The Simplifier #56 - Developing 80/20 Vision
Welcome to The Simplifier, brought to you by…
Contents:
1. A Note From Shawn
The way of the snowflake
2. Our Featured Quote
by Vilfredo Pareto
3. Article: Developing 80/20 Vision
by PS Head Simplifier Shawn Tuttle
4. Your Simplification Tip
The Packing List
5. In the News
5 Time Management Tricks; Getting Back Into Balance; and Organizing is key for sane mornings
6. Featured at ProjectSimplify.com
New blog posts!
7. Keep Smiling
The Onion
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1. A Note From Shawn
The way of the snowflake.
Watching the snow fall all day yesterday induced such a lovely feeling of peace. It wasn’t noisy like rain, it didn’t shake the house like forceful wind, nor did it send me seeking shade as on a blazing hot summer day. It just fell quietly like it had nothing better to do than spontaneously land in the perfect spot. Good thing snowflakes don’t have a chattering monkey brain fussing over the situation: “How fast should I fall?” and “Where should I land?” and “When should I melt?” Because it wouldn’t matter. All that worrying and they’d still fall, land, and melt as the laws of nature decreed.
Thinking about time management tips and concepts can help reign in our own monkey brains. Obsessing over time management tips and concepts, however, can feed the chatter storm. May the ideas in the words below encourage your monkey to enjoy the peaceful snow within.
Thanks for reading,
Shawn
Shawn Tuttle
Head Simplifier, Project Simplify
Co-editor, The Simplifier
P.S. - Unfortunately, there was one bad side effect from the snow—co-editor Lance’s cell phone (which doubles as his Internet connection) seems to have fallen victim to the precipitation, which held up newsletter production for a day. Thus, a Thursday edition. Mother Nature sends her apologies. ;-)
/—- Workshop Announcement —-/
Introducing…the Project Simplify Perspective workshop series
Do you want
– to know where stuff is when you need it?
– things to get done on time?
– more time for yourself and what you love?
– peace of mind at the end of the day?
– all of the above?!
It can be easy!
Using the Project Simplify approach, take control of your life.
Papers in their place (3-week workshop)
February 11, 18, 25, Mondays, 6-8pm
Zapping the inbox * Containerizing * Breaking down the process
Time in your life (3-week workshop)
March 10, 17, 24, Mondays, 6-8pm
Your time = your life * Attention to quality * Transform avoidance
Stuff in its space (3-week workshop)
April 14, 21, 28, Mondays, 6-8pm
Organize by zones * What stays, what goes * The lifecycle of stuff
Cost:
Sign up for 1 workshop $90
Sign up for 2 workshops $172
Sign up for all 3 workshops $243
Where: Nevada City, CA
Register: call 530.205.5775
email Shawn@ProjectSimplify.com
Led by Shawn Tuttle
More info at www.projectsimplify.com/speaker
Download a printable flyer for these workshops:
Adobe PDF version
JPEG image version
/—- Workshop Announcement —-/
2. Our Featured Quote
“Give me a fruitful error anytime, full of seeds, bursting with its own corrections.”
-Vilfredo Pareto
3. Article: Developing 80/20 vision
By Shawn Tuttle
Who’d have thought that an Italian economist born in 1848 could have big impact on your life today? Stemming from the observation that 80% of income in Italy went to 20% of the population, Vilfredo Pareto’s “80/20 principle” has influenced the business world since it was rediscovered in the 1940’s. This principle states that for many events, 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.
Nowadays, this rule is observed in all kinds of areas:
Social - 80% of your time is spent with 20% of your acquaintances.
Clothing - You wear 20% of your clothes 80% of the time.
Quality control - 80% of the problems stem from 20% of the causes.
Gardening - 20% of peapods produce 80% of the peas
Service business - 80% of your business comes from 20% of your clients.
Your work - 80% of your results are produced by 20% of your efforts.
(Be sure to take these percentages with a grain of salt. Whether the numbers work out exactly, the point that the majority of output is the result of a relatively small percentage of input is widely accepted.)
