Being more effective: the Pareto principle

The Pareto principle states that 80% of the results come from 20% of the effort. Applied to sales, this principle is that 80% of your sales volume comes from 20% of your clients, or 80% of your new clients come from 20% of your prospecting efforts. Perhaps for academics, 80% of their productivity as measured in research comes from 20% of their researching activity. Perhaps for asset managers, 80% of their returns come from 20% of their investing activity or research.

I use the word "perhaps" because there are some activities where this principle cannot be applied. A concrete example is ditch digging: there are not the 20% of digging motions that move 80% of the dirt. Perhaps a consultant selling his analysis skills may get 80% of his income from his selling activites, but must spend the 80% of his time doing the work of consulting (which perhaps give 20% to income from referrals and upselling.)

Research and statistical analysis will find out where the 20/80 principle is applicable.

If the 80% effort is required, then it may be impossible to take action on this knowledge. But I would submit that it is very important to consider if one really cannot take action on this. It may be possible to hire an assistant to do the 80%.

If one could only do the 20% that gives them the 80% results, one could increase his results by 300% if he could do 5 times the 20%, and neglect the 80% effort that gives only 20% of the original results. (80% x 5 = 400%, 300% more than 100%)

The action point here is that someone, (you I hope!), who wants to more efficiently accomplish their goals, should do the above analysis of their activity, and attempt to focus more on doing the effective 20% activity, and neglect the ineffective 80%.

Multitasking and Focus

Multitasking, if done effectively, allows one to accomplish more in less time.

However, studies (as well as some anecdotal evidence) seem to indicate that multitasking is difficult to do effectively, and in fact may lengthen the amount of time accomplish the various tasks.

Here, I propose a method for constraining multitasking to only effective applications. Here are some conditions that may allow for effective multitasking.

Condition one: Is there an element of waiting in your primary task? Are you boiling a kettle of water for tea? Are you waiting for the cable guy to show up? Are you waiting to do an assignment? ;) Then work on a lower urgency but high priority project in the down times. I wrote this article while procrastinating!

Condition two: Is there an element of routine in the activity? If it is a project that requires the use of your hands, and not so much your mind, then find something constructive for your mind to do that involves listening or talking. For example: driving, gardening, working out. Instead of listening to music on your ipod, listen to language learning files, or audio books on a non-fiction topic of interest. Call a friend and catch up. Practice a speech you've been working on. Go over class notes in your head. Pray for God to help you focus on your day.

Things not to multitask on are projects that require a high level of attention. Don't sit down to your desk with 2 seperate projects. Work on one project at a time until you are satisfied with your progress. Then put it away (out of sight, but close by so that if you think of something you should add to it, pull it out, make a note of it, and then put it back) and work on the other project. When you're working on a project on your computer, close everything else that is not related to your project.

Following these basic guidelines on multitasking should improve your ability to accomplish your goals in less time.

Thusly, you will improve your effectiveness and efficiency.

Life hacking

Hey, everyone wants to have their best life, by their own definition, and wants to reach that goal in the most direct route. This can be described as life hacking. The term hacking comes from the early days of computing and is used to describe the act of a programmer circumventing supposed barriers, usually simply because the barriers are there. Some of those activities are deemed illegal or unethical, and I would never encourage anyone in that direction. But to the extent that circumventing barriers in an ethical and legal way that stop most other people helps you accomplish legitimate goals, I say go for it.

For me, this means making the best use of my time and money, as well as developing synergistic relationships with people that can be mutually beneficial in the future.

Why work out for an hour if you can accomplish the same goal in 15 minutes?

Why buy expensive coffee from Starbucks when I can make a great tasting coffee drink for pennies at home?

So that's what I'll be blogging about here, and anyone who wants to add to my posts is welcome to.

Ciao!