We are all seeking balance in our lives. But having a life that is “in balance” is becoming more and more difficult. One problem is that balance is always shifting. What is in balance today might not be in balance tomorrow. It is also hard to be in balance when your priorities are unclear. If you don’t understand which activities advance your priorities, you will find yourself overfilling your day with things that just don’t matter.
Stuck in the cycle of busy hoping that one day there will be time for your and what you want?
You are not alone. PEACEFUL LIVING COACHING is here to support you!
A way to ensure you are focused on the right things so that you can feel balanced is to be Results focused rather than Activities focused. It is about asking “what is the result I’m committed to getting?” versus “what do I have to do?”
How many of you have the experience of getting to work, answering emails, phone calls, employee requests and before you know it, you missed lunch and now it’s time to transition to home life and you wonder, “what in the world did I do today, where did the time go?” You minimize that feeling by focusing first on what it is you want—the results you are committed to achieving in your business. PS: This works in life, too! By knowing what it is you truly want first, you then design all of your activities around making progress towards achieving it. It moves us towards actually being productive and delivering results instead of simply being busy completing tasks.
The Pareto Principle
Vilfredo Pareto, an Italian economist, developed a principle that specified an unequal relationship between inputs and outputs. For instance, 20% of a company’s customer base accounts for 80% of its revenue. In terms of personal time management, 80% of your work-related output could come from only 20% of your effort at work. This principle is referred to as the Pareto Principle or the 80/20 Rule. (www.investopedia.com).
Six Steps
How can the Pareto Principle be applied to help us maximize productivity so that we live a life that is more in balance? Here are six steps to regaining equilibrium:
- Define a clear vision
You cannot prioritize your activities if you don’t know which ones are critical to achieving your goals. And you cannot define the critical tasks if you have no idea what your goal is. So, the first step to applying the Pareto Principle is defining a clear vision of what you want to be and what you want to accomplish. This vision can be as complex as visualizing the next 5 years or as simple as visualizing the next 5 hours. This will create a picture of your ideal, clarify your targets, and become the basis for making 80/20 decisions.
- Tracking
Once your vision has been established and targets have been identified, you need to understand where you currently spend your time. Most people do not understand what they actually spend their time on, so honestly tracking your activity in 15 – 30 minute increments will allow you to see where your day goes. The key to this step is HONESTY. If you do not commit to recording your time honestly, you will not be able to gather the right data to analyze. Generally, tracking for one week will give you the information that you need to move forward.
- Make the cut
Your time has been tracked and analyzed for an entire week. Now what? Review the activities and determine which produced little to no results or were time wasters. Now determine if you have control over these items. If you do, decide what can be eliminated, scheduled for a later date, or delegated to someone else. Eliminating these low-value activities will, by, default, increase your productivity.
- Define your 20%
After eliminating those activities that don’t really add value to your work, it’s time to review what’s left. What were some of the tasks you did during the week that ended up being the most important or had the most impact on driving maximum results? If you only had one day this week at work, which items would you have chosen to complete because they were the most productive?
- Commit to change
This is to be seen as a starting point, not the final answer. And it’s important to remember that small steps can have a huge impact. So, after reviewing what you feel can be eliminated and which items should have more emphasis, commit to doing what’s important instead of what is urgent. Take the time to record what you want to change so that it becomes a visible reminder of your commitment.
- Take action
Then do it! You can’t make changes if you don’t take action. And, volume doesn’t count here. It is quality not quantity of action that means the most.
Clearly defining your vision and then using the Pareto Principle to maximize your productivity will allow you the balance needed to live life to the fullest. It brings new meaning to working smarter, not harder.
If you want to work smarter and not harder to regain balance in your life, I’d love to help. I encourage you to contact me for a complimentary session to determine if coaching is right for you. You can reach me at stacy@minerva.partners.
STACY OLDFIELD
After nearly 25 years in Corporate America, Stacy launched Minerva Management Partners as a way to combine those years of business experience with her life coaching certification and love for coaching women. Minerva Management Partners is a business coaching practice designed to support women entrepreneurs committed to launching and growing their business. Also, as a Results Coach with Robbins Research International, Stacy helps business women to focus their ideas and efforts and holds them accountable for achieving their goals. Whether it’s helping women discover creative solutions to their business challenges, coaching them to be clear and decisive, or helping them see and take action on new opportunities, Stacy guides them to achieve the business and career results they are seeking. Stacy is also the creator of the Minerva 3-Day Networking Challenge and the Network Like a Boss Lady On-Demand training program. Stacy has been invited to speak to many audiences within South Carolina including the Center for Women, Women Entrepreneurs of Charleston, the Women of the Workforce program of the Naval Information Warfare Center (SPAWAR), Charleston Women in Business, Association of Fundraising Professionals, SCANPO, graduate classes at both The Citadel and the College of Charleston (CofC), and Leadership CofC. She currently serves as a mentor through the Women of Excellence Program at Xavier University and previously served on the Board of Directors for the Beautiful Gate Center and on the advisory board of the SC Women’s Business Center.
