Unlock Business Success: Harnessing the 80/20 Rule for Maximum Impact

Only read 20% of this email

The majority of our efforts produce only a fraction of the desired results. Identify the few activities that generate the majority of the desired outcomes, and prioritise accordingly.

 Richard Koch

Take a fresh look at exactly what you’re spending your time and effort on. It’s something I review on a regular basis; 

Remember Ben Hunt-Davies (Olympic Gold medallist) and his famous mantra, “Will what I’m doing right now, this minute, make the boat go faster?” 

Translated into your business, the 80:20 rule says that: 

•    80% of sales come from 20% of your customers, 
•    80% of the profit comes from 20% of your products, 
•    80% of responses come from 20% of your marketing 
•    80% of the issues come from 20% of your customers 

When was the last time you looked hard at how you spend your day and asked yourself: “Am I spending 80% of my time doing the 20% of things that will make the biggest difference - and if not, how can I get there? 

Because, believe me, it’s much smarter to identify these things and to focus on them than it is to try and hammer away at everything (which, incidentally, is what most people do and most people, are not super-successful.) 

Try and do everything and, no matter how hard you work, you’ll never get the same rewards or achieve super-success. 

Take a look at what you’ve spent your time on over the past few days. If that’s too hard, then keep a log of what you do, every 10 minutes, today. It can be truly enlightening. 

Once you recognise that 80% of your outcomes come from 20% of you inputs it’s liberating.  And the impact of identifying the key 20% of activities that can really drive your business forward and then forcing yourself to focus on them has a game-changing impact on your results. 

I’m not saying it’s easy – nothing worthwhile ever is – but it doesn’t half make a difference to every aspect of your life. 

Go on. Have a think.   

Identify your 20% and then ruthlessly allot B-I-G chunks of time to those activities.

…and it’s what you should do as well. 

What’s stopping you? 

Have a great week,

Will it work for you? The 80/20 Principle

My steps for success

• Identify the 20%: Identify the 20% of tasks or activities that will produce 80% of the desired outcomes.

• Focus on the important tasks: Focus on the tasks that have the most impact and spend more time on them.

• Eliminate inefficiencies: Highlight and eliminate inefficiencies.

• Use your strengths: Highlight your strengths and use them to create more value.

• Start your day with important tasks: Start your day with the important tasks so you have the willpower to do them. Eat that Frog!

• Use active learning: Use active learning methods like summarising, teaching others, and solving problems.

• Evaluate and re-strategise: After a test or exam, review your performance and adjust your approach if needed.

As always implementation is the key to success. The aim of these blogs is to get you taking ACTION.