Be more effective with less effort by learning how to identify and leverage the 80/20 principle: that 80 percent of all our results in business and in life stem from a mere 20 percent of our efforts.
The 80/20 principle is one of the great secrets of highly effective people and organizations.
Did you know, for example, that 20 percent of customers account for 80 percent of revenues? That 20 percent of our time accounts for 80 percent of the work we accomplish? The 80/20 Principle shows how we can achieve much more with much less effort, time, and resources, simply by identifying and focusing our efforts on the 20 percent that really counts. Although the 80/20 principle has long influenced today’s business world, author Richard Koch reveals how the principle works and shows how we can use it in a systematic and practical way to vastly increase our effectiveness, and improve our careers and our companies.
The unspoken corollary to the 80/20 principle is that little of what we spend our time on actually counts. But by concentrating on those things that do, we can unlock the enormous potential of the magic 20 percent, and transform our effectiveness in our jobs, our careers, our businesses, and our lives.
George Bernard Shaw put it well. “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”
A good exercise is to work out the most unconventional or eccentric ways in which you could spend your time: how far you could deviate from the norm without being thrown out of your world. Not all eccentric ways of spending time will multiply your effectiveness, but some or at least one of them could. Draw up several scenarios and adopt the one that allows you the most time on high-value activities that you enjoy. Who among your acquaintances is both effective and eccentric? Find out how they spend their time and how it deviates from the norm. You may want to copy some of the things they do and don’t do.
Think about your past achievements that have had the most positive “market” response from others, those that have led to the greatest critical acclaim. What methods worked best for you in the past Which collaborators? Which audience? Looking forward, what could you achieve that would make you proud, that no one else could do with ease?
10 Golden Rules for Career Success:1. Specialize in a very small niche; develop a core skill
2. Choose a niche that you enjoy, where you can excel and have a chance of becoming an acknowledged leader.
3. Realize that knowledge is power.
4. Identify your market and core customers and serve them best.
5. Identify where 20 percent of effort gives 80 percent of return.
6. Learn from the best.
7. Become self-employed early in your career.
8. Employ as many net value creators as possible.
9. Use outside contracts for everything but your core skill.
10. Exploit capital leverage. Two Ways To Be Happier:
1. Identify the times when you are happiest and expand them as much as possible.
2. Identify the times when you are least happy and reduce them as much as possible.
The best way to start being more happy is to stop being unhappy. You have more control over this than you imagine. by simply avoiding situations where experience suggests you are likely to become unhappy. For activities that are very ineffective at making you happy, think systematically about ways you could enjoy them more. If this works, fine. If it doesn’t, figure out how to avoid these situations.
Daily Happiness Habbits:
1. Exercise
2. Mental stimulation
3. Spiritual/artistic stimulation/meditation
4. Doing a good turn
5. Taking a pleasure break with a friend
6. Giving yourself a treat
7. Congratulating yourself
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In I’ll Pray for You and Other Outrageous Things Said to Disabled People, Hannah Setzer volunteers to go first and say the things that we all think, but rarely say. Hannah has lived her whole life as a disabled woman and is here to share her story, though don’t think for a second that this is inspiration porn. In fact, Hannah’s disability is the least interesting thing about her!
I’ll Pray for You is full of…parenting fails,
awkward stories, like that time Hannah fell down a manhole,
discovering and accepting your identity, and
fun, eye-opening real-talk from a disabled woman
Hannah is a rebellious writer, a disability rights activist, and a movement enthusiast. She’s best known as the creator of “Feeding Tube Fitness,” where she often overshares most aspects of her life. She is the owner of Hannah’s Handcrafted, a small business making and selling high quality elderberry products. She’s a big dreamer and most recently founded Growing Inclusivity, a nonprofit aiming to build an accessible playground in Virginia. She lives on a mini farm in Virginia with her husband, her partner in all things, her four boys, who are her biggest fans, and her ever growing menagerie of loyal animals. She is here to instill hope that you, too, can chase your dreams (and your chickens) if you want to. This book of essays from her life aims to do just that!
“I reread my proposal I sent to agents years ago, and I love it. I love the girl that wrote it. I’m proud of the girl that wrote it, but she’s no longer me.”
When you take dreams into your own hands, it means a lot of freedom but also a lot of trusting yourself.
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Year after year, readers pulled me aside at events and said, “I’ve never had a problem starting. I’ve started a million things, but I never finish them. Why can’t I finish?
