How To Flip The 80 20 Rule
If there's one formula for success,
it definitely has to be the 80 20 rule. Basically, the 80 20 rule says
that
20% of the effort accounts for 80% of the results. Other
variations of this rule...
- 20% of the people have 80% of the wealth
- 20% of customers account for 80% of the profits
- 20% of the sales people make 80% of the sales
- Etc. Etc.
Do
these things hold true all of the time? Of course not! Sometimes 25% of
the people have 80% of the wealth. Or maybe even 10%. The point is that
almost always, the few critical inputs account for an overwhelming
majority of the outputs. And that's what this article is about...
How can we flip the 80 20 rule so we are doing the 20% that matters
most, as opposed to the 80% that accounts for very little?
There
are, of course, a number of ways to do so. Too many ways to cover here.
Which is why you will need to use the items below as a way to stir up
ideas of your own. As you read
these, think about how you can narrow your focus to only doing the most
important things. The 20% that will lead to 80% of your happiness.
Look For The Short Cut, Rather Than The Full Course
One of my favorite stories about taking short cuts comes from Michael
Dell, the founder of Dell computers.
When Michael was in high school, he worked for
The Houston Post selling
newspapers. Basically, he was instructed to take an A-Z list of people
that didn't have a subscription to the newspaper and try to convince
them that they should. Michael thought this was a poor way of doing
things so he came up with a plan of his own...
He researched and noticed that almost all new subscribers were either
newlyweds or people
that had recently bought a new home. He then found out how to get a
list of people with new mortgages and wedding liscenses and started
going after people that fell in these two categories.
The following school year, his
economics teacher had a project where they had to pretend to file their
taxes. Stunned in disbelief, Michael's $18,000 he made over the summer
selling newspapers was more than the teach had made all year!
Michael
has applied the same "short cut" attitude to his computer business. By
eliminating the middle man (aka retailers), he was able to sell
computers far faster cheaper than anybody else.
Do what Michael Dell did, find the short cut. Break free of traditional
thinking and see if there are loopholes in the system.
It only takes one discovery to make yourself a fortune. Even if it is
just selling newspapers.
Excel In Few Things, Rather Than Be Just Good At Many
Going
along the 80 20 theme, 20% of the people in a company make 80% of the
money. 20% of the movies at the theatre this weekend will be watched by
80%
of the people. The point is...
Being the best at one thing is
ten
times better
than being pretty good at a number of different things. Michael Jordan
earned way more than the guy that was on the end of the bench. That's
because when you are the best at what you do, you make yourself an
irreplacable assett to those that need that particular service.
Whatever
it is you decide to be in life, strive to become the absolute best in
the world at it. Read every book. Discover every secret. Become the
person that everybody else has to turn to for advice.
Focus On Efficiency, Rather Than Time Spent
This
is something that I continue to struggle with all of the time. It truly
doesn't matter how much time you spend on something. All that
really matters is
what you get done.
The
80 20 rule is all about maximizing output. So it makes no difference
whether you worked on a project for an hour or ten hours, all that
matters is that it gets done.
When you are working, always have
the mindset of finishing important tasks. I find rewards systems to be
key in developing this habit. Allow yourself a break as soon as soon as
you get
a small project completed. That way, your mind focuses on actually
getting it done!
I'll let you use your own creative imagination
on this one. Do whatever it takes to get yourself to think about
results as opposed to time spent. Remember, just because you spent
eight hours
viciously flipping through papers doesn't mean you did anything useful.
Delegate Or Outsource As Much As Possible In Your Daily
Life
Pay
extra attention to this if you consider yourself the do-it-yourself
type. For the first 23 years of my life, I absolutely lived by this
attitude and philsophy. I constantly said to myself...
"If you want something done right, you better do it yourself."
There's
a huge problem with this philosophy though. Because on many occasions
you need to settle for less than perfect so you can focus your time and
attention on more important things. Take this as an example...
Let's
say that you're behind at work and you are thinking about make
up some lost time by coming in on Saturday. And for the sake of
example, let's say that every hour you work you get paid $20 USD.
