Building Efficiency in Life | Succesful and Purposeful Living

June 30, 2025

I like to know the “why” behind any system or concept, and I especially like to know "how." If something is a good thing, it usually doesn’t take long to convince me. But sometimes I grasp and grab at the “how” like a young child chasing that flitting firefly on a July evening.

I like to probe deeper than just “do it this way because we’ve always done it this way.” There’s a reason behind every good thing or process, and I want to know why. So many processes and standards were set years ago by someone who figured out the best possible practice in a setting. “But why…and how?” I want to know.

As a naturally inefficient person, my mind always churns and chugs, grasping for a deeper understanding of efficiency and how to seize that oft-elusive systematic industry, especially in my home. As a more artsy-type of person, I often get lost in the flowers admiring the beauty and soaking in every ounce of joy and happiness. I love to savor the moments, but then life smacks me in the face and I’m met with homeschooling, chores, and a whole list of other “dos.”

Today I want to help you start (or hone) building efficiency in life, especially on the home front. I particularly have other homeschooling mothers who, like myself, are often juggling a wooden spoon in one hand, a pencil in the other hand, the vacuum cleaner with one foot, and with that last spare foot may pump a piano pedal, dig a garden, or simply collapse off that foot out of sheer exhaustion from it all.

The Lord is so kind and patient with little, ole me. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve fallen into a pity-party because I felt so inept while comparing myself with other efficient mothers who have times over the number of children I have and yet seem to run a thriving business, post multiple YouTube videos a week all with perfectly styled hair and stylish clothing. Sound familiar? How do those ladies do it?  

Well, I am certainly not one of those ladies. More often than not, I’m facing challenges just like everybody else. I might not have all the answers, but today I want to share what God has graciously been teaching me. I give God the credit for any wisdom that I can share with you today, and I’m not going to keep these life secrets to myself!

This is going to be a long post, so be duly warned…haha. But I am so burdened to help people—particularly people younger than myself—live this life fully and well to the glory of God. There are so many voices calling to young people today, and sadly many of those voices are not rooted in God and His principles of wise living.

Let’s get started. Fasten your seatbelt…

Before we even get to my “before” statement, I want to share the greatest “secret” to life success. My greatest secret to life success is God. When I put God at the very center and focus of my life, I am successful. When I cry out to Him for wisdom, He gives me wisdom in every area of life, even mundane choices like which items to put in the thrift pile and what color to paint the walls. Every other piece of wisdom that I will share today radiates from God’s wisdom and a life lived for Him, faltering though it may be.

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Before gaining traction in life, whether physically or even theoretically, you have got to “cut the fat” so to speak. You’ve got to get rid of the junk (literal and mental) so that you can successfully deal with the necessary and focus on what’s truly important. Here’s how I “cut the fat” out of my life.

Cut out the extraneous (unnecessary)

Clean out your schedule. I do not jam pack my schedule with activities. I plan about one outing a week for my kids and me and that’s it. Yes, that’s how quiet our lives are, and we love it.

Clean out your house—purge all the unnecessary. I am ever amazed by how few things we actually need to truly live this life. Every single time I go around my house, I find more and more that I’m really not using. Purging is a constant process. I am never done purging. I quit trying to follow “Purge in This Amount of Time” guides and just adapted a constant cycle of purging.

Reduce your home inventory to a manageable level. Don’t have more clothes and linens that you need and more than you can possibly take care of.

Do your duties, and let go of the unnecessary. Don’t burden yourself with what God hasn’t called you to do.

What are your duties for your life right now? I didn’t say “What do you want to do with your life?” Notice I said, “What are your duties right now?” I know that’s not popular in our self-focused and self-propelled world, but as Christians, we have got to come back to “What does the Lord want me to be doing with my life right now? What does God expect me to be doing right now at this stage of my life?”

Recently, I came to a realization that homesteading just isn’t one of my life duties right now. After a text conversation with my husband (yes, we text throughout the day. Are we the only ones?), I realized that we are raising kids right now, not all the meat and produce that we eat. I admire those who can homestead and homeschool without sacrificing quality in either area, but we just don’t have the bandwidth for both ventures with my husband’s full-time job and my responsibilities. Someday, I tell myself, but right now the most important duty in our lives as parents is raising and training our children.

Limit TV and Social Media

Too much television, social media, and gaming have literally sapped the vitality out of this generation of young people. They are frittering their lives away with vain pursuits, all while missing God’s very best plan for their lives. Set careful and thoughtful parameters for yourself for tv, social media, and gaming and stick to your rules. You will be amazed at how much you will develop personally if you quit listening to the world’s voice and start focusing on God’s calling in your life. In case you are wondering, we do have a tv in our home, and the whole family has favorite shows and times for watching. But we set parameters and stick to them.

