The Pareto Principle provides you with a priority system to check incoming tasks against your obligations and performance or result areas. To build this priority system you need to have three things:
1. Knowing what your key result areas or goals are. In other words, what is most important.
2. Use the Pareto principle to prioritise your tasks.
3. Ensure that you protect these vital few activities from the ‘trivial many’.
1. Identify your key result areas
It is not unusual to be faced with a dozen tasks that demand your attention. You need to have an imaginary compass that keeps track on what is important on the front-burner of your thoughts. Your compass acts as the goals or objectives that you are aiming to achieve in the week, quarter, or year. Your top priorities are those that are aligned with your performance/job criteria, key result areas, or goals.
Any incoming information or requests for your time need to be weighed up against your current goals and objectives. Once this is assessed, you can assign the incoming task a priority. At work, these are things that you are measured against. In your personal life they are the pursuit of things that matter most to you or your family. If your goals are not aligned with the 80/20 rule, ask yourself the following questions:
· Are these someone else's goals?
· Do I need to add more goals/objectives?
· Am I doing what is important?
· Am I spending too long on these urgent goals or crises?
2. Use the Pareto Principle to set priorities
List all the activities that you have to do over the next week. But don't fall into the trap of using your to do list as a way to manage your time. Now put an A, B or C next to them:
1. 'A' is for your most important activities (those top 20%)
2. 'B' is somewhat important (60%)
3. 'C' is your least important activities (bottom 20%).
Put a time limit on those activities that you have classed as most important. How long are each of your 'A' activities going to take?
3. Protect the vital few from the trivial many
Gather all your top priority actions that you have to do next week (if you have followed the process, each of these actions should have a duration next to them!). The next step is to make time for these most important activities, rather than trying to find time later on.