Business Breakthrough #1                                             

May 2018

The Pareto Principle

I frequently talk about the 80/20 rule, otherwise known as the Pareto principle, because it’s a powerful concept that illuminates the reality of our time and efforts. In short, the 80/20 rule tells us that 80 percent of consequences or effects come from 20 percent of the causes. The reason I talk about this so much is because I see this in operation all the time in my clients’ businesses.

From my outsider’s perspective, it’s clear that 20 percent of my clients’ investments of time, energy, and money generate the vast majority of their return. Unfortunately, most business owners don’t operate with this understanding. Instead they are caught up in the 80 percent of time and energy that generates little, failing to drill down to the efforts and investments that would be most effective in their business (and personal) lives.

For this reason, I always suggest creating a stop-doing list, a list of those things that are not the highest and best use of your time, energy, and money. No matter who you are, these are limited resources. As business owners, it’s our responsibility to find the best way to invest those resources.

If you want to radically leverage your time, energy, and money, determine what makes the 20 percent cut. To accomplish that, you have to learn to say no more often; it helps to remember that every time you say yes, you are saying no to something. Why not determine the things that you want to say yes to?

The key is to learn to say no to the trivial things and yes to the highly important things, the 20 percent of the 20 percent. Be more intensely focused on those things that will bring the greatest success in your life, professionally and personally. Be focused on the right stuff, the good stuff. Start saying no now. Warren Buffet said: “For every 100 great opportunities that are brought to me, I say no 99 times.”* Start that stop-doing list, and let me know how you are doing once you’ve put it into practice.

* Harvey Mackay “Super Secrets to Becoming a Super Achiever,” harveymackay.com, August 22, 2012.

garyfurr@garyfurrconsulting.com

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                   BUSINESS BREAKTHROUGH #2

                         Put Out the Fire

Every day in our businesses we are burning through cash—and we don’t even know where it’s going! I can hear you now: I bet you think you’re the exception. You know I haven’t looked at your numbers, so how dare I predict such waste? I dare because I have observed that constant distractions are impeding productivity—yours, your staff’s, and your employees’. This is costing your business some serious money.

A recent study found that the time wasted as a result of constant distractions is costing the U.S. economy $997 billion every year, and 89 percent of employees don’t complete their top three tasks each day due to distractions.

Employees are wasting 759 hours each year due to workplace distractions. That equals 19 weeks—almost 5 months every year! One study found that workers check their email on average 40 times a day, even when there has been no notification or email alert. These distractions are like kryptonite. They are killing your productivity, which has a direct effect on your profitability.

Studies show that every time we get distracted, it takes approximately 23 minutes to get refocused. To make matters worse, the average U.S. worker feels the pull of distraction every three minutes.

We can change this negative pattern if we are willing to take charge of our time. Perhaps it isn’t time management that is our biggest issue these days, but self-management. Simple tools make a powerful difference. Business Breakthrough #3 provides one to help you turn things around.

garyfurr@garyfurrconsulting.com

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Business Breakthrough #3: Put Your Calendar to Work

Never walk into your day with an empty calendar. Without priorities set ahead of time coupled with time set aside on the calendar, the day will simply take over. That’s exactly what you don’t want.

Every night before you leave the office, make a list of six things you need to accomplish the next day. When you come into the office the following morning, focus on #1 and nothing else. Once #1 is complete, move on to #2; keep working through the list until you get all six done.

The only way to accomplish your list of six is if you block off time on your calendar to be focused. Keep in mind that on average we feel the tug of distraction every three minutes and it takes considerable time to regain concentration.

If you feel like you don’t have enough time in your day, it means you don’t have clearly defined priorities. Without those priorities, at the end of each day you’ll feel like you were busy but accomplished nothing important or strategic.

Don’t allow the day to take over your calendar. A list of six is a powerful tool to take charge of your time and fight the common tendency toward distraction. With planning and focus you can put your time and your priorities to work and get the results you’re looking for.

