Efficiency Is Not a Virtue

Holly Dodd describes efficiency as a worldly notion rather than a Christian value. 

Efficiency is not a virtue. Stop and think about that for a minute. Doesn’t it feel good when you can knock out two or three tasks at the same time? You can finalize that grocery order on your phone while the kids play at the park and then pick it up on the way home from soccer practice. You can catch up on your emails as you sip your coffee. You can listen to audio books on your drive and listen to a podcast on the treadmill. You can listen at 1.5x speed if you want to be extra efficient.

Doesn’t it feel good to maximize your time, especially as the holidays are quickly approaching? Don’t we just love to be efficient?  

Christian Virtues Turn our Hearts Toward God 

But it turns out efficiency is not a Christian virtue at all. There are the four cardinal virtues: prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude. There are three theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity. There are capital virtues: chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, kindness, patience, and humility.

Looking outside our Christian faith, even Aristotle doesn’t include efficiency. Efficiency is a modern notion we use to measure success. Efficiency is worldly-focused.   

Moms specialize in multi-tasking. Surely efficiency is a superstar quality to be striving for, right? For most of my life, efficiency has been important to me. I was good at being efficient. I was good at being busy. I wasn’t always good at having a spotless home or a perfectly decorated Christmas tree. Sometimes I struggled with patience when my kids were bickering or homeschool lessons weren’t going as planned.

Life can feel messy and chaotic, but I’ve always been good at being busy. Being efficient and busy felt like a success even if I felt like I was floundering in other parts of my life. Being efficient gave me a sense of control over the chaos. I was in control when things succeeded and I was failing to actualize my control when things weren’t so good. Striving for efficiency always gave me something to focus on: me. Efficiency is a focus on my skills, my capabilities, and my sense of control. Efficiency was turning me toward myself and away from God. 

Multi-Tasking Can Distract our Hearts from the Things that Matter  

Time is fleeting. Our to-do lists are too long, and we add new items faster than we can cross through the others. When we maximize our time by multi-tasking and race through our days with our to-do lists in hand, we are working hard within our human power to control all the things. Efficiency is all about us and not about God. It’s hard to prize efficiency and place our lives in God’s hands at the same time.   

Efficiency is not a bad thing and certainly has a place in our lives, but it cannot be the driving reason for doing what we do day in and day out. It is so very easy to get caught in this trap. As moms, sometimes we must find ways to maximize our time, but efficiency should not be our motivating factor. Rather, root your days in the true virtues of faith, hope, and charity. Value presence and pause over busyness. Love your people. Cling to God. Fix your eyes on Heaven. These are the the things that truly make a difference.    

Advent is the perfect time to break the cycle. Advent is a time to wait, to be still, and to take a deep breath. Slow down. Wait. Come, Lord Jesus, come. 

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Copyright 2025 Holly Dodd
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