Self-study
Most employees spend their time completing unimportant tasks for which they have been given firm schedules and deadlines. █████████ █████████ ████ ███ ██ ██████ ████ ███████ ███ ███████ █████ █████ ████ ██ ████████ ████ ████ █████ ███ ███████ ███ █████ █████████ ██ ███████████ ████ ████ ████ ████████ █████ ███ ████ ██ ███████████ ████ ██ █████████████
Summary
Most employees spend their time doing unimportant tasks they’re told are important. But efficiency is defined as ignoring these tasks and instead focusing on high-risk, high-reward projects.
Find or Complete the Application
We need to find the correct application of this principle. The correct answer will be an example of ignoring routine work to instead take a risk that might have a big payoff.
3.
Which one of the following ██ ██ ███████ ██ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██████
a
spending the entire █████████ ███████ ██ █ ██████ ████ █ ██████████ ███ ███████ █████████ ██ ███ █████████ ███
We’re looking for a situation where routine work is ignored—not where it’s completed. (A) also doesn’t reference what the outcome might be.
b
instead of working ██ █ ██████ ████ █ ██████████ ███ ███████ █████████ ██ ███ █████████ ████ ████████ ███ ██████ █████████ ██████████ ███████ ██████████████ ████ █████ ██ ███████
(B) does bring up ignoring routine work, but it’s not to focus on an important task with a big payoff. It’s to focus on even less important work that could be delayed.
c
deciding to take ██ ██████ ████ ████ █ █████ ████████ ███████ ██ █████ ████████ ██ █ ███████ █████ ███████
In this situation, the routine sales meeting is ignored to handle the important client’s call. It’s risky because there’s no promise that missing the meeting will be worth it, but it could lead to a big payoff if the client is satisfied, which matches our principle.
d
meeting daily with █████ █████ ███████ ██ ███████ █████████ ███ █████████
We want a situation where the routine work is ignored—not where it’s completed. (D) also does not reference what the outcome might be.
e
spending time each ███████ ██████████ █████ █████████ ██ ███ ████ █████████ █████████
The principle is about ignoring deadlines that you’re given—not making your own. (E) also does not reference what the outcome might be.