Tuesday, May 10, 2011

The 80/20 Rule Rules!

I recently borrowed a copy of The 4 Hour Workweek from my brother-in-law. I’ve heard a lot about this book and was intrigued by this guy’s philosophy, especially since his passion is traveling and so is mine. It’s all about freeing up time to do the things you really love to do.

On the surface, it seems like a cool idea. But his philosophy is unconventional at best and I disagree with most of it. He is all about living in the now, planning for maximum 6 months ahead, and thinks if you can afford the monthly payment on a $250,000 Lamborgini you should get it. I’m more comfortable with the Dave Ramsey lifestyle – don’t buy anything you can’t pay cash for.

But I did read one thing that I totally loved. The 80/20 Rule. Most people are familiar with the economic applications of this principle: 80% of the wealth is produced by 20% of the people. But he applies this to other areas in life as well, which I think is brilliant. 80% of your stress comes from 20% of your problems. 80% of your revenue comes from 20% of your customers. You get 80% of your really important work done in 20% of the time. You get the idea. The idea is to focus your efforts on the really important stuff, and the rest is just fat to trim off. Genius.  

This is definitely going to change the way I spend my time. Hint - not like this:


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