Has your car ever gotten stuck in the mud? You press the gas pedal and the wheels keep spinning, but there is no movement towards making it out of the situation? The more we press the pedal, the faster the wheels spin and the deeper we sink! Most people in this predicament realize its time to find another more effective way to get out. If only we used this logic and application of principles in business and life situations.

Hard work is praised in our society. We play keeping up with “Joneses” among coworkers. Who worked harder, longer hours? Well if Sue worked all weekend, next weekend I should do the same… Did you hear John spent his vacation in conference calls; maybe I should be doing that too! OK, I might be exaggerating, but when did that become the workplace norm? Are you really accomplishing that much more with all those extra hours?

What if more could be accomplished in a shorter period of time? What if focusing energy in the right places could allow you to group similar tasks together, increase productivity and allow maximum creativity and results? It is as simple as putting sand under the tires of your car. Reassess what can do the best job in the least amount of time then there is no need for all the extra effort!  Maximize results, by minimizing effort.

But how? In one word: STOP!  By stop I mean, take a time out to re-assess and stop doing work that doesn’t have to be done. This “time-out” ideally will give you more time to complete the tasks that actually have to get done.

Harvard Business Review (HBR) noted that practically everything is unimportant, but by applying the Pareto Principle, then you can better manage time and focus on the tasks that really make a difference. The Pareto Principle says that in most situations roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. When looking at our own productivity from the “law of the vital few” says HBR, we can cut down 80% of our tasks that are unimportant and will not help to get to our end goals. This 80/20 principle can be used to delegate, focus on individual to-dos and cut out the unimportant. Another way to look at it is, 20% of what we do brings in 80% of the results.

“20 percent of focused effort results in 80 percent out come of results!” ― Vilfredo Pareto, The Power of 80 20.

Harvard Business Review suggests writing down your top six priorities each day, then cross out the bottom five. Work on the first one for 90-minutes first thing in the morning. Every time you’re about to waste time on miniscule things like browsing the internet or visiting your social media pages, write down what you are trying to accomplish to stop you in your tracks. This will allow you to work on what is truly important and waste less time on distractions.

Aside from day to day goal setting, it is important to recognize the difference between what we have control over in our work and life situations. Attempting to give every task and situation at hand 100% of our efforts, will pull you in too many directions. As people, we are specialized individuals. We have strengths and weaknesses, and only have control of so many factors. In the workplace, our “work harder and longer” attitude causes us to take on too much, sometimes outside of our skill set, area of expertise or time constraints. Before we know it we are overworked, underpaid and not accomplishing the tasks at hand. Relinquishing control of all situations and delegating tasks will also allow you to put maximum effort into those things that are most important.

Become more effective and get better results by taking a little time-out to figure out what is really important. Use the Pareto 80/20 Principle and recognize where your control starts and stops. Eliminate 80% of wasted time and work 20% to get maximum results. Not only will you have more free time, but you will also accomplish more. Yes, less can really be more!

© 2012 Inspired Living, LLC

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete statement with it:

Keri Murphy and the Inspired Living team is on a mission to empower people to use their unique talents in a way that allows them to Dream, Live and BE all that is possible through speaking, coaching, celebrity interviews and original on-line content. Get Inspired at inspiredliving.tv