What if I told you that you’re wasting your time? I’m not talking about procrastination, either. I mean, the majority of your dedicated work time isn’t really accomplishing much of anything at all… I’m talking about the Pareto principle which tells us that 80% of your outcomes actually come from just 20% of your efforts. The flip side of that means that 80% of your work time is being spent to produce ONLY 20% of your results. So basically, you’re working too hard. Or, at least, working too hard on the wrong things… Does that make you a little mad? |
| When I first heard it, I was a little frustrated and even tried to prove it wrong, but then I realized the Pareto principle could be exploited to get exactly what I want… more freedom! 80/20 means we can work less (by ditching the ineffective tasks from the 80%) and produce more (by putting the emphasis on the 20% that actually results in cash money sales). The concept, and how to take advantage of it, is broken down in The 80/20 Principle by Robert Koch, our Free Mama Squad book club choice this month. Not so coincidentally, I was listening to this audiobook while putting in mayyyyyybe 20% effort while on vacation during my birthday last month and simultaneously bringing in about 80% of our revenue for May. You may have heard this concept before, and the author gives examples of 80/20 in everything from book stores sales to car accidents, the clothes you wear in your closet to who is responsible for divorce rates. But everything I heard my mind automatically related back to YOU, the Free Mamas. In fact, my team and I often operate off of a similar phrase when evaluating our goals and actions on a quarterly, monthly, weekly or even daily basis: “Input vs. Impact”. In other words: how much effort does it require and how big of an impact is it really going to make? Chances are, the things that you’re worried about in your business (and therefore spending entirely too much time on), aren’t actually the BIG things worthy of your focus. Things like your business name, brand colors, the perfect social media post, or launching a website… So. How do you find and exploit the 20%? I wanted to give you some tips on how I do it: 1. Take an honest look at all of your daily and weekly tasks and identify which give you the most return. What are the most needle-shifting things you’ve done? Where did your last client come from? Where did your highest-paying project come from? What activity generated the most leads? 2. DROP (Delegate, Remove, Outsource or Partner up on) the 80% of tasks that aren’t contributing to the majority of your results. 3. Adjust your time blocking to spend more time on the revenue-generating activities that are actually working for you, instead of just working to work. If you need help doing this, I want to remind you about my Daily 5 productivity tool that helps you focus on the 20%, so you can prioritize your most outcome-driven tasks first. You can download a PDF here, or a digital version is now available on The Free Mama App in the App Store or Google Play Store. The next time you’re worrying about redoing your website again or changing your business name, remember 80/20. Input vs. Impact. Work smarter not harder. If you found this helpful or needed this reminder today, hit reply and let me know! |