I'm a typical guy, which means sometimes I do things "just because." And often, what I'm doing ends up being more work than it has to be.

I get prescription medication, as I have take insulin injections. The pens come in a box where the pharmacy plasters this big sticker on the front of every box. When the box is empty, as with all medications, I like to remove the sticker from the box. But it's not an easy process, at least for me. Trying to pull tape off while everything rips independently and leaves a portion on the box was a nightmare.

One day my wife sees me doing this and I lament at how much work it was to do such a small thing. She comes to me, takes the box from my hand, and rips of the entire top of the box and hands both pieces to me. Done; just like that. And I'm left there looking at both parts of this former box wondering why I never thought to do that after 3 years.

Most of us get locked into patterns that are reminiscent of elephants, who are trained as babies to know that they can't break free from that post in the ground, so that when they become adults they don't realize that they could easily pull away from the post now, being larger, and thus don't even try because of conditioning. We learn things one way, and often don't question those things. And if there's an easier process, we might not figure it out because we're so ingrained in what we're doing that it doesn't occur to us to even look at another process.

This is something I noticed many years ago when I got my first hospital job. The trainer showed me one specific way to do things, and it was the way everyone else did it as well. This was the first time I'd ever used a computer, but after a couple of weeks I realized that two steps everyone was doing were redundant, and could be eliminated completely if one simple addition was done on an initial screen. I thought about telling everyone else, but figured I would hear the "we were taught this way so it has to be done this way" thing and kept my mouth shut. I figured if there was a problem I'd hear about it soon enough.

Not only did I never hear about the problem but my output was so high that I gained notice pretty quickly. Of course, being the only male and the only minority probably should have been enough, but my output was double that of the person closest to me. And all it had taken was an observation of a system and seeing a better way to get it done.

There are times when shortcuts aren't the best way to go. But something isn't a shortcut if you can determine that certain extra steps might not be necessary. That's what efficiency is all about, and the benefits can be drastic. No matter what you do, at least take a little bit of time to look at the process, see if there's possibly an easier way to do it that might improve efficiency, and take a leap of faith. You can always go back to the old way if necessary.