Simplify with 80/20
Translating the principle into a useful tool, you can apply the 80/20 rule to increase happiness and success. How? Through focus, elimination, and choice. This combination forms a fantastic tool for the dedicated simplifier!
Focus
There are so many ways that focusing on the right activities produce the greatest results. Let the 80/20 rule serve as a measure by which to evaluate your activities.
For example:
If 20% of your offerings produce 80% of your business income… how can you make the most of those? Can you drop the rest?
If 20% of the activities you do produce 80% of your results… which of the rest can you delegate to employees, contractors, or consultants?
If 20% of your Todo list represents 80% of your highest priorities… which of the remaining tasks can be crossed off undone?
By evaluating your how you spend your time and on what, you can do more by doing less.
Elimination
Clutter is anything in your life that isn’t useful or enjoyed. Whether clothing in your closet or items taking up shelf space, if it isn’t enhancing your life, it’s in the way.
If 20% of the things in your house give you 80% of the satisfaction you feel in your surroundings… what could you get rid of?
If you wear 20% of your clothes 80% of the time… what could you send to the thrift store?
If you eat 20% foodstuff in your kitchen 80% of the time, what might be a candidate for donating to the food bank?
In other words, you can increase enjoyment of your home by surrounding yourself with the stuff you use and love the most, and shedding some of the rest.
Choice
Setting high expectations adds to the pressure of a busy schedule. Looking at the 80/20 rule from a different vantage, as suggested by author Seth Godin, if 20% of your efforts get 80% of the job done, and if 80% done can be considered enough, then you can let the rest go.
If a 90-100% clean house is for guests… is 20% effort for an 80% clean house enough for daily living?
If 100% effort for clients sets you apart as a stellar consultant… is 20% effort for 80% completion of day-to-day details enough for running your business?
If you love painting with watercolors and give 100% to that activity, what can you give 20% to for 80% completion so that you’ll have more time to paint?
Acknowledging that some activities are big contributors to your well-being, while others have little consequence can be a challenging experience. However, by choosing what you can lower the bar for in your life, and determining what you want to keep the bar raised for, you’ll make more time for what you love.
Whether applied toward clients, clothes, or just about anything else, developing “80/20 vision” sharpens your focus on what’s important to you. Futurist Joel Barker points out that “vision without action is a dream” while “vision with action is making a positive difference.” Zoom in on the most productive activities in your life and eliminate the things that no longer serve you. Choose when to give your all and when to conserve your resources. Let your 80/20 insights guide the way for a positive difference in your life.
—
Shawn Tuttle is founder of Project Simplify.
4. Your Simplification Tip
The packing list
Getting ready to leave on a trip can be a crazy experience. Between mentally preparing for your destination, packing, and tying up loose ends, little changes of habit can make a big difference.
The smallest change with the biggest impact may well be the packing list. Thinking through what you’ll want to have with you is part of the planning process. Stashing your clothes and toiletries in the suitcase is a part of the doing process. Engaging in both activities at the same time is a sure brain scrambler and stress inducer… which brings me to one of my tried and true mantras: separate planning from doing! You’ll notice that only the last item on the below list is in the doing category, the rest are planning oriented.
Here are some ideas to help you develop your packing list:
- Digitize it! Why start from scratch each time when you can begin with a master list printed from your computer? The master list contains the basics—the stuff you take for every trip. Write down everything!
- Take a little quiet time before your next trip. Sit down with a cup of tea, pen, and master list to think through the activities you’ll be engaging in. What will you want to have with you for these? Write it down in a separate column near your master list.
- If you pack your toiletry bag each time you go, have a separate column on the master list for this stuff.
- If you have a toiletry bag pre-packed and ready to go, remember to restock it before you put it away so you can grab and go next time.
- While packing, cross things off your list as you go. That way, you won’t have to keep scanning for those last few items.
Now you can turn packing from a frantic, “what am I forgetting?!?” activity to a satisfying “check another item off the list” activity. Bon voyage!