Unfortunately, you absolutely
have
to
clean the house and pull the weeds in the garden. Which you've been
planning to do all week. But these activities are only valued at $10 an
hour. The kid down the street would be more than willing to do these
things for you at that rate
With this example, it makes complete
sense to hire someone to do the yard/house work so you can go into
work. After all, that work is valued at $20 an hour compared to just
$10 for the house work.
This is something you need to learn to do more often. If a
task you do often is of very low value, why not have somebody else do
it so you can spend your time doing something else that is far more
valuable?
Only Do What You Are The Best At And Enjoy The Most
This piece of advice involves a collection of many of the other items.
First, it involves your commitment to being
really, really good at
one thing as opposed to just OK at many.
Then,
it requires you to focus on doing
only the things
that really
matter. The critical few that account for the most results.
Finally,
after you have those two things under control, it involves you making
the commitment to delegate all of the additional stuff to somebody
else, or eliminating it all together.
If you are really good at
something, it only makes sense that a majority of your time should be
spent doing that one thing. So if you are a brilliant writer, most of
your time should be spent writing. If you are a computer programmer,
you should spend your time creating computer programs.
All of the non essential, low yield tasks should be delegated to
somebody else.
Having a virtual assistant is something that I would recommend for a
lot of people.
/Did you know that you can go on places like
Get A Freelancer and hire a
virtual assistant $1-4 an hour to do basically whatever you tell them
to? I highly encourage you sign up right now and give it a try. Make a
new project that says "Virtual Assistant Wanted" and within 15 minutes
you'll have several people waiting to work for you.
Anything that can be done via phone or computer can be outsourced. Stop
doing time consuming work that is of little value and start outsourcing
it.
Go After The Few Goals That Really Matter
If you haven't picked up on it yet, narrowing your focus is one of the
biggest keys to flipping the 80 20 rule in your favor.
When
it comes to goals, choose one (maybe two) 6-12 month goal(s) that will
really make a difference in your life. Figure out what that one thing
is and really go after it hard. If you think about it, there's probably
one goal that you have that would mean a lot more to you than anything
else. That's the goal that a majority of your focus should be on.
Strive towards that big goal with everything you have. You'll find that
you get more important things done when you do.
Make The Most Of Those "Lucky Streaks" Where You Are At
Your Creative Peak
Let's
face it. You and I both know that some days you wake up and you are a
lazy
piece of you know what. You sit around and don't do anything. If you're
at work, you have days where you just stare at the wall most of the day
and/or surf the web
endlessly.
To your credit, other days you're a rock star. Everything seems to
flow so well. You get a ton of stuff done and you look back and you're
just amazed at what you accomplished.
These off and on periods happen to all of
us. Some days/weeks we simply don't perform at our best. Nothing seems
to be going our way. And we just want to find the nearest cave and hide
there for awhile.
My only advice is to fight through the tough
times. Because as hard as it is to believe at the time, there's always
light at the end of the tunnel.
The other time is when you can
really flip the 80 20 rule around. The times that come around every so
often where everything seems to be going your way. When these times
come, you absolute have
to take full advantage. When work and projects seem to be
flowing easily, then is the time to put in the extra hours.
Ride
your streak as long as you possible can. Don't assume it's going to
last forever because chances are that it probably isn't.
When I
have days where I'm writing and everything flows naturally, I don't
stop until that natural flow goes away. I do this because I know there
are days where I'll just stare at the computer, having no idea what to
say next.
One unique thing that I've picked up on about
successful people that I've gotten to know is that when they get
interested in something, they really go at it with full force. They
will stay up until 3 in the morning reading everything they can about
their newly discovered subject. They'll forget that they forgot to eat
lunch because they were so focused on what they were doing.
Ride
out the streaks where the motivation is high and the energy is up.
Because if you don't, the excitement fades and you've lost yet another
great opportunity to do something amazing..
Related Success Articles
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8 Ways To Develop Persistence
How To Persuade Someone To Do Something
The #1 Reason Failure Is So Common
The Difference Between Being Self-Employed And Being A Business Owner
Flipping The 80 20 Rule
What Is The Carnegie Secret?
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