Efficiency 101: Optimizing Your Workday

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Struggling to keep up with an ever-increasing workload? Do you or your team find it difficult to get everything done during the workday? This practical course equips you with powerful strategies to boost efficiency and reclaim control of your time.

Working efficiently isn’t just a nice-to-have anymore; it’s crucial to keep up in an increasingly changing world. With the pace of technology and innovation continuing to accelerate, it’s imperative to work efficiently with the right tools and knowledge so you don’t get left behind or slow down your teammates.

This course will help you identify places where you’re wasting valuable time and energy, and offer practical approaches to minimize them. Learn how to maximize personal and organizational efficiency to move yourself, your team, and your organization forward. Discover what an efficiency mindset looks like and why it’s important, identify opportunities for efficiency, learn the habits of highly efficient people, gain practical efficiency tips and tricks, and master efficient communication.


Your Benefits For Attending:
  • Understand what efficiency really means and why it is a key driver of success
  • Learn the habits and behaviors of highly efficient people
  • Discover the power of shortcuts and time-saving techniques
  • Gain tips and tricks to improve productivity and reduce wasted time
  • Master techniques for efficient, clear communication across teams

This webinar is ideal for professionals at all levels who want to regain control of their time, reduce workplace stress, and increase overall effectiveness. You’ll walk away with practical tools you can implement immediately to improve daily performance, strengthen your team’s impact, and create space for growth and innovation.

Level: Basic
Format: Live Webcast
Instructional Method: Group Internet Based
NASBA Field of Study: Business Management & Organization (1 hour)
Program Prerequisites: None
Advance Preparation: No
  1. Introduction
  2. Who I'm Not 00:01:27
  3. Who I Am 00:02:29
  4. Agenda 00:08:23
  5. Time, Money, Energy, and Space 00:09:03
  6. Capacity - Waste 00:10:20
  7. Example 00:11:38
  8. Why It’s Important 00:12:26
  9. Efficiency VS. Automation 00:14:22
  10. Efficiency Mindset 00:20:03
  11. The 5 P’s Of Habits 00:22:15
  12. Be Prepared 00:24:19
  13. Be Focused 00:25:51
  14. Be Resourceful 00:31:24
  15. Be Uncomfortable 00:35:11
  16. Managing Change 00:37:21
  17. Managing Change - No Challenge = No Change 00:38:17
  18. Caveman Meme 00:39:47
  19. Be Organized 00:40:37
  20. Be Influential 00:46:09
  21. Be Lazy 00:49:27
  22. Be Curious 00:51:52
  23. How We Learn 00:54:12
  24. Quote 00:58:02
  25. Keyboarding Fluency 00:58:57
  26. Keyboard Shortcuts 01:02:51
  27. Excel QR Code 01:08:20
  28. Autocomplete 01:09:04
  29. Multiple Monitors 01:13:54
  30. Other Tips 01:16:50
  31. Efficiency Opportunities 01:30:19
  32. Reuse Your Thinking Checklist QR Code 01:32:51
  33. Efficiency Checklist QR Code 01:33:35
  34. Key Takeaways 01:35:22
  35. Did You Enjoy This? 01:37:13
  36. Thank You 01:41:42
  37. Presentation Closing 01:41:51
  • Derek Henry, CPA, CFE

    Derek Henry, CPA, CFE

    Derek is an accomplished speaker, trainer, consultant, and developer with over 20 years of experience in public accounting, corporate accounting/finance, and software pre-sales. Over that time, he has taught, managed, and mentored hundreds of people on how to work with more efficiency, accountabilit [...]

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  • AutoComplete 01:09:09
  • Automation 00:14:36
  • Capacity 00:10:31, 00:12:25
  • Efficiency 00:08:29, 00:14:37, 00:20:07
  • Keyboard Shortcut 00:08:43, 00:58:53, 01:02:54, 01:07:24
  • Overtime 00:13:04
  • Productivity 00:11:16
  • Waste 00:10:47

AutoComplete : A feature that speeds your typing and lessens the likelihood of errors; if the first few characters you type in a cell match an existing entry in the column, Excel fills in the remaining characters for you. Fortunately, you can disable or enable AutoComplete whenever you like.

