Am I optimizing for too much efficiency?

I observed an action that a teacher of mine took during a sport we were playing. The teacher made a move and wasn’t happy with the results. Aloud, they said they were being lazy. I then asked if they were optimizing for too much efficiency? This comment piqued both of our minds. During our playing of the sport, we were trying to exert as little energy as possible (to manage the economy of the game) such that our output was no longer effective. This made me realize that the pendulum was swinging too far in one direction. I should question the value of efficiency based on the desired output.