Did you ever wonder where the 80/20 rule came from? The originator was Vilfredo Federico Damaso Pareto who lived from 1848-1923. It seems simple now but Pareto worked from the premise we spend 80% of our time on 20% of our progress. You can test it in every part of your life. Marcus Buckingham subscribes to the theory that we should improve our strengths not work on our weaknesses. We’re told that we need to work on those things we don’t do well. Imagine if all we needed to do was to work on those things we did do well.
Busy Being Busy
It’s funny to watch people complain about being busy and a full email inbox and too many meetings. Those are choices. Yes, we all have bills to pay but I wonder if we get some strange pleasure out of reminding others that we’re really busy.
Have you every worked with someone who always seems out of control? They are overwhelmed by tasks no matter how much time is given to complete them. It happens to all of us every now and then but these are people who are always in panic mode.
Pareto Reversed
Leadership is busy work but often the time can be consumed with tasks when it should be spent helping people. Yet we fill our calendars and emails with tasks that can often slow down the very progress we want to accelerate.
It's not easy to do but some of that time spent in meetings and doing other busy work could be spent with your team deciphering strengths and the best way for every stakeholder to both enjoy their job more and spend their time more efficiently. You should also find one hour every week just for you away from everything to work on you.
Perhaps we need to focus on people and less on busy.
Kneale Mann
image credit: gizmodo | original: march 2011