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5. In the News
Compiled by The Simplifier co-editor Lance Brown
5 Time Management Tricks (New York Times Blogs)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/2aqr66
Sometimes, less is more. Case in point: time management tricks*. I’d rather have 5 than 500, or even 50. These 5 from Marci at the NYT’s Shifting Careers blog are on point and succinctly covered.
Getting Back Into Balance (Smart Company)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/22uqsr
Suffering from life vertigo? Tables tipping more than you’d like? I’m asking if you’re off-balance. You are? Me too. No worries, though—Smart Company is on it. And they’re smart—it says so right in the name! So we’re good to go. (Phew, right? Yeah, me too.) I kid the Fast Co. folks, but I don’t mean to make light of the article. In fact, you’ll die if you don’t read it. (Eventually.) At the very least, you’re more likely to tip over.
Organizing is key for sane mornings (Orange County Register)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/265kdt
Man, do I love misleading article titles! (And sarcasm.) This article is actually neatly divided into four unrelated sections: the sane mornings issue, laundry, bills, and junk in the trunk. (Of your car.) Each section is itself neatly divided into what to do now, in two weeks, and in a month. (After that, you’re on your own. Actually, I’ll still be here, so I guess it’ll be me and you. At least until my ride shows up.)
*and article intro blurbs. ;-)
If you know of something in the news that should be featured here, let us know!
6. Featured at ProjectSimplify.com
New blog posts!
“Come on let it rain
Let it rain down on me
Let the rain touch my hands
Let the rain set me free
Let it rain down on me”
-Melissa Etheridge
You may or may not have noticed that there was a bit of a post drought on the ol’ blog in the late November-December zone. As someone whose job involves pointing out new stuff on the site, I can assure you I’ve noticed.
I wanted to keep from mentioning it in the newsletter…Why put our Chief Blogger Shawn through such a public shaming?, I thought.
But that was then, and this is now, and I’ve since adopted a more thoughtful approach to the matter. (i.e., Why not?) Still, along with heaps of shame, I must also cast some heaps of thanks and praise upon Chief Rainmaker Shawn, who has hydrated the soil of my discontent with a recent series of blog-showers.
And with the rain comes fruit, which we’ve arranged on a platter below:
Tony was bound to pop up sooner or later
Somewhere between the control freak and the fun lover
The Perspective workshop series
Avoiding co-dependency with clients
(Click a title above to view the full post.)
7. Keep Smiling
by The Simplifier co-editor Lance Brown
The Onion
Mmm mmm mmm, I loves me some satire. And The Onion is probably the best, most consistent source of English-language print satire in the modern world. Which means I loves me some The Onion.
If you’re an Internet veteran, there’s a good chance you’re already familiar with The Onion and their scathingly absurd brand of fake news. The Onion is from the Internet old school. I can place my own introduction to them in the ~1996-97 range, so that gives you some idea. (Of what a computer geek stud I am…I mean, of how long The Onion has been around.)
If you’ve never tasted The Onion, or even if you have, why not treat yourself to a nice big eye-watering bite right now? Or, better question—how did I end up landing at two food service metaphors in a row? I swear it wasn’t intentional. Anyway, might as well commit to the bit, right?
Here are some pungent slices of raw Onion. (Tissues are on the table.)
CIA Realizes Its Been Using Black Highlighters All These Years
Giants: ‘We Almost Beat The Patriots Once, We Can Almost Beat Them Again’
Back In My Day, Being an American Gladiator Actually Meant Something
Bill Clinton: ‘Screw It, I’m Running for President’
Area Eccentric Reads Entire Book
(Click a title above to view the full article.)
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Thanks for reading!
Publication Information
————————————————————————–
The Simplifier is published by:
Project Simplify
P.O. Box 597
Nevada City, CA 95959
phone: 530.205.5775
web: www.projectsimplify.com
e-mail: (newsletter@projectsimplify.com) newsletter (at) projectsimplify (dot) com
