Doing More With Less!
@AJTrimble1 wrote a blogpost title, “Time does not equal money” which inspired this post which was on my mind for some time. You can read his blog below.
https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/ajtrimble1/blog/time-does-no...
Many of us are familiar with the 80/20 rule.
But do you know how it came about?
An Italian economist, Vilfredo Pareto discovered the 80/20 rule when he observed that 80 percent of the land in Italy was owned by 20 percent of the population. He investigated different industries and found that 80% of production typically came from just 20% of the companies.
The generalization became:
80% of Results Will Come From Just 20% Of The Action...
...which then became known as
The Pareto Principle
So, how does this principle apply to us here at WA?
Tim Ferris, who made “Working Less” his niche, authored “The 4-Hour Work Week” says the following...
"Believe it or not, it is not only possible to do MORE with LESS, it is MANDATORY"
Tim Ferris uses the Pareto Principle in his book, the 4 Hour Work Week to explain that almost always 20% of your actions will create 80% of your desired results.
Therefore, if you only measure results, this means 80% of your time is wasted time as it does not contribute directly to results. If you eliminate this wasted time, you can become not only more productive, but more profitable, and live the kind of lifestyle we really want.
The Pareto Principle, or 80/20 Principle Is The Time Management Skill We All Need...
Eliminate Almost Everything To Achieve More!
- Most people spend 80 percent of their money on 20 percent of their bill
- Most spend 80 percent of their daily time doing 20 percent of the activities
- In business, most spend 80% of their time on work that brings in only 20% of the income
- 20% of your products or services will account for 80% of your profits
- 20% of your tasks will account for 80% of the value of what you do
Less Work Really Can Create More Revenue And Time!
Why Do We Need To Do This?
Most of us are controlled by our sub-conscious mind and work on auto-pilot, often never use any time management tools.
If your actions form the map of where you’re going in life, will you feed them the wrong directions?
In other words, your strategy is important, but the way you implement that strategy is more important.
You must learn how to manage time.
This is why elimination of the 80% is necessary.
The Power of Less
We have a habit of trying to do many things at once.
Instead, you should focus your energy like a sharp laser, burning all obstacles that come your way.
None of your time management tools will work without this simple realization.
More sucks your power. Less increases your power.
Get rid of the non-essentials. The non-essentials in your everyday activities, room objects, wardrobe and so on.
All the things that take your time and attention away from what is important.
This is the best time management skills you will ever need.
How To Get It Done?
The Greatest Payoff
You will have many tasks that take the same amount of time to accomplish.
However, one or two of those tasks will contribute five to ten times more value.
Often, one item on your list can be worth more than the other nine put together!
This is the task you should DO FIRST.
In this case You DO NOT save the best for LAST.
Delegate
I know this will be a hotly contested point for many in WA.
You will say there is no one else to delegate to. Some may say you don't have money to pay someone else to do it.
Sure, I understand that. When you are starting out, delegation may be a luxury.
However, if you are spending 10-hours a day doing $500 per hour stuff, then does it make sense to spend 8 hours doing $15 dollar stuff.
You may want to consider fiverr to get some of these stuff done.
Acquire New Skills
Many of you have acquired new skills you never planned for here at WA.
Some of these digital marketing skills are in demand and you can monetize it. You can surely get a higher paying job if you are in your twenties.
For the older ones, you can consider consulting for laggard industries where you live.
Try to get a retainer for doing some regular work while building your business at WA.
You can build 25 websites. Why put that to waste? If you get a $500 a month retainer to maintain and write a few articles for a website a month, you can do quite a bit since the tech is already handled by WA.
You can create opportunites for yourself just by using your crazy WA skills.
Most People Over-Estimate What They Can Achieve In The Short Term and Under-Estimate What They Can Do In The Long Term!
Yes, you should set more goals in the longer term but less goals in the shorter term. This way you focus on getting things done and set more goals after you have achieved them.
One More Thing... About The Famous Turtleneck
You may have heard this famous story on Steve Job.
The reason for the “turtleneck” wardrobe is “Efficiency.” Steve Jobs wore the same kind of clothes everyday because it gave him more mental bandwidth to use on high-level pursuits like designing iPhones and creating his “one more thing”.
Because no matter how much you accomplish, there’s always room for “one more thing.”
That’s how human beings are. We crave progress. And in order to do that you must know how to manage time.
So,
What can you ELIMINATE that is taking up MOST of your time for LITTLE reward?
What are the 20% that is producing 80% of the results for you?
What are the 80% that are not producing results that you need to eliminate?
Richard Koch, The author of The 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Achieving More with Less quoted the following in his book.
“It may be that you will be happiest in the rat race; perhaps, like me, you are basically a rat.”
“The way to create something great is to create something simple.”
“The key is to work out the few things that are really important, and the few methods that will give us what we really want.”
Really something to think about...
What about you?
Please share your experience with us.
Recent Comments
31
The secret of earning is leveraging and using the smartest route. It must have strategies to carry on the result of an effective way of working less and producing more. thanks for an insightful message.
Wow great post Stanley and a timely reminder of the 80/20 rule that I've lived my life by. Now I realise why I can get so much done in a short time. I'm always picking the 80% return tasks and doing them first. Heard this one back in the 80's training in Sydney, integrated it and now it's auto respond.
Guess it really works when you're a musician. Always must learn songs with a gig deadline. Can't waste time or you will look a fool.
Great incentive.
Thanks
Lily 😊😊
Wow! Thanks for the shout out, Stanley. I appreciate it :-)
I agree 100% with everything you have here. I know sometimes Tim catches grief over the whole 4-hour thing (like he cares, right? lol), but as you noted,
While he might have made it "popular", the Pareto Principle was around before he came along.
I sometimes work as a business coach/consultant, and T4HWW -- along with Rich Dad, Poor Dad -- is one of the books I basically require my students read.
Great article. Thanks for sharing :-)
I read Rich Dad, Poor Dad like more than 15 years ago. Great book and you can finish in one seating.
Hi Stanley. I'll have to look further into this 80 / 20 Rule. It sounds interesting. I do know a fair bit about delegating. I was fortunate enough to have known a fellow who became quite wealthy using the delegation principle. When he was young he lived in the same town as me, his parents were struggling dairy farmers. One day the dairy industry completely flopped and more st farmer's simply quit. He talked his parents into taking a grant being offered by the government and built a milk, yoghurt, cheese producing factory. This factory worked on organic natural principles. It saved his parents farm and many others that soon supplied him. He left the business in the hands of a capable manager and started another business. He now has as about five successfull business's. When asked how he achieved all this he said 'Its all about knowing when to walk away and leave someone else in charge. ' Jim
You pointed out some great real experiences there, Jim. We are conditioned to look at work as required for success. However, there is also a saying, "work expands to fill time available." if you are exchanging time for money, you will do that naturally. As an entrepreneur, you want to focus on what matters most, gives you best results both short and long term. Delegating and outsourcing is one way to help free up time to focus on what matters most.
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Excellent post Stanley, I had heard of the 80/20 rule before, but now that I am in the business of making my own money its seems much more relevant.
I may need to adjust how I manage the allotted time that I have available to work on WA and website building so that it is utilised more efficiently!
Thanks again Stanley for this great post, Julie Anne 👍
Sometimes what we learn may not become useful until a later time. I am glad you found an opportunity to apply this knowledge.