, not surveillance,” says Birah.
Some habits may not work; grant yourself permission to experiment, discard and try again.
Consistency is another thing held up as a moral virtue, “but we all have inconsistent energy levels and different forces shaping our lives,” Treanor adds. “Feel free to stop, pause, break with routine. When it feels right, start over. It really is that simple.”
Because the question isn’t: Did I check off every box exactly right? The question to ask is: Am I happy with my day?
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