Welcome to the Business Abundance Podcast, providing
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www .businessabundance .online. Hi everyone and
welcome back to the Business Abundance Podcast.
It's great to have you back here. I am joined
by Ian and Rowan. Say hello. Hello. Hello. Today
we're going to be chatting about does working
harder make you better at your job or is it more
productive? And today we're going to be focusing
on the 80 -20 principle. Ian, would you like
to help explain what that is? Oh, that's based
on the Pareto principle. 80 -20, 80%, 20%, 80
of something, 20 of something, 20 % of things
create 80 % of an outcome. 20 % of your jobs
are generally creating 80 % of your income. 20
% of trees create 80 % of all of the massive
trees in the world. 20 % of stars create 80 %
of the mass of all stars. It replicates everywhere,
but I assume we want to use it for a workplace.
We do. Excellent. Yes. So focus on the things
that create four -fifths of your income. Yeah,
so 80 % of outcomes caused by 20 % of causes.
That's two causes. Did you know that the Pareto
principle was actually because he found out that
80 % of Italians, Italy's wealth was from 20
% of the population? I'm going to say no. That's
a fun fact of the day. Excellent. So we're just
applying that to how you can do that in the workforce
and we could talk about Scope Creep. Tell me
about that. I am a guilty participant. Um, it's
basically - It's a strange confession. I feel
like we need like a wall between us with a window.
How long have you wanted to get this off your
chest? Yeah. Oh, it's talked about all the time,
I'm sure, in our conversations, you know. Basically,
scope creep is where you're, well, from my point
of view, what's asked for, I do more, even though
it's not necessarily needed. Collide to the result.
Yeah. So scope being what you need to do, which
is generally a smaller amount of work and then
creep is those small little inklings of, I should
do that because it might make a difference. People
ask you to do things that won't include that
you do anyway. Yep. And that's not focused on
the objective or the thing that will bring the
greatest outcome. Do you think people do that
consciously or is it just human nature? I do
it. Why do I do it? Because I want a good outcome
for their client, but I don't. People pleaser.
Yeah. Personality styles. Go check out our other
podcasts. Segue. I think there's some sort of
sound effect for a segue. That'd be great. Not
today. Oh, yeah. No, probably not that one. Shocking.
Can't get good help these days. Wrong button.
So yes, scope crate being that and that is definitely
not 20 % of the work that will bring about the
80 % outcome. Now, I feel like the only objection
people will have is 80 % isn't enough. Ron, what
would you say about that? 80 % isn't enough.
Well, just it's a principle. So it doesn't have
to be exactly 80 % but to think about what you
do. week to week so if you're if you're busy
let's say you're super busy you're working 60
-70 hours a week applying that principle principle
is saying that 20 % of that time is creating
80 % of the results so I guess then you're looking
at maybe you've got 40 hours a week plus a little
bit maybe 40 let's say 40 that you're generating
20 % of your result now if you could just stop
doing all that work because it doesn't really
matter whether you're doing it on purpose, whether
you're scope creeping it, and you reallocate
that to something else that gives you a big impact.
So, you know, put 10 of those hours in something
else that's going to give you an 80 % result.
Then, you know, you're getting a lot more than
100 % there. You're getting an exponential gain.
Especially with people who micromanage. So, their
skill might be building fuzzy widgets, but they
find themselves doing... Other parts of the business
especially as a business owner So they do all
the inconsequential stuff that they've actually
hired people to do So you end up doing 80 % of
the things that you probably don't need to be
doing anyway Whereas if you spent your 20 % on
your niche You'd increase your income What would
those so we're talking about prioritizing tasks
for yourself, what would that look like in a
practical sense? Firstly you need to identify
what the 20 % of tasks that you do are going
to generate the most productivity. How can they
do that? Having a good look at yourself in the
mirror, probably. Make a list. Yeah, make a list.
All the things you do and write them down. Even
if it's something as simple as I made three coffees
for employees today. Myself before nine. Before
nine o 'clock because I was working late. And
you couldn't concentrate for the next three hours.