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After removing the extra fluff in life, it’s time to focus on honing those important adult life skills that sadly many folks have never been taught. I’m thankful to have had parents who invested in me and taught me so many life skills, but even with all that I was taught as a young person, there’s still so much that I need to learn. It’s time to be an adult, put aside my inner feelings of “I don’t want to do this,” and focus on doing the right things.

Sanding my homeschool dresser for a raw wood look! I hope to share this soon in a post.

Find the simplest and most effective way.

So often the simplest way is the most effective way because there are the fewest complexities and the greatest possibilities for success. The more complexities there are, the more room for failure exists.

As a busy homeschool mama, I try to find the simplest road in almost every aspect of life. This is not a cop-out nor is it laziness; it’s wisdom in action to find the best possible way with the least complexities. By finding and honing the simplest methods possible, I’m able to get really good at whatever task or goal I’m endeavoring to accomplish.

I do not embrace the elaborate. Often, the elaborate steals my attention and time from the necessary, and duties are actually left undone when I over-focus on unnecessary details. For all my perfectionist friends out there, this is a hard pill to swallow, but to be successful in every area of life, you’ve got to let go of the unimportant details of life.

For example, two of my children celebrated birthdays this summer. I had thought about not making them write thank you notes (shame on me) until my husband reminded the children of their duty to show gratitude. Knowing the labor involved in young children writing thank you notes, I found online some free, cute fill-in-blank thank you notes that my children could complete in one day.

In the past I made them draw a picture, write the entirety of the card, and then sign it. Phew. That’s a lot of work. My kids would have been tired after one card and then we would not have finished all the cards that needed to be written. By utilizing fill-in-the-blank cards, I kept the scope of my children’s abilities in mind and kept the margin for success wide open. I trimmed the task down to something that they could actually complete in a reasonable amount of time.

Deal with the necessary right then and there.

Don’t wait until later to deal with something.

As much as possible, deal with a task or item as soon as it comes into your hand fully and completely. This is an area of struggle for me as so often I look around and see items that I set down days ago…

For example, this past weekend, I spent about 6 solid hours purging my house. The results of my labor were 1 black bag of trash, 2 black bags of thrift store fodder, 1 box of books, and 2 crates of children’s books for my nieces. Minus the bag of trash, I was tempted to follow my usual pattern of letting the purged bags and boxes sit around until they piled up and reached a critical status—when my brain could no longer stand them and had to get them out the door. But instead, I loaded my kids up in the truck along with the purged items and drove around town dropping the items off at the right locations, and 40 minutes later, my house was that much cleaner as a result of the small investment of time. No piles of stuff sat in my bedroom creating mental clutter for weeks.

Sharpen your skills. Become the very best you can in every area of duty.

Are you a homeschooler? Then be the very best homeschooler you can be. Don’t be half-hearted.

Are you a homemaker? Then be the very best homemaker you can be. Don’t make excuses for laziness and sloppiness but develop and hone your homemaking skills.

Are you a _______? Then be the very best __________ you can be.

Challenge yourself. Don’t settle for mediocrity. Read and research. If something flopped, think through why it flopped and think through how you can do it better next time. Failure at something is only failure if you quit. Failure is simply another stepping stone to success. Get up and try again.

Get really, really good at cooking about 10 meals.

Daily spend time cleaning your home. Challenge yourself to do it better and more efficiently every time.

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I know this post was long. Please know that my heart hurts for those who unnecessarily struggle in this life, and I long to help them. Sometimes what we really, truly need is for someone to come alongside of us and, like a parent, tell us what we really need to hear. All the wisdom that I shared today I have learned through the “school of very hard knocks” and if I can soften someone’s life by sharing these truths, then their lives will be all the better for heeding God’s wisdom.

Do you have any tips or tricks for efficiency? Do you have any hard-earned life wisdom that you’d like to share?

I wish you a blessed, productive, and efficient week!

-Ashley

Personal Disclosure

As the author of Ashley Qurollo Blog, all opinions are my own. Any possible applications are universal in nature, not directed at any one individual or people group. My sincere desire is to help others by sharing what I am learning. Nothing stated on this blog is ever intended to hurt others. Ashley Qurollo, owner of Ashley Qurollo Blog and Website, is not held liable in any way for any application of the ideas and thoughts stated here.

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