There’s never enough time to do everything, but there’s always enough time to do the most important thing.” Brian Tracy
The 80/20 rule sounds like a mathematical formula and in some ways it is. Don’t fret, this isn’t a lesson on statistics–I flunked that class in college. Named after an Italian economist, Vilfredo Pareto, the Pareto Principle says that 20% of your activities will give you 80% of your results.
For example, 20% of your customers will account for 80% of your sales. 20% of your products will account for 80% of your profits. Businesses have found that 20% of their sales reps close 80% of the company sales.
It has been my experience as a member of organizations, like Rotary, the Chamber of Commerce or church, I found that 20% of the members do 80% of the work.
This principle can also be applied to our priorities. Therefore, if you have a list of 10 things to do, 2 of those items will be worth 5 to 10 times more than all 8 of the others put together.
How can we capitalize on this principle in our daily productivity? All things on our daily “to do” list don’t hold equal value in importance. There is a mix of high, medium and low value tasks on our lists.
I used to work on the low value items first because I could check them off with flair. (Like get out of bed and shower:) Done!
These check marks made me feel productive. However, I often would run out of time to accomplish those tasks that were high value and more important. Those were the 20% items that were usually more difficult that produced the 80% of my results. AND just knowing that I had these more important, and usually more difficult, items on my list would drain precious mental drive. I felt I was spending more energy avoiding these tasks than it would take to do them.
By accomplishing the vital 20% that gives us most of our results, our productivity can dramatically increase, which leads us to more of the results that we are desiring. This also makes us more effective and more efficient, because mental energy and time is not wasted procrastinating the most important. It also works wonders for developing positive self-worth. because you disciplined yourself to get those tasks done!
Spend some time this week identifying the 20%. What are 20% your activities that give you 80% of your results. On the other hand, what tasks do you spend 80% of your time on that bring 20% of your returns (checking email over and over, procrastinating, performing jobs that could be delegated, etc.) What is the 20% of your activities that gives you 80% of your happiness and fulfillment?
List out those things that cause inefficiency in your day. Where can you streamline so you can focus on what’s really important?
Happy prioritizing,
Jan
Jan McDonald
The John Maxwell Team
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