Because I was working late doing other things
that I was supposed to be doing. And that wasn't
part of my 20%. So now I've had to catch up on
the next day and it doesn't take long before
it snowballs. And then your task list for today
is actually the end of your task list for yesterday
or the day before. Going back to that question
though, make a list of everything and then maybe
next to it put down whether it's important or
not. And then you can sort of say, well, should
I do this at all? Yes, no. So some things you
can go, well, I don't even need to do it. I just
do it because I do. Well, and it could be scope,
the scope creep, it could be someone asks you
to do it so you started doing it. It could be
that you just decided that it was nice to do,
but it doesn't actually matter that much. Well,
maybe it's a 20 % result. So can I give it to
someone else? Can I, et cetera, et cetera, et
cetera. And then, okay, well, all those things
that aren't creating a big impact, then, okay,
let's give that to someone else or stop doing
it and then use our time on something that's
going to give us a big impact. It's actually
quite a difficult process. especially if you've
been set in your ways for quite some time. And
this is the way we've always done it. I'm sure
we've talked about that before, but it's hard
to be introspective and judgmental of yourself.
Lots of things, lots of excuses can come into
play where if I don't do that, no one's going
to do it. Well, that's probably not true. There'll
always be someone to do it, especially once you
start getting some decent employees. And if I
don't do that, where's my customer satisfaction?
When you have scope query, for instance, I like
to do those little extra things. It makes my
customers happy and builds referrals, which may
be the case or it may not be the case. And it
might make the referrals and it might make them
happy, but it might be that you're putting 80
% effort in for a 20%. satisfaction so okay well
what if we stop doing that and now I've got more
time to do something that's going to make them
much happier yeah like that's the probably the
way to look at it absolutely what are the tasks
that I can do they're going to have the biggest
impact but I think for a lot of people it's not
just oh who will do it it's the comfort zone
of doing a task that you you know you can fill
out your day you can be busy you feel like you're
doing something you're confident with whereas
if when you're always having to okay well how
can I Use my time better. You're always stepping
outside of your comfort zone, which to be honest
is good growth for most people, you know It's
it's a hard one to do Yeah, when you talk about
that, it makes me think about Figuring out when
you work best as well. Yep. Some people work
better early early hours of the morning. I know
someone like that It's not me No. I thought you
were an early person. No, definitely not. I'm
awake early. I work best from eight till one.
I figured that out. Yep. And then in the afternoon,
there's not a lot of creative energy there. So
it's not early. Okay. I think that's pretty normal.
But yeah, it takes me a couple of hours to get
some steam in order to make those hours the best
they can be. And I've also found working later
at night seems to be a bit of a motivation spike.
But yeah, it doesn't mean that I'm energetic
and motivated from eight till five when I work.
Yeah, you just got to figure it out for yourself.
So basically what you're saying is that you can
apply the principle to your time during the day,
so you're going to be more productive in 20 %
of the time that you spend working in a day.
So understanding that and making that for the,
you know, putting your tasks or your jobs into
that period that you need to, and then the time
that you're not going to be so useful then. I
think the first time I was exposed to the Pareto
principle, they were talking about the productivity
of employees in a large corporation and how 20
% of the people on your workforce generate 80
% of the income. I was just about to talk about
that. Segway. What a great Segway. I'm built
for Segways today. I might go for a ride. Wrong
Segway in. So yeah, it's talking about how you
can deal with top performers when they do produce
such a massive amount of work and then how you
keep those people because they are really important
to your business. And those things being give
them the recognition or some sort of reward,
for use of a better word, that they see as valuable
to keep them motivated and part of the business.
So what you're saying basically, if you're apply
this principle to people working in your business,
then 20 % of people are going to be far better
than everyone else. So you've got to treat them
as such. Yep. Which thing can create aspirational
goals for your other 80 %? Potentially. Yeah.
Yeah. Or make them go, oh, what's the point?
So then you think, what about the 80 % doing?