According to studies, 92 percent of New Year’s resolutions fail. You’ve practically got a better shot at getting into Juilliard to become a ballerina than you do at finishing your goals.
For years, I thought my problem was that I didn’t try hard enough. So I started getting up earlier. I drank enough energy drinks to kill a horse. I hired a life coach and ate more superfoods. Nothing worked, although I did develop a pretty nice eyelid tremor from all the caffeine. It was like my eye was waving at you, very, very quickly.
Then, while leading a thirty-day online course to help people work on their goals, I learned something surprising: The most effective exercises were not those that pushed people to work harder. The ones that got people to the finish line did just the opposite— they took the pressure off.
Why? Because the sneakiest obstacle to meeting your goals is not laziness, but perfectionism. We’re our own worst critics, and if it looks like we’re not going to do something right, we prefer not to do it at all. That’s why we’re most likely to quit on day two, “the day after perfect”—when our results almost always underperform our aspirations.
The strategies in this book are counterintuitive and might feel like cheating. But they’re based on studies conducted by a university researcher with hundreds of participants. You might not guess that having more fun, eliminating your secret rules, and choosing something to bomb intentionally works. But the data says otherwise. People who have fun are 43 percent more successful! Imagine if your diet, guitar playing, or small business was 43 percent more successful just by following a few simple principles.
If you’re tired of being a chronic starter and want to become a consistent finisher, you have two options: You can continue to beat yourself up and try harder, since this time that will work. Or you can give yourself the gift of done.
1. When you refuse to deal in joy, you don’t quit being emotional; you just funnel all that fury somewhere else. Many a troll was born from the heartache of a goal he dared not finish. Maybe a troll is just someone who lost to perfectionism so many times that he gave up on his own goals and decided to tear down someone else’s.
2. When you make a goal, you make a promise to yourself….if you break enough promises. you start to doubt yourself.
3. Cut your goal in half.
4. Strategic Incompetence. Pick something to bomb.
5.
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The new uplifting book from Matt Haig, the New York Times bestselling author of The Midnight Library, for anyone in search of hope, looking for a path to a more meaningful life, or in need of a little encouragement.
“It is a strange paradox, that many of the clearest, most comforting life lessons are learnt while we are at our lowest. But then we never think about food more than when we are hungry and we never think about life rafts more than when we are thrown overboard.”
The Comfort Book is Haig’s life raft: it’s a collection of notes, lists, and stories written over a span of several years that originally served as gentle reminders to Haig’s future self that things are not always as dark as they may seem. Incorporating a diverse array of sources from across the world, history, science, and his own experiences, Haig offers warmth and reassurance, reminding us to slow down and appreciate the beauty and unpredictability of existence.
“The sky isn’t more beautiful if you have perfect skin. Music doesn’t sound more interesting if you have a six-pack. Dogs aren’t better company if you’re famous. P izza tastes good regardless of your job title. The best of life exists beyond the things we are encouraged to crave.”
1. “I used to worry about fitting in until I realized the reason I didn’t fit in was because I didn’t want to.”
2. “Don’t envy things you wouldn’t actually want. Don’t absorb criticism from people you wouldn’t go to for advice. Don’t fear missing parties you would probably want to leave. Don’t worry about fitting in. Be your own tribe. Don’t argue with people who will never understand you. Don’t believe anyone has it all figured out. Don’t imagine there is an amount of money or success or fame that could insulate you from pain. Don’t think there is a type of face or job or relationship that safeguards happiness. Don’t say yes to things you wish you had the confidence to say no to. Don’t worry if you do.”
3. “Words don’t capture, they release.”
4. “When things go dark, we can’t see what we have. That doesn’t mean that we don’t have those things. Those things remain, right in front of us. All we need is to light a candle, or ignite some hope, and we can see that what we thought was lost was merely hidden.”
5. “Forgiving other people is great practice for forgiving yourself when the time comes.”
6. “As the great writer Anne Lamott puts it: “Lighthouses don’t go running all over an island for boats to save; they just stand there shining.”
7. “Silence is pain. But it is a pain with an exit route. When we can’t speak, we can write. When we can’t write, we can read. When we can’t read, we can listen. Words are seeds. Language is a way back to life. And it is sometimes the most vital comfort we have.”
“As the great writer Anne Lamott puts it: “Lighthouses don’t go running all over an island for boats to save; they just stand there shining.”
“Silence is pain. But it is a pain with an exit route. When we can’t speak, we can write. When we can’t write, we can read. When we can’t read, we can listen. Words are seeds. Language is a way back to life. And it is sometimes the most vital comfort we have.”
