The Secret To Efficient Use of Time and Faster Results As A business strategy

You often hear business owners complaining that they don’t have enough time in the day to get everything done. This is particularly true within startups and other ventures where the owner or founder is also a single person army that performs most of the business functions. Believe it or not, how you perform your daily ritual and personal schedule can be an effective business strategy. Additionally, how to use time efficiently is another thing a business coach can help you achieve.

Most people often forget to take the time to step back and look at what each hour of the day is spent on. This often leads to a demoralizing back-log of tasks with a lot of ‘activity’ and not a lot of results at the end of the day. Learning how to use time efficiently can be a very productive tool.

So you’ve made your to-do list and set your priorities, you should be on top of things correct? Wrong! The effectiveness of your to-do list is subject to a well-known phenomenon known as the Pareto principle or Pareto distribution. This aspect is a very important part of an effective business strategy.

This principle says that 80% of the effects come from only 20% of the causes, or in other words, 20% of what we do generates 80% of our results.

Any good business coach will tell you this principle teaches how to use time efficiently.

This relationship was first observed in 1896 by an Italian economist named Vilfredo Pareto, he observed that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by just 20% of the population.

Over the years this principle has measured and tested and been found to apply not only to the distribution of property but also to wealth and income distribution in general. In our day to day lives we can see the Pareto principle at work everywhere;

• 20% of your marketing produces 80% of the leads
• 20% of your investment portfolio provides 80% of the returns
• 20% of your customers provide 80% of your business
• 20% of your staff produce 80% of your results
• 20% of your daily activities produce 80% of your results

Any good business coach will teach you these principles. There are always exceptions but over time the rule has been found to apply to most situations. Unless we think in a Pareto way, our behaviour and results will simply drift back to the default 20/80 outcomes.

I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.

Confucius

Your daily schedule itself can be an business strategy

Following the advice of Confucious, the best way to understand the principle and have it work for us is to make sure a small amount of time is spent each day identifying the 20% of your activities that matter.

Your Daily Ritual

Here is a quick suggestion to “cleanse” your to-do list and get the subconscious thinking “Pareto” from a business coach perspective:

1. Get clear on what you want to achieve and why you want it. No point in putting the ladder up against the wrong wall.
2. Brainstorm your to-do list and find 10 tasks, you might struggle to find 10 but this will give your brain an exhaustive list.
3. The top 2 or 3 will generally stand out at this point, schedule or delegate these first.
4. Make it a daily practice for 30 days

Sounds simple doesn’t it and over time it will become automatic as driving a car. The benefits will compound as you apply the principle, unfortunately as Pareto observed only 20% of people will do it! This business strategy is taught by many coaches as well!

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