‘Take care of the pennies,’ they used to say, ‘and the pounds will take care of themselves.’ Small positive differences add up to make large important ones.

It’s not just with monetary gains; it’s the same with time-based gains too.

I love the little tips or glimpses of the inside track that I get from people to help me be more productive during my day. It might be a computer keyboard short cut, or it might be something completely different.

Take the gaps between toes for example. Yes, you read that right. We’re all supposed to dry between our toes after a shower, yet sometimes when all our time is tightly accounted for from the moment we wake to the time we go to bed, it seems like it’s one of those things not worth doing, in the rush to get dressed and onto the day. We neglect these important areas at our peril, since such a devil-may-care approach to our hygiene can lead to athlete’s foot, which can be a devil to shift.

Sometimes I can’t be bothered to bend down and do it properly, and sometimes I forget and can’t be bothered to head back to the bathroom to complete this most mundane of tasks.

My good lady has a great save for this, which I shall start doing immediately. She ‘flosses’ the gaps with her socks before she puts them on. Simple, yet brilliant, since people generally sit to put socks on and stand to towel off. It’s therefore a natural step, and a micro-efficient one of genius too.

I’m sure there are lots of other micro-efficiencies that simply don’t get propagated through the population. Next time you floss between your toes after a shower, remember you read it here first :-).