May 19th, 2018
A good friend of mine introduced me to the concept of the Pareto Rule. Some of you know this by moniker the 80/20 rule. Here’s what one of personal mentors John Maxwell says about it…
“Many years ago when I was in college, I learned a concept called the Pareto Principle. Have you heard of it? Essentially it states that 80 percent of our results come from the top 20 percent of our priorities. It matters because I discovered early on that there is never enough time to do everything, but there’s always enough time to do the most important things. Ok, for those of you who are a little slower with your math (like me), let me break it down for you…
- 80 percent of the food at a picnic is consumed by 20 percent of the people.
- 80 percent of the questions are answered by 20 percent of the students.
- 80 percent of the clothes in your closet are worn 20 percent of the time.
- 80 percent of the project is done by 20 percent of the team members.
- 80 percent of income comes from 20 percent of your business.
Makes sense, doesn’t it? When I learned this concept in college, it changed the way I spent my time. I learned two things fairly quickly: I was doing too many things and I was doing the wrong things. I needed to work smarter, not harder, to get where I wanted to go.
As you develop your inner leadership and start increasing your influence with others, it’s imperative that you evaluate your priorities. If you’re managing your time and cramming your days with the wrong things, you’ll stalemate, my friend. You’ll get stuck on managing instead of leading yourself well.