Focus on the important minority, not the trivial majority.
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Editor’s note: Not all efforts will be successful, so work tactically and work in a clear direction. To make the effort more effective, a good approach is to use a “success list” instead of the “to-do list” we usually use. The to-do list is often long, and everything on the list will involve your energy in all directions; while the success list is often short, containing only the key events that can help achieve the ultimate goal, it will give you a specific Work hard and avoid worthless trivia. This article is translated from Medium, author Thomas Oppong , the original title is” You Can Achieve More With Less by Pursuing The Vital Few Instead of The Trivial Many “, I hope to inspire you.
We handle tasks, reply to emails, check notifications, schedule, and attend meetings endlessly every day, and we work on multiple tasks at the same time, never stop and never stop. And more and more things to do every day.
If you want to do a few important things better, instead of trying to accomplish many “trivial” things, you must make full use of limited resources, such as time and energy, to do the right things in the right order Things.
You have to learn the “less and more refined” mentality to prioritize things, which means you can get better results because you focus on the important minority rather than the trivial majority.
The authors Gary Keller and Jay Papasan suggested in their book The One Thing that you pay attention to your domino effect, One thing may affect subsequent lines through the domino effectList things. They said, “You need to do less to get more results than to do more to produce side effects.”
The author Richard Koch elaborates on this concept in his book The 80/20 Principle. His suggestion is to make good use of the magic power of 20% in the matter of “deciding what to spend time and where to spend energy”.
You set limits on your to-do list, forcing yourself to focus on what’s important and give up on what’s not important. Gary and Jay believe that if you have everything on your to-do list, then it is difficult for you to achieve your goals by completing the to-do list. They suggested that we use a “success list” instead of a “to-do list”. They explained:
” If you keep doing tasks on the to-do list, every day Ending a day’s work with a bucket full of trash and a clean desk doesn’t help you succeed. What you need is not a “to do” list, but a “success” Checklist-a list purposefully designed around the end result. The list of tasks is often long and the list of successes is short. One is to draw your energy in all directions and the other is to give you a specific direction.
Only a few things can really affect your progress
Francine Jay once said, “My goal is no longer to do more, but to do less.” When you can do it, let yourself let go of everything else When you focus on the things that matter most, you become efficient and succeed faster. “
Jari Roomer says, “If you want to succeed, you need to spend most of your time and energy (75%-90%) on those tasks that really matter. After you have identified these must-dos, you can use the least Resources produce the greatest results. “
The key to efficiency is to prioritize things and make sure you do n’t waste your time on chores.
Unfortunately, many people still choose quantity over quality, they are too concerned about the number of tasks they complete, andNot focusing on the high-value tasks they complete in a day.
Efficiency means focusing on those that have the greatest impact on your long-term goals thing. The most efficient people know their MVAs (the most valuable activities) and focus on those activities. They will also identify their LVAs (the least valuable activity) and find ways to avoid these tasks as much as possible.
Doing trivial and unimportant things will only lead to gradual progress, or no progress at all, and doing important things will lead to significant progress.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once said: “The most important thing must not be governed by the least important thing.”
If you have too many things to do every week, and you are busy with everything without discrimination, and you are tired, then take a moment to evaluate what is most important. What is urgent, what you can entrust to others, and what is a waste of your time and energy.
If you can force yourself to focus on tasks that give you a higher return on investment (ROI), you will become more efficient, achieve more results, and simplify your life.
We all want to be as efficient as possible. You don’t have that much time to do everything you need to do. The key to focusing on the most important things in life and work is: limit yourself to a few things that must be done, force yourself to focus on important things, and rule out other trivial matters. If there are fewer things to do in life and the rest are things you like to do, then life will definitely be better.
Translator: Jane
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