Palak Patel: When Efficiency isn’t Enough
Being consistently efficient is at the core of a majority of business models. It is something that companies pride themselves on being and even set it as a metric for quality work or service provided. I like to think that my time as a business student has shaped me to value time– time spent, time earned, and time lost.
No matter what I do in any work place, I always prioritize spending the least amount of time necessary. Up until this summer, this has always been an ideal plan, and has consistently worked out in my favor. I confidently excel and am proficient in a fast paced environment, so much so that according to my resume: “I am a quick learner and value optimizing time and being proficient in all tasks”. Every skill I learn or task I do is subconsciously pair it with trying to do it most efficiently. But if I really think about it, I think to my core I create a false sense of urgency. I talk fast, I walk fast, and I even rush through tasks throughout my day with a nonexistent rush factor urging me to just hurry. Things I do are short and sweet, and just to the point. Simple.
This perception changed for me after my summer internship. I worked for an agency in the healthcare regulation sector. Part of their job was to register all physicians who are allowed to prescribe medications in South Carolina. This means that we had to review the application, and put that information into an online system so that it can then be printed out and mailed back to the physician or their workplace. This entire process took 3–4 weeks to complete and is done by one person who manually types the information from each physical form into the online system.
When I walked into the cubicles of the employee who does this, I saw multiple messy stacks of paperwork spread on every surface, a rusty hole puncher, and I could hear nothing but the keyboards clacking and whirling of the clearly overheated monitor. Honestly, I was uncomfortably taken aback by how old school everything seemed. In my mind, this “mess” that I was seeing was part of the reason why the process takes so long. The first time I saw it being done from start to finish, I thought of a million and one ways this could all be revamped and proficient. Given the volume of applications, I expected a more efficient system– one that didn’t let the process itself cause such slow completion time. When I got assigned to work on entering some of the information in, I was determined to learn, quickly of course,and apply myself to this task, again, making sure to be quick, and overall be very productive. I started to fly through the applications and prided myself on my progress by the end of the hour. As I was doing this, I started to feel bad for the applicants who had to wait so long to receive their licenses, and for the other employees who couldn’t begin their part of the process until this step was completed.
By the time I got done with half of my batch, I realized that I had been mis–entering a part of the information from the application. I looked around in horror at the realization that I might've messed up everything I had completed so far. I stared back and forth from my completed stack, the incomplete stack, and my monitor. I did not know where to begin fixing this. As I was backtracking I told myself that maybe I shouldn’t have been in such a rush in the first place. Maybe if I had slowed down– just a little– I wouldn’t be sitting here retracing every step I had taken. Ironically, in trying to save time, I had ended up creating even more work for myself and spent more time fixing my mistakes.
While I double checked my work I realized that for me, sometimes prioritizing speed, slows down the diligence I have for my tasks. I felt humbled for spending so much energy that day on being quick and “efficient,” rather than focusing on true efficacy. I think there’s something eye–opening about being confronted with your own habits so directly. It forced me to acknowledge that efficiency isn’t just about how fast something gets done– it’s about how well it’s done and whether the process produces a high quality outcome.
Sitting in that small cubicle surrounded by stacks of paper I now had to redo, I recognized a lesson I had never expected to learn during this internship: real efficiency requires patience. In my rush to meet my own internal stopwatch, I had overlooked the value of careful and deliberate work. This experience reshaped my perspective on my work ethic. It didn’t make me abandon my fast–paced nature, but it taught me the importance of balancing speed with intention, and making sure that the work I do is both quick and meaningful.
Palak is a healthcare management major at Lander University graduating in the spring of 2026. After graduating she plans on getting her Masters in Healthcare Administration.