The 80 20 Rule – Lack of Time is actually a lack of Priorities

🔊Lack of Time is actually a Lack of PRIORITIES🔊

This is a powerhouse of a quote from Tim Ferriss all centered around a simple rule, the 80 20 rule.

I’ve been a fan of Tim Ferriss for a long time. He has built his life, and success, on knowing what to spend his time on. He does this through meticulous use of the 80 20 rule. That is what’s the 20% of activities that will deliver 80% of your results or success. And when you discover that it’s amazing what you can achieve. 

I first came across this in college and it truly resonated with me. When I  got into Lean Thinking in my first job, it completely made sense to me. Determining your value from your non-value – I’ve been doing this exercise ever since then. In the jobs, I’ve worked and also with the clients I work with now. It never ceases to amaze my clients the amount of waste they spend time on that adds no value to their business or their customers. 

But dividing activities within the 80 20 rule is only step 1. The next step is how to stop doing the other 80%?

That’s the real challenge… You will never get there as some of it will always be a necessity for admin work etc…

 But the questions are: 

❓How do you minimise it?

That’s on a business level.

❓What does the 80 20 rule mean on a personal level? 

❓How do you define your priorities?

❓How do you define what you should be focusing on?

On 1 level, that is the challenge of life, on a day to day level though, if I asked you: Have you added real value today? Can you sit down in the evening, content with the good work you’ve done? Or were you just busy?

What would your answer be?

See, we are all great at building to-do lists, lists that just get longer and longer. So much that they become a stress enabler. I’ve been there, I know all about it and I do believe to-do lists can be very powerful when used correctly!

But I’ve learnt to use another list in parallel 

A STOP DOING LIST

This is where you get really up close and personal with your PRIORITIES!

Life is precious, doesn’t it make sense to prioritise the things in life that matter? And ensure you make time for them?

I hope this helps, If you have any questions, please get in touch.