Automation: Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, mainly by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machines.

Capacity: The amount of time you have to get things done – the amount of time in a day thatyou’re willing and able to work.

Efficiency: Efficiency is the often measurable ability to avoid making mistakes or wasting materials, energy, efforts, money, and time while performing a task. In a more general sense, it is the ability to do things well, successfully, and without waste.

Keyboard Shortcut: A keyboard shortcut is a series of one or several keys that invoke a software program to perform a preprogrammed action. This action may be part of the standard functionality of the operating system or application program, or it may have been written by the user in a scripting language.

Overtime: Overtime is time and a half of what an employee earns for every hour worked over 40 in a workweek. The FLSA salary threshold is the minimum salary employers must pay employees for them to be exempt from overtime wages.

Productivity: The total amount of outputs you produce. It can be expressed as a total amount or a rate. It is the effect, not the cause.

Waste: The amount of capacity time you spend that is not productive (directly or indirectly).This often includes work that is not relevant, whether intentional or not.

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Webinar Survey Overall Rating

This webinar received a total of 4 survey responses. Attendees have given an average rating of 4.5 stars out of a possible 5, reflecting the quality and value of the content presented.

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4.5 / 5
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4.3 Stars
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Reviews From Webinar Survey

Our webinars are crafted to deliver exceptional value and insight to business professionals. Below, you'll find genuine feedback from attendees.

Charlotte C.
February 4, 2026
5.0 / 5
Webinar Rating:
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5.0 Stars
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Useful
Vicki O.
February 4, 2026
4.8 / 5
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4.7 Stars
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Great Job! I enjoyed the class and will be back for others.
Rachael K.
February 4, 2026
4.6 / 5
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4.3 Stars
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no comment
Michele G.
February 4, 2026
3.6 / 5
Webinar Rating:
3.3 Stars
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4.0 Stars
Do you have any other comments, questions or concerns?
He spoke extremely fast.

