INTELLIGENT AND LAZY
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Identify where 20 per cent of effort gives 80 per cent of returns There is no fun in work unless you can achieve a lot with a little. If you have to work 60 or 70 hours a week in order to cope, if you feel that you are always behind, if you are struggling to keep up with work’s requirements: then you are in the wrong job, or doing it completely the wrong way! You are certainly not benefiting from the 80/20 Principle, or from the Von Manstein matrix. Keep reminding yourself of some of the golden 80/20 insights. In any sphere of activity, 80 per cent of people are only achieving 20 per cent of results; and 20 per cent of people are achieving 80 per cent of results. What are the majority doing wrong and the minority doing right? Come to that, who are the minority? Could you do what they do? Could you take what they do and do it in an even more extreme form? Could you invent an even more clever and efficient way to do it? Is there a good fit between yourself and your ‘customers’? Are you in the right corporation? The right department? The right job? Where could you impress your ‘customers’ with relatively little effort? Do you enjoy what you do and are you enthusiastic about it? If not, begin planning today to switch to a job where you can be. If you like your job and your ‘customers’ but are not coasting to glory, you are probably spending your time in the wrong way. What is the 20 per cent of your time when you achieve 80 per cent of your results? Do more of it! What is the 80 per cent of your time when you achieve little? Do less of it! The answer can be as simple as that, although implementing the change will require you to break all your normal habits and conventions. In every market, for every customer, in every firm, in all professions, there is a way to things more efficiently and effectively: not just a bit better, but a step-function better. Look beneath the surface for 80/20 truths in your profession or industry In my own profession, that of management consulting, the answers are clear. Big clients, good. Big assignments, good. Large case teams with many