Have you ever spent your whole day working like a crazy person—going 90 miles an hour—you never got up from your desk, you never even get a snack, and at the end of the day you realize you didn’t complete even one thing on your list? How frustrating is that? Very. Try this instead.
I use the 80/20 Rule. Not the old 80/20 Rule, my new and improved 80/20 Rule! It works like this.
The goal is to spend 80% of your day in high dollar, high value, good return on investment kind of tasks, projects, and assignments. 20% of your day on the low dollar tasks, projects, and assignments. (Remember, just because it is low dollar doesn’t mean you don’t do it, it just means you can’t spend your whole day doing it.) Most people spend way too much of their time on the little stuff and then don’t have time for the big stuff. The key is to make better decisions about where you spend your time.
There are 3 steps that will help you use your time more wisely and get better results.
1. WHERE AM I?? Identify where your time is currently going. You must know where you are currently spending your time before you can decide how to improve. This is basically a time log. I know what you are thinking, you don’t have time for a time log! I get that, really, I do. Let’s call it a time tracker instead. This version of a time tracker is not a lifetime commitment it is only a diagnostic tool. That’s it, you only have to do it for one week. For one week you need to track where you are spending your time. Write it down—all of it— everything. Every minute of your day. Every phone call, zoom call, email, every looking for a lost file or trying to remember where you left off. Everything. There are no right or wrong answers at this point, remember it is purely diagnostic. Once you have tracked where every minute of your day is going then you can analyze it. It will take you some time each day, but this is an investment of your time. You invest the time now and it will save you time down the road. I promise.
2. WHAT AM I DOING?? Identify which of your tasks are high dollar and low dollar. This is just identification. Think of yourself as a detective and focus on being emotionally unattached. Your high dollar tasks will be the big ones—the job description tasks, the reason you are there tasks, the high value everyone will see it when it’s done kind of tasks. The big stuff. Everything else is just little stuff. Then you will highlight it, circle it, put a star by it—whatever works for you—next to the high dollar things you did throughout the week. The goal is to spend more time doing those high dollar kind of tasks and less time doing the low dollar tasks. Remember, 80% of your time on high dollar and 20% on low dollar. Makes sense, right? But how?
3. WHY AM I DOING THIS?? Re-evaluate your choices. Look to apply one of three choices to every low dollar task on your time log.
First, can you delete it. I know this sounds crazy, but you would be surprised how many things you spend your time on that you really shouldn’t be spending your time on—and quite frankly, no one would notice if you didn’t. In the big picture of your life and your work, it is really important? Prioritizing better is critical to your success.
Second, can you delegate it? Maybe someone else should be doing it. And in the work from home environment—where personal and work time have become one-- this could mean you are delegating to your family—let the kids learn to help. I know this may not be easy, but it may be worth it.
Third, do it in less time. This may sound simple, but if you must do a task—and – it is low dollar—you need to do it more efficiently. How can you shave a few minutes of the normal time it takes to complete that task? And then every minute you save, every minute you shave you INVEST in a high dollar activity. Bam. You are moving toward the 80/20 rule one step at a time.
One of my favorite sayings is stop prioritizing easy and start prioritizing progress. This will help you get there. Go out there and save some time!
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