Frequently Asked Questions

Efficiency and productivity are related but distinct concepts that are frequently conflated, and understanding the difference is foundational to workday optimization. Productivity refers to the total volume of outputs produced—the quantity of work completed. Efficiency, by contrast, is the ability to produce outputs while minimizing waste of time, energy, resources, and effort—doing more with less, or achieving the same output while consuming fewer inputs. A highly productive worker who takes twice as long as necessary to complete tasks is not efficient; a worker who completes tasks quickly but with high error rates and rework is efficient in time but not in quality. True workday optimization seeks both: producing meaningful work outcomes (productivity) while continuously identifying and eliminating the waste patterns—unnecessary meetings, redundant processes, poor communication, and manual work that could be automated—that consume capacity without generating value. Efficiency expert Derek Henry frames this through the concept of capacity: each professional has a finite amount of time, energy, and cognitive bandwidth available in a workday, and the degree to which that capacity is directed toward high-value work versus wasted on low-value activity determines both output quantity and personal sustainability. Understanding where your current capacity is going—and ruthlessly redirecting it toward genuine value creation—is the essence of efficiency practice.
Highly efficient professionals share a cluster of habits and mindsets that distinguish them from peers who work equally hard but accomplish significantly less. They are consistently prepared: investing time upfront to plan, organize information, and anticipate needs—so execution is fluid rather than repeatedly interrupted by missing resources or unclear direction. They are deeply focused: protecting blocks of uninterrupted work time for high-concentration tasks, and resisting the pull of constant context-switching that fragments attention and compounds task completion time. They are resourceful: rather than defaulting to 'this can't be done' when facing constraints, they actively seek creative solutions, leverage available tools, and find alternative paths to outcomes. They are comfortable being uncomfortable: highly efficient people recognize that discomfort—learning new tools, changing habits, challenging existing processes—is the mechanism of improvement, and they deliberately seek rather than avoid the friction of growth. They are organized: structured information management, consistent file naming conventions, and clean digital environments reduce the time lost searching for information that cluttered systems impose. They are influential: they communicate efficiently, with clarity and brevity that respects recipients' time and reduces the follow-up cycles that imprecise communication generates. And counterintuitively, they are strategic about being 'lazy': automating repetitive tasks, building reusable templates and checklists, and systematizing recurring processes so they do not have to re-solve the same problems repeatedly.
Keyboard shortcuts are among the highest-leverage efficiency investments available to professionals who spend significant time working in software applications—small in isolation but multiplicatively valuable across thousands of repetitive keystrokes per day. Studies of keyboard proficiency demonstrate that professionals who rely on mouse navigation for tasks available via keyboard shortcut spend measurably more time on mechanical operations and less on higher-value cognitive work. Mastering the most frequently used shortcuts in core applications—document creation, spreadsheets, email, and browser navigation—typically requires a few weeks of deliberate practice but generates daily time savings that compound to hours per week over a career. Beyond keyboard shortcuts, efficiency tools include autocomplete and text expansion applications that automatically complete frequently typed phrases with a few keystrokes; multiple monitor setups that reduce window switching and reference navigation time; screen recording tools that replace lengthy written instruction with efficient visual demonstrations; and automation platforms that handle repetitive multi-step processes without human intervention. The principle underlying all of these tools is the same: invest modest upfront learning time to eliminate the cumulative drag of repeated inefficient processes. Derek Henry's framing—efficiency versus automation—is relevant here: technology should be chosen strategically, with automation deployed for truly repetitive, rule-based tasks and efficiency tools applied to reduce friction in work that still requires human judgment and creativity.
An efficiency mindset is a fundamental orientation toward work that continuously asks: 'Is there a faster, simpler, or less wasteful way to achieve this outcome?' rather than defaulting to established habits and processes simply because they are familiar. Professionals with an efficiency mindset treat waste—in time, energy, and effort—not as an unavoidable cost of doing business but as a problem to be solved through curiosity and deliberate improvement. This mindset manifests in several characteristic behaviors: regularly reviewing recurring tasks to ask whether they could be systematized, delegated, or eliminated; questioning the value of meetings, reports, and processes before performing them; proactively learning tools and techniques that could accelerate work; and being genuinely curious about how colleagues and industry peers accomplish similar outcomes more effectively. Importantly, the efficiency mindset is not about working faster under more stress—it is about working smarter, identifying the friction points that consume disproportionate energy relative to their value and removing them. The mindset is also perpetually humble: acknowledging that current methods are rarely optimal and remaining open to changing even well-established habits when better approaches emerge. Organizations that cultivate this mindset at scale—through training, tool investment, and cultural permission to challenge existing processes—build adaptive, high-performance teams that continuously improve their collective throughput without corresponding increases in workload or stress.
Identifying time waste requires honest observation of how current work time is actually being spent, which frequently reveals significant gaps between self-perception and reality. Time auditing—tracking actual activity in 15-30 minute blocks for one to two weeks—provides an objective baseline that most professionals find genuinely surprising: meetings, email management, searching for information, rework from unclear initial direction, and task-switching between interruptions typically consume far more time than estimated. With this data, waste patterns become visible and can be prioritized for elimination. Common high-impact waste sources include meetings without clear agendas or decisions (which can often be replaced with asynchronous communication), reactive email management that interrupts deep work repeatedly throughout the day (which can be replaced with batched email processing at scheduled intervals), information disorganization that creates repeated search time, and manual report generation processes that could be automated with template-based tools. The efficiency checklist framework—creating documented protocols for recurring tasks—converts one-time problem-solving effort into reusable thinking that eliminates the time cost of re-solving the same challenges repeatedly. Waste identification is also a team-level opportunity: processes that require handoffs between multiple people often contain waiting time, rework loops, and communication friction that no single individual can see in isolation but that become visible through team-level process mapping. Prioritizing the top three to five waste sources for systematic elimination typically generates the majority of available efficiency gains.