To better understand the power of focus, read Gary Keller’s book; The One Thing or Darren Hardy’s; The Compound Effect.

garyfurr@garyfurrconsulting.com

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Business Breakthrough #4

Leave your cell phone in the car

A friend recently told me that his wife had gotten mad at him at dinner the previous night, and I asked for details. It turns out that he received a call from a client during dinner, and he took the call. I asked a few more question, and he explained that he felt a need to take the call simply because his phone was ringing. I pointed out that answering a call during dinner likely made his wife feel as if the client were more important than she is.

Chances are that disaster is not going to strike while you are at dinner. Chances are that a call can go to voicemail without any negative repercussions. Unfortunately we have programed ourselves to act as if an incoming call (or text) is more important than whatever else is happening at that moment.

We have allowed our phones to take over our lives, and we willingly accept our addiction. Technology is not the problem; our behavior is. Did you know that 67 percent of people have reported that they check their phones for messages (texts or calls) even when their phone has not rung or vibrated?

The phone is a powerful and useful tool if we take charge of its usage and don’t allow it to control us. Yet there are simple changes we can make to positively impact our habits and relationships. For instance, leave your phone in the car when you go to dinner with friends, your spouse, or your significant other. Leave your phone in your office while attending meetings. To avoid the temptation of checking email and texts while you drive, which has been proven to be six times more dangerous than drinking and driving, put your phone in your backpack, or even your trunk, to eliminate the temptation.

Don’t try to merely resist temptation, completely avoid it! Your phone is killing your interactions with others and your productivity. The habits are yours to change. If we are not intentional about the habits we form, our habits will form us. Be proactive and take charge of your cell phone.

garyfurr@garyfurrconsulting.com

503-312-3145

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    BUSINESS BREAKTHROUGH #5

Vilfredo Pareto, a nineteenth-century Italian economist, wrote a mathematical model describing income distribution in Italy and found that 80 percent of the land was owned by 20 percent of the people. It turns out the Pareto principle applies to just about everything in nature and business, including sales, customers, products, marketing efforts, and your time. If you look closely, you will find that 20 percent of your activities tend to generate 80 percent of the return on your investment of time, energy, and money.  Vilfredo Pareto even found this principle to be true in the production of his garden’s peas.

For this reason, understanding which 20 percent of your activities generate 80 percent of your results is critical to your success, both business and personal. More often than not, I find that business owners are working in the 80 percent, not the 20 percent. If time, energy, and money are limited resources (and we know they are), then it is important to learn how to leverage your time, energy, and money to maximize the return on your investment of those resources.

To focus on your 20 percent and achieve the return your looking for, you may need to learn to say no more than you say yes. Think about it: Whenever you say yes to something, you are essentially saying no to something else. Your plate will only hold so much. You cannot do it all.

I spent Thanksgiving last year in Maine with my middle son and his family and friends. The buffet table was loaded with almost endless delicious options. I had to face the facts: My plate could only hold so much before things would start to fall off. Your plate has limits as well. Focus on the 20 percent that will generate the greatest return. Vilfredo Pareto figured it out in the nineteenth century, and it still apples today.

Do you need help understanding how to get intensely focused on the 20 percent that will generate the greatest return of your investment? We are business experts—let us help you.

www.garyfurr@garyfurrconsulting.com

503-312-3145

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    BUSINESS BREAKTHROUGH #6

In my last Business Breakthrough, I discussed the Pareto principle and how 80 percent of your results are being generated by 20 percent of your efforts. But that knowledge only helps you if you know what your 20 percent is—and you intensely focus on that 20 percent that is the highest and best use of your time, energy, and money. Focus is powerful, but most business owners are so distracted that they have no real focus. Being laser focused is like water at 60,000 psi, which can cut through two inches of steel. That same amount of water unfocused will just splash around and create rust.

What are the top three priorities you need to accomplish this week that will move your business toward accomplishing your 90-day goals and your one-year vision?  Now look at your calendar for the week. Have you blocked off time to work on these priorities undistracted? Start a new habit this week, and block off that time right now if you haven’t already. Do this and watch how much you can get done. If you set the time aside and permit no distractions during your blocks of time, you will see forward motion.