If they're only getting 20 % of the result. It's
a harsh reality, isn't it? Yeah. So it's not
20 % every time, but it's a... you know, a common
sort of split. So it's what can they do to be
brought up to the other ones? Or when you're
looking to recruit new people, then it's trying
to bring in someone better than the 20 % doing
80 % of the results to make them go, oh, I can
actually do better. Model who you want to recruit
off that 20%. Yeah, correct. And set up your
systems and your recognition, your rewards on
those 20 % of the people, not the majority. So
a lot of people go, I'll ask my whole team. what
we should do and they come back for all these
things that are nice and blah, blah, including
everyone. But at the end of the day, very few
of those people are the best employees that are
creating all those results that you want to mimic
and replicate. Yep. You can break it down into
teams as well. So an 80 -20 split of five people,
for instance, in a team, roughly half and half
it would take. Like it's two to three. An 80
-20 split of 100 people, you've got 20 -80, obviously.
Yep. So you've got 80 people that are twiddling
their thumbs for 80 % of the time and 20 people
who are creating most of your income. So if you
break them down into teams of five, you may even
increase your productivity, which is where it
was first exposed to me was break it down into
small teams for your bigger corporations. Yeah,
it just reminds me of school where you get in
the team projects and there's always that one
or two people that gets everything done. And
teams, if we go to sport teams, then you think
about the best quarterback, they're earning how
much more than the others? You know, the best
soccer players, how much more are they earning
than the average soccer player? Like, it's mega,
the difference. Well, you look at those salary
caps and even that across most sports break down
in the Proto's principle. 80 % of the wealth
is with 20 % of the players. Yeah, and then like
in a golf tournament in the PGA say so half of
them earning nothing and then the top few are
gonna be earning mega bucks and the rest earning,
you know, peanuts and probably going backwards
Yeah, best cricket contracts a few people getting
millions and millions and others are getting
50 ,000 And tennis players same thing top 10
earn a lot more than the top 500. I just had
a look at the The NFL ones actually a lot of
the quarterbacks now are on sort of sixty million
dollars a year and Your salary cap is five times
that yeah, how many people on a team there? Yeah,
you got forty forty two in it in a roster Yeah,
one person's taking what was it one fifth one
fifth. Yeah That's crazy to me. It's a lot of
money. Yeah, so you think about that in your
we're talking about teams then but are you trying
to get more high performers that are creating
they're not necessarily doing more work but they're
creating more result having more impact are you
trying to mimic trying to get more of that or
are you trying to get more people or please everyone
and once you understand that it does replicate
across pretty much everything you can use that
to your advantage once you once you understand
that the maths behind it and it sounds very clinical
and i'm i'm one of the people that rails against
analytics a lot because there's more to life
than analytics but when the data adds up like
this you've got to look at it and go maybe there's
something to these magical numbers. Yeah so if
you're looking at like what's products or services
your business provides then it's a similar sort
of thing as mentioned before but if you've got
one product that's making 80 % of your income
and 20 % of your work well okay well that's a
good product and then we've got 80 % of products
doing 20 like Do we need to be looking at what
we're offering people or product or service?
It could be either or. And types of client. Yeah.
So if we're doing all this work and we have all
this, this, this effort going into something
that's not really making that much money, well,
okay, it's great. It's part of the business and
you think it's important and it's, you know,
because you see so much of it happening, you,
you think it's the main, main part of your business.
And we look busy. Yeah. But could you stop doing
that and then do something that's going to be
highly profitable instead? And that could be
a whole lot less work. I was thinking before
the podcast, if you're super busy all the time,
do less and get more done. You know, it's probably,
it should be a title of the podcast. Are you
super busy? Do less, get more done. Pretty sure
there's a book. Yeah. But like, cause you're
so busy, you're tired, you know, you can't think
straight, stressed, whatever you forget what's
going on. Um, you know, you're unorganized, but
at the end of the day, if you just did one fifth
and you're getting 8 % done, then you're not
going to be tired. You're not going to be stressed.
You're not going to be unorganized. And you have
time to do the stuff that's actually important.
You're going to do it better. Yeah, correct.
So it's forcing yourself to do the right things,
not just be busy because you have to be busy.
If I was well researched, I'd know who wrote
that book. Something, something work week. The
four hour work. Yeah, that one. There we go.
