Efficient or Effective?

I had a bit of a light bulb moment at church last week. The teacher (John Sorensen - he is great) was discussing being Efficient or Effective. Which one am I? I pride myself on being efficient, especially at work. I think of that word often. I am always trying to do more in less time - I want to work fast and hard and get a lot accomplished. I am the same in my personal life. I am anything but laid back. I married Jason to balance me in that area - he is the laid back one. Since going back to work, I have been thinking a lot about being efficient. I have a ton of work on my plate! When I work, I have this low level of stress the whole time because I am trying to work faster and smarter - get through those emails and projects quicker - so I can be more efficient... But, the lesson made me think - Am I being effective? So what if I am efficient if I am not effective in my life. It made me think about "the big picture" of our family. Are we doing the things we should be? John said that money and time are the two resources that we have that are limited - so what we do with them says who we are. It made me think about who I am - judged only by the way I spend my money and time.

I know in the goal planning process (Make a Goal, Plan, Implement and Evaluate), the evaluation step is the hardest - because we are forced to grade ourselves - and no one likes getting an F. I always enjoy this time of year because it gives me the opportunity to reflect and evaluate on how I have done the past year and what I can change and how I can improve moving forward. So, instead of giving myself an F in certain areas (family scripture study) - I will just grade it as "Needs Improvement"