The 80/20 Rule to Supercharge Your Productivity
In the last blog post we covered what the 80/20 rule is, and today we’ll see how to use it to supercharge our productivity.
How to Apply 80/20 Rule to Goal Setting/Productivity
Step 1. Make a list of 10 goals/tasks you want to accomplish.
Then ask yourself: if you could only accomplish one of the goals/tasks on that list today, which one would have the greatest impact on your life? Circle that one.
Step 2. Pick the second goal/task from the list that you think will truly affect your results.
You’ve just determined the most important 20% of your goals/tasks that will help you more than anything else.
Step 3. Look at the other goals/tasks and:
a) eliminate them ruthlessly
b) automate or outsource what you can
c) press pause on them
Step 4. Focus only on the 2 most important goals/tasks
Focus and Concentration
We often see people who appear busy all day long but accomplish very little. Most of the time this is because they’re busy working on tasks that are of low value while procrastinating on the one or two goals/tasks that could make a real difference.
The most valuable tasks you can do on a daily basis are often the hardest and most complex, but the payoff and rewards for completing them can be enormous.
Before you start working every day, ask yourself: “Is this task in the top 20% of my activities or in the bottom 80%?”
Important: don’t do anything else before you’ve completed the most important tasks. You want to conserve mental energy and willpower for the top 20% of tasks.
If you choose to start your day working on low-value tasks (bottom 80%), soon you’ll develop the habit of always starting the day with low-value tasks, and important work will be delayed.
2 main factors for success and increased productivity:
Focus = knowing exactly what you want to be, have, and do.
Concentration = doing things you have to do without distractions in order to make a real difference in your life.
Examples
CEO
Are you the CEO of the company? You’re surely faced with constant challenges and limited resources. Use the 80/20 rule to choose which projects are most important to your organization and will yield the most results. Then choose which specific tasks your team needs to focus on in order to align with those goals. Drop or delegate everything else.
Salesman
Are you a salesman? It’s important to identify your best and highest-paying clients. Focus on the money makers and strengthening those relationships. P.S.: but don’t neglect the bottom 80% of clients, because you can also work on turning them into big clients.
Entrepreneur
Are you an entrepreneur? There are so many opportunities and interesting projects to do, but you need to implement an 80/20 mindset to help you focus on your strategic plan and spend less time chasing endless new opportunities.
…
Our time, energy, and willpower are finite resources – the 80/20 rule can help us to utilize them the best. Otherwise, we’re going to be slaves to a never-ending list of things and tasks we have to do.
So, if you want to be successful and productive most of the time, do what successful and productive people do. Choose one or two big goals/tasks and work on them all the time, and if you do, it will change your life.
I’m curious, what 20% of your work drives 80% of your outcomes? Let me know in the comments down below.
P.S.: This post is a part of a bigger one called The Best Productivity Systems in The World.
Cheers!
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