That's the first time I've got someone's name
and I don't remember anyone. Yeah. I'm so proud.
Two seasons in. Growth. But yeah, that book.
Definitely talks. It's got some good good ideas
and it's probably not for everyone as well But
it's saying well, okay. Well if you're designing
your life to only work four hours a week, what
do you have to do? So, you know, it's got a cult
following and it's definitely changes your your
thought to catch your title If you're only working
four hours a week, you probably get quite bored
as well You need projects to do but the idea
is that you you're setting things up to to generate
income and allow you to do what you want to do
the original clickbait Imagine a four -hour workweek.
I'd better read that. I've been working a lot
on marketing at the moment. That's lucky. Why?
That's what you do. I have found that when it
comes, we create an action plan essentially for
each of our clients. And out of that, we find
it will have the greatest outcome when it comes
to their end goals, whether that be lead generation
or brand awareness. And we focus on that action
plan to get things done. And sometimes you'll
find you just want to do all the marketing activity
because it's just. you need to do emails and
you need to do social media and you need to be
on Instagram and you need to do TikTok and you
need to do jump on Facebook as well and you also
need to do brochures and you also need to do
press radio, TV. There's so many marketing channels
that you can be a part of but that doesn't necessarily
mean it's going to be most effective and you
can obviously in line with getting your audience
right and where they are. when you're going to
make it effective, you've got to look at what
channel brings in the most amount of leads and
focus on that and put the investment in that.
Because if there's, if you use Google ads and
it creates the most amount of leads, focus on
that. Don't focus on TikTok because otherwise
you're just going to be leaking money essentially.
And you can apply that to most areas of the services
and products that you provide. Could be a good
exercise for people listening to have a look
at their business and see where 80 -20 does appear
within the business. It could be lots of fun
as a team building exercise. I'll sit down with
a piece of butchers paper. As a team, who's good?
Yeah, you kind of are a bit rubbish actually.
We're gonna have to let you go. Just on what
you're talking about there, so it's talking like
in your role with marketing in the channels and
which are most effective. You fit that completely.
So we're talking about what we do, but then you
think about what your client of your business
thinks about. So they're not thinking about what
20 % creates 80 % of the result. They're thinking
about the 20 % of things they care about that's
80 % of the importance to them. So you could
actually be nailing all of the things that were
agreed to be the most important to give you the
biggest result, but they're just focused on 20
% of things that they care about. And they'll
be 80 % of the complaints because you're not
doing it. Even though you're focusing on things
with the high results. So it's people's opinions,
20 % of those have 80 % of the importance and
it might, their opinions, their opinions. So
it might be the right ones, might be the wrong
ones, but that's going to be 80 % of the feedback
you get. Their opinions, the most important thing
to them though. So if you're not listening to
your clients and your customers, you might be
making a little bit of a mistake. Correct. Yeah.
I just think it... It might be hard for people
to implement. It's actually quite easy, but it
might be like a bit of a... It's a bit scary.
Challenging. Yeah, it's challenging. So start
by writing your list. Figure out what's important
or not and set boundaries, I guess. Ask your
testers. Don't do the small things. Don't do
unnecessary meetings or if you do do meetings,
make sure that they don't drag out for an hour
or... Don't do meetings that could be an email.
Yeah. There you go. Yeah, I think it's pretty
straightforward. It's just once you understand
that a lot of things you do don't have a huge
impact and some do, just do more of the stuff
that's high impact and don't do as much of the
stuff that doesn't. Oh, but the stuff that's
not high impact is really fun and I enjoy that.
It doesn't mean you don't have to do it. Just
don't do a lot of it. Yeah, just all in moderation.
Same as chocolate. Moderation. Anyway, yeah,
if you want to refer to a book to learn more
about the 80 -20 principle, there is the 80 -20
principle, the secret to achieving more with
less. That's by Richard Koch, I think is how
you pronounce his last name. But yeah, have a
read through that, try and implement it. Will
there be a link? There will be a link in the
description below. Otherwise, have a great rest
of your week or whenever you're listening and
we'll see you in the next podcast. Bye. Bye.
Bye.