You're struggling to stay focused at work. How can you use the 80/20 rule to increase productivity?

The 80/20 rule, known as the Pareto Principle, asserts that roughly 80% of effects come from 20% of causes. In the workplace, it suggests that a small portion of your efforts leads to the majority of your results.

OR figure out where you would like to spend 20% of your focused high energy on and what tasks could do with just 80% relaxed energy. This would require our self awareness and self management to be on point. We all know we have limited bandwidth in a day. We also know when our energy peaks. As such, capitalise on say the mornings if that’s where energy is highest to do all higher order thinking tasks or high concentration. Ensure your time is protected and enforce healthy boundaries to stay focused. Spend 80% of your relaxed energy answering emails, facilitating team meetings and collaborating with others. This requires discipline and some days may not be so easy, so be kind to yourself. Knowing our energy levels will help us adapt??

Identify tasks and projects that yield the most significant impact. Focus on the vital few, letting go of the trivial many. Conduct a work audit to pinpoint the tasks contributing the most to your outcomes.

In addition to the Pareto principle and SWOT analysis, if your struggling with procrastination, apply " Eat the Frog" you should identity your frog first and eat it.

Equalizing and Contributing most of your energy, time and resources on the most important 20% part of your tasks or activity will help you achieve the remaining 80%. Self Understanding and Self Awareness can help you in doing that. Also, it's important to not forget about the quality and performance. Always remember the value of your work and tasks.

Prioritize tasks based on their impact. Break down your to-do list and categorize tasks by their significance. Direct your energy toward the critical 20%. Create a priority matrix, ranking tasks by importance and focusing on the high-impact items.

To stay on track, focussed and motivated, stating your intentions verbally and body doubling is proven to work well. This could be through in-person co-working or on a virtual platform (eg Flown).

Fine-tune your approach to the crucial tasks. Identify ways to streamline processes, delegate effectively, or leverage tools to enhance efficiency. Regularly assess your workflow, seeking optimization opportunities within the 20% of high-impact activities.

Embrace the power of focus and efficiency. Experience heightened productivity, reduced stress, and increased job satisfaction. Track and celebrate the outcomes of applying the 80/20 rule, reinforcing its positive impact on your work life.