Our new microwave is efficient. A push of a button once or twice will give you the proper time for most cooking.

The button method works well except when I’m cooking an egg. Eggs require more attention, more individualized time, in other words. A few seconds one way or another is crucial for a properly cooked egg. Eggs are inefficient.

Efficiency is the watchword of our age. Corporations figure out patterns for how people buy products. They program their goods or services for those broad categories. Individualization doesn’t make as much money.

Sometimes efficiency means programming your staff to work their schedules around the schedule of the “majority customer.” Of course, an employee’s needs may not mesh with the efficient schedule for the majority customer: a child’s day care schedule or setting up an appointment with a doctor.

Certain individuals don’t fit neatly into majority roles either: the dreamer who can’t quite get it together; the student who appears dull-witted, yet bursts out with a sudden streak of genius in early adulthood; the person setting aside a well-paying job to work for a nonprofit.

The truth is, individual progress often comes by inefficient fits and starts—trying different jobs before you find the one you’re suited for, wasting time on day dreams until inspiration hits, or taking time away from work to recharge.

A little waste and inefficiency can lead to greater efficiency in the long run.