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As a Virginia Commonwealth University student, I often found change uncomfortable, especially as I am wrapping up my academic career. These moments of transition can lead to unexpected opportunities and help in clarifying your career aspirations – in my case an internship that has shown me what I am interested in.
When considering my next steps in pursuit of a career path, I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to do. Sounds relatable right? When I was searching for internships, my strategy was to be open to a wide array of opportunities, even those slightly outside my main area of interest. What I looked for most was hands-on experience, as I found this more beneficial than virtual positions.
Luckily, an opportunity presented itself when I received an email about open leadership positions in the Public Relations Student Society of America at VCU. Joining PRSSA and immersing myself in it, spending more time meeting new people and making connections, was a crucial step. It was through my active participation in PRSSA that I came across the internship opportunity with Tiramisu for Breakfast. I realized that if I hadn’t joined, I wouldn’t be in the position I am in now and you wouldn’t be reading this.
When I walked into the Tiramisu for Breakfast office for the first time, I was immediately struck by its energy. There was a lot happening in the space, and I found myself enjoying the process of observing and taking it all in. It was fascinating because the office seemed to reflect Christina’s personality. Right from the start, I could sense that she’s a creative, spontaneous go getter. The layout and decor of the office communicated that vividly. Sitting down and speaking with Christina, I appreciated the casual yet expressive manner in which she communicated. It felt welcoming and engaging, and it set a comfortable tone for our interaction.
Looking back on the week, I attended the VMFA Art Exhibition Media Review for Dawoud Bey’s “Elegy” with Christina. I see now that it was much more than just another event. Roaming through the exhibition and seeing those impactful artworks, I wasn’t just taking in the art; I was also picking up on the subtleties of how media and public relations play out in these environments.
In my first week at the internship, I really got a grip on some key public relations and marketing concepts. I started off by diving into TFB brand guidelines, along with checking out big names like Coca-Cola to keep their branding sharp and consistent. Then, I wrapped my head around the differences between owned, earned, and paid media. Essentially, owned media refers to the channels we manage ourselves, like our own websites and blogs. Paid media is all about investing in ads on platforms like Facebook or Twitter. And earned media? That’s the awesome, free exposure we gain when our content gets shared by others. I also picked up on how payment works in agencies, which typically happens after a contract gets inked, following our proposal submissions. Something new to me was the concept of “spec work,” which is working without guaranteed pay, mostly for pitches. And finally, I got to know about Gantt charts, which are super helpful for keeping track of what needs to get done in a project. All in all, this week was jam-packed with learning, giving me a solid start in understanding the nuts and bolts of brand management, media strategies, and the nitty-gritty of client-agency relationships and project planning.
During my internship, my primary goals are to gain a diverse skill set. This doesn’t exclusively include the specific tasks I was assigned, but also involved observing and learning from the overall operations of the TFB workplace. It was important for me to bring new ideas, consistent effort, and fresh energy to the office.
I am grateful to gain more confidence and clarity regarding my future career path. I wanted the experience to help me feel comfortable in professional settings and more certain about my career choices. Juggling academic responsibilities, work commitments, and personal life was challenging, but it was crucial for my professional development. Most importantly, excited to grow alongside Christina!
Motto of the Week: Be Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable
Read MoreI’m trying to find the recording to share.
Some of my favorite bits from my notes (from what I could read of my handwriting 🤪) The book is “Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness.”
I thought I was prepared because I downloaded the audiobook ahead of the event so I’d know what everyone was talking about… until I got there and it turns out the book is a GRAPHIC novel. Lolol My takeaways:
“Before reading this, I would have told you that lol I was is an issue that comes form outside. I’m not realizing that j have a responsibility in my Lo lines to test vulnerability and authenticity.”
“I don’t think we have an epidemic of loneliness. I think we have an epidemic of a lack of vulnerability and intimacy.”
“We are wired as humans for empathy and connection. How do we return to that?”
“We all get lonely, and in that we are not alone.”
“The longer we are lonely, the harder it is to reconnect.”
“To create community, we need to have a low bar for entry and a high bar for conduct.” 🙌🏻👏🏻
In the q&a, I asked what industries need this message the most. They said policy makers and the media.
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My hope for humanity is that we can all find something to love as much as this man on NextDoor loves the Carytown Publix.
I love ArtButMakeItSports on X so much.
We now have TFB tees and sweatshirts in black!
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