How To Get The Most Return on Your Time This Year

Pareto Principle, formed in the 1790s, says that 20% of our efforts produce 80% of our results. 

This tells us that the relationship between inputs and outputs is not equal. 

The Pareto Principle, named after economist, Vilfredo Pareto, was linked to the relationship between wealth and population in Italy in the 1790s.

According to what Pareto observed, 80% of the land was owned by 20% of the population. After surveying several other countries, he found the same applied abroad. For the most part, the Pareto Principle observes that things in life are not always distributed evenly. We see the effect of this principle across tons of areas. For instance, many businesses and churches will tell you that 20% of the people do 80% of the work. That 20% usually are your high-capacity leaders. Think about what you wear. You probably wear 20% of your clothes 80% of the time.

The same can be said for our personal lives. Most people thinly spread their time instead of focusing on the most critical tasks.

It’s possible for 80% of your work-related output could come from only 20% of your time at work.

Warren Buffet (the greatest investor of our time) said, "Our company's investment philosophy borders on lethargy." What he means is that he and his firm make relatively few investments and keep them for a long time.

He decided early in his career it would be impossible for him to make hundreds of right investment decisions, so he decided to invest only in the businesses he was sure of and then bet heavily on them.

This is where it applies to us and time management. You have a set number of hours for work and personal lives during the week while leaving a margin for unexpected things; where should you invest your time?

This is the discernment and decision part. 

Evaluating your week is a great exercise to figure out where you are getting the most results from your time spent.

Chris Hodges says, "Experience is not the best teacher, evaluated experience is."

Take 30 minutes and look at your last week. Write down what was productive, that as Warren Buffet would say, "you got a return on your investment," and then write down the things that you feel took time, but there was no ROI (return on investment). This helps you make better decisions in the future. 

So, ask yourself the following questions:

• What 20 % of your tasks will grow your business?

• What 20 % of your tasks does your leader, boss, or pastor care about? 

• Which one or two activities are responsible for 80 % of your wasted time? (EX: Skipping working out because you're staying up late watching Netflix? etc.?, Are you spending too much time scrolling on social media? )

Unimportant and small-impact tasks get in the way of important ones that could have a tangible impact on our jobs or personal lives. Why?

Because impactful tasks are usually much more challenging to execute than non-impactful ones. That's why we are automatically drawn to the latter.

EX: It's much easier to edit that sales document and change the fonts and colors than get on the phone and make sales calls.

EX: It's much easier to research meal prep ideas and save recipes on Pinterest than to go to the store and buy ingredients and meal prep for the week.

It's hard to prioritize because the most critical tasks are hard to execute.

They require creativity, discipline, focus (turning your phone on do not disturb), deep work, and other mental efforts. 

Additionally, many times we need to be made aware of wrong prioritization. We're unaware of how low-impact tasks hijack our day, and we automatically let real progress and advancement slip. 

And you already know the problem. Urgent but unimportant tasks and tasks that give you a fake feeling of progress can take up to 80 % or even more of your time. 

"In many cases, we can learn to make one-time decisions that make a thousand future decisions, so we don't exhaust ourselves asking the same questions again and again." -Les McKeown

EX: If you are a leader who is leading people and teams throughout the day, make a one-time decision that you don't do breakfast meetings so you can focus your best time of the day on spending time with God in the morning and preparing for the day so you can be your best self for others later in the day.

EX: Before meeting with someone in the office, ask for a start time, end time, and agenda, and ask what the goal of the meeting is to avoid unnecessary meetings.

Les McKeown says that essentialism is making the wisest possible investment of your time and energy to operate at your highest point of contribution by doing only what is essential.

Returning to Warren Buffet, he owes 90% of his wealth to ten investments.

Sometimes what you don't do is as important as what you do.

In short, he makes big bets on the essential few investment opportunities and says no to the many very good ones. 

This 20% philosophy can be practiced in every area of your life. Your relationships, exercise program, monthly budget, job, etc.

Once you figure out the 20% of the effort that gives you the results you're looking for in each of those areas, "drop your net," there and go deeper.

"If it's a priority, you'll find a way. If it isn't, you'll find an excuse." -Jim Rohn