Brian Tracy - Eat That Frog - 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time
STEP 3 - Apply the 80/20 Rule to Everything
We always have time enough, if we will but use it aright - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
the 80/20 rule is one of the most helpful of all concepts of time and life management. it is also called the "pareto principle" after it's founder, the italian economist vilfredo pareto, who first wrote about it in 1895. pareto noticed that people in his society seemed to divide naturally into what he called the "vital few", the top 20 percent in terms of money and influence, and the "trivial many", the bottom 80 percent.
he later discovered that virtually all economic activity was subject to this pareto principle as well. for example, this rule says that 20 percent of your activity will account for 80 percent of your results, 20 percent of your customers will account for 80 percent of your sales, 20 percent of your products or services will account for 80 percent of your profits, 20 percent of your tasks will account for 80 percent of the value of what you do, and so on. this means that if you have a list of ten items to do, two of those items will turn out to be worth as much or more than the other eight items put together
•RULE - Resist the temptation to clear up small things first
remember, whatever you choose to do, over and over, eventually becomes a habit that is hard to break. if you choose to start your day on low-value tasks, you will soon develop the habit of always starting and working on low value tasks. this is not the kind of habit you want to develop or keep
ASSIGNMENT - EAT THAT FROG
make a list of all the key goals, activities, projects, and responsibilities in your life today. which of them are, or could be, in the top 10 or 20 percent of tasks that represent or could represent, 80 or 90 percent of your results?
resolve today that you are going to spend more and more of your time working in those few areas that can really make a difference in your life and career and less and less time on lower value activities
