I’m Not Super Busy; Should I Be Super Worried?
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We’ve had a number of tough weeks in a row. Things are constantly shifting and many of us feel like firefighters. In normal times you’d likely have a breakfast, lunch and maybe a dinner with clients and prospects (and I have to be clear, those meals would be in real restaurants…not your kitchen!). But now you wake up at home and go through the same routine day after day.
Your day is likely spent responding to calls for help that are probably investing in relationships (translation, free work). You call people to check in, but have only a few deals advancing.
Then, strangely, on some days, your email slows, the phone calls stop and slots open up. Suddenly, you are not busy. Your anxiety level rises and you wonder what in the world is happening to your career.
Rest assured, this is OK and actually normal for this abnormal time.
I would like to suggest that before Covid-19. you and I were both too busy. And I come with some high level proof. Meet an Italian economist named Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923). He studied income inequality in England and posited what is know as the Pareto Principle or as it is now widely know, the 80/20 Principle.
In the 1950s US auto manufacturers rediscovered the principle and used its power to improve line efficiency. Then a brilliant business writer named Richard Koch wrote a New York Times Best Seller: The 80/20 Principle; The Secret of Success by Achieving More With Less.
Koch says in his book: “What is the 80/20 principle? It asserts that a minority, a small number of causes, inputs or efforts usually lead to a majority of the outputs, results or rewards. So, most of the output results from a very small portion of the inputs. So, to put this literally, 80% of the outcomes in our life result from 20% of the time we spend. For practical purposes, 4/5ths of our effort, pretty much all of it, is largely irrelevant.
PEOPLE EXPECT LIFE TO BE FAIR AND BALANCED, BUT IT'S NOT
80/20 is contrary to what we expect which is a 1-1 or 50/50 rule. For each amount of effort, we get an equal reward.
The 80/20 principle should be used by every high performing professional. You can achieve much more with much less effort. The principle is one of the best ways of dealing with the pressures of daily life – especially life in the time of Covid-19
There is simply an imbalance between inputs and outputs, effort and reward.
80% of outputs result from 20% of inputs
80% of consequences flow from 20% of causes.
80% of results come from 20% of effort.
Examples from Koch’s book:
20% of customers account for 80% of profits
20% of thieves steal 80% of loot
80% of accidents are caused by 20% incompetent drivers
20% of carpet gets 80% of the wear
20% of your clothes are worn 80% of the time
Auto - 80% of NRG wasted in combustion and only 20% gets to the wheels
Therefore, in any population, some things are bound to be more important than others. There is a big imbalance between causes and effects,
If you realize that a large proportion of results in your life are accomplished by a relatively small amount of inputs, then you can (1) identify those causes that have a maximum impact - your genius - AND you can (2) eliminate or minimize things that are noise in your life.
A few other examples of the 80/20 principle in action:
1% of the words in the English language account for 77% of what is said
When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, the company had over 300 products in its line-up. He reduced that number to less than 10.
Jeff Bezos: "My job is to make only a few very high quality decisions per day."
My personal goal is to pull the right levers and then not be too busy. Cut, cut cut, what can I out of my business life that lets me focus on what I am really good at? Well, Covid 19 accomplished that for all of us. We have the time to focus on the most important things both in our business and in life. I am grateful to get rid of some of the noise in life, at least for a time.
So, you are not so busy? Maybe that is a GOOD thing! Find what you are the very best at doing, and improve that skill now.
When this crisis is over, there will be no stopping you. Vilfredo told me to tell you so.
