The Efficiency Trap

Winston A. Wilson
3 hours ago
2 min read

I want to start with something I've never fully said out loud in a room like this.

A few years ago, I was in the middle of one of the most productive seasons of my professional life — deals closing, frameworks landing, the calendar full. On paper, I was winning. But I remember sitting in my car one morning before walking into a meeting, and I realized I had been "doing" prayer the same way I was doing everything else. I had a system. I had a time slot. I had a checklist.

And God wasn't on the checklist. He was the checklist.

That's the efficiency trap. We are wired — especially us men — to measure our worth by output. By speed. By results. We close deals. We lead teams. We solve problems before other people even see them coming. And somewhere in that wiring, we start treating our relationship with God like a productivity hack instead of a conversation with a Person who actually loves us.

I've been working with a framework that has helped me slow down without feeling like I'm falling behind. It's called P.R.A.Y.

P — Pause. I stop my momentum. Full stop. I sit in silence and simply acknowledge: God is here.
R — Rejoice. I find one specific thing to thank Him for — not in general, but specific. It shifts my attention from what's missing to what's actually present.
A — Ask. I get gut-level honest. No polished presentation. Just the real request, the real worry, the real need.
Y — Yield. This is where I struggle the most. I stop trying to script the ending. I let God be God — even when that makes me deeply uncomfortable.