Do you need help to become highly focused? Would your business benefit if you eliminated distractions and honed in on the 20 percent? With intense focus, you can achieve extraordinary results. Give us a call. We are experts in business and we can help: 503-312-3145

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      BUSINESS BREAKTHROUGH #7

If 20 percent of your efforts will generate 80 percent of your results as I discussed in the last business breakthrough, what would 20 percent of the 20 percent produce?

You can produce extraordinary results by narrowing your focus and attention even more. Many business owners are overwhelmed by their calendar or to-do list. To get the most out of your time, energy, and money, I would suggest that you go small and stop trying to do too much. When you try to do too much, you tend to accomplish little.

I was recently thinking about the concept of reducing what we are working on to just the top three priorities that need to be accomplished this week and then blocking time on the calendar to be intensely focused on those three things.  Then I came across a book on my bookshelf by Gary Keller titled The One Thing. I opened it up to this statement that I had underlined: “What’s the one thing you can do this week such that by doing it, everything else would be easier or unnecessary?” I would recommend picking up Gary Keller’s book. There is a lot of great advice on focus.

Think about the one thing that would make the biggest difference in your business or your personal life and put it on your calendar.

Would focusing your time and energy on the 20 percent of the 20 percent make a difference in your ability to get things done? How would your business benefit? With intense focus you can achieve extraordinary results. Give us a call. We are experts in business and we can help: 503-312-3145

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BUSINESS BREAKTHROUGH #8

The average person checks their cell phone 40 times per day—even when there has been no alert to indicate a message or an email. If you are like the average person, then these addictive distractions are getting in the way of your productivity.

During graduate school I worked 50-hour weeks in my career while attending classes every other weekend and one night each week. All of that left me with little time to get my studies completed and write research papers, and at home I was terribly distracted by other responsibilities. To manage my workload, I began to head to the Oregon coast every other weekend, where I rented a little room at an inn and spent all my time focused on the work I needed to get done. The only distractions were meals and replenishing my coffee. My productivity skyrocketed.

Constant distractions prevent us from creating the long periods of deep thinking and concentration that are often required to do the work we do. In today’s highly digital world, the distractions never stop. Studies show that it takes 23 minutes to refocus on your work after you have succumbed to distraction. If you are checking your phone as frequently as the average person is, then you are definitely not being as productive as you would hope. These distractions are like Kryptonite: They are killing your productivity, which has a direct effect on your profitability.

To be highly productive you must eliminate distractions. Turn off your alerts, silence your cell phone, and focus on the 20 percent of the 20 percent that will generate the results you need. No one needs to be connected to their devices at all times—not even you!

Give us a call. We are experts in business and can help you get highly focused to generate great results: 503-312-3145

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   BUSINESS BREAKTHROUGH #9

I often ask owners and executives what an hour of their time is worth. This exercise quickly clarifies priorities and helps them evaluate the time spent on work someone else can do. It also highlights the issue most people are grappling with in the workplace these days: distractions.

Think about it. If you are making $50,000 a year, then an hour of your time is worth approximately $24. If you are making $100,000 a year, then that same hour is worth $48. At $150,000 a year, an hour of your time is worth about $96. Are you spending your time doing work that has that much value? Or are you busy and distracted by activities that are not worth your valuable time?

How much time do you spend each day on social media—whether that is Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest? If you are spending an hour a day, then that is costing you your hourly rate: $24, $48, $96, or whatever the case may be. Multiply that number by five business days per week and 52 weeks a year. At one hour per day, five days per week, it is costing you $6,240, $12,480, or $18,720 respectively. Now consider that the average person actually spends 2.5 hour per day on social media.

If you had to subscribe to these social media sites by paying for the hours you spend on them, would you? Because if you use social media (or YouTube or spend endless hours reading the news online), that is essentially what you are doing. If time is money, then you are spending a lot of money with little return on your investment.

Pay attention to your time like you do your money. Start tracking it to see how much time you are actually spending on nonproductive activities. You cannot make more time. Once it is used, it is gone. What is that hour of time worth?

Do you treat time as money? If you do, your bottom line will benefit. Give us a call. We can help you determine your priorities and get your time back so you can be more productive and gain a greater return on your investment: 503-312-3145.

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