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The 80/20 rule goes like this, 20% of your activities will account for 80% of your results.

For companies, about 20% of sales reps will generate 80% of the overall business. 20% of customers account for 80% of overall profits.

For individuals, if you have ten items to accomplish in a day, it turns out that two of those items will be worth more than the other eight items combined.

Handling every task that gets thrown your way is impossible so how can you use the 80% rule to gain more time in your life? Determine what is the most important and either delegate the rest or simply let it go.

Bestselling Author Brian Tracy recommends the way to apply the 80/20 rule or Pareto Principle to goal setting is to ask yourself: If you could only accomplish one of the goals on your list today, which one goal would have the greatest positive impact on your life?

You should also start with the hardest item first because it will have the biggest payoff as it will provide the momentum you need to tackle anything else.

Quote of the day: “Do the hard jobs first. The easy jobs will take care of themselves.” - Dale Carnegie

Q: What’s your best method for focusing on what’s vitally important? Comment below and share with us.

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to improve their prioritization and focus skills; contact me to explore this topic further.

Harvard Professor and Physician Jerome Groopman in How Doctors Think argues that the key to collecting useful information and solving the patient’s health puzzle is to let the patient say his or her piece. Yet, that is not happening; the average doctor interrupts after 18 seconds! Feeling like an expert and thinking the problem is identifiable, the doctor doles out a prescription and is ready for the next patient, but the odds are, Doc Know-It-All likely has not scoped out the problem.

The more you know, the harder it is to say less, but the best of the best are extraordinary listeners. With nods and nudges, they elicit facts, observations, opinions, and even confessions, if one needed to be had.

Key steps to being a more effective listener, according to renowned author Tom Peters:

1. Own up to the fact that you might be an 18-second interrupter. If you do not tackle the problem head-on, it will persist. Be open to when others give you feedback that you may have a proclivity to interrupt.

2. Take action to change the habit.
-Be patient, let the other person stumble to clarity without interruption.
-Don’t finish the other person’s sentences.
-Be exhausted after your encounter, if you are not, you may not have been truly listening.

Quote of the day: “Never miss a good chance to shut up.” – Will Rogers

Q: What’s your favorite way to listen or to be listened to? Comment below and share with us.

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to strengthen their listening skills, contact me to explore this topic further.