The 80/20 Rule of Time Management

Do you feel like you often waste time? That to-do list never seems to get shorter? There’s one simple reason for this… and it’s easy to fix.

You’re spending too much time on cheap work, the tasks that anyone can do. This is referred to as the 80/20 rule: 80% of results will come from 20% of the action. As entrepreneurs, we fall into this ‘I can do it all’ mindset.

When you think of marketing or accounting, they’re skilled jobs that you delegate. But what about those small tasks that take up your precious time – like invoicing, answering emails, and even doing laundry. Your time should be spent doing the things that are linked to how you make most of your money.

Instead of trying to do the impossible, a Pareto approach (the pioneer of the rule) is to truly understand which projects are most important. What are the most important goals of your company and which specific tasks do you need to focus on to align with those goals. Delegate or drop the rest.

Maximise your team by using the 80/20 rule

You can use this idea for building your team. Understand where your growth is coming from. For you as a brand partner, 20% of your downline will generate 80% of total sales and profits. This means you can make 80% of your work disappear.

Take the time now to decide what 20% of your work drives 80% of the outcomes. Here are five tips to help you do this:

Ask yourself what am I doing that could be outsourced and what should I stop doing altogether.

  1. Give in to a little bit of downtime. Pop on some eye-patches and give yourself the mental space to process the day and recover.
  2. Focus on your $1000-an-hour timeslot. This is your most productive timeslot in the day when you do your finest work. Find your timeslot and block it out for your most important tasks.
  3. Don’t feel guilty about relaxing. Downtime is a good thing. It gives you mental space to think and become better.
  4. Make sure you work at your most productive time. This will be different for everyone. Some people do their finest work in the morning, others are night owls.

There are only so many minutes in the day. Use them wisely.

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