What's your 20% that gets you 80% of your results?

The struggle in today's workplace is that there seems like there isn't any margin. There's no blank space. "My schedule's filled up." You've got to get songs planned for Sunday. You've got to prepare a devotional for your worship team. You've got to get the lyrics set up. The list goes on and on...

Then your to-do list is compounded by the fact that you've got to put in 8 hours of work a day. What happens is that your to-do list expands to fill that time. You might only have 4 hours worth of actual work but because you have 8 hours to do it you end up taking all 8 hours. How do you break the cycle and create margin and in the process get more done in less time?

Here's how you can create margin:

1 | Cut the unnecessary

The Pareto principle states that 80% of your results come from 20% of your effort. Inversely, 20% of your results come from 80% of your effort. That means you could cut 4 out of 5 tasks you do out of your daily routine and still be 80% effective. Identify those 20% of those things that are getting you %80 of your results and focus on them! Cut out the rest.

2 | Delegate

Inevitably there will be things that need to be done that aren't getting you 80% of your results. So what do you do with them? Delegate them. Hand them off to someone else. Someone in your church would love to put the lyrics together for Sunday. Someone with administrative gifts would love to print out chord charts and resource your team. Find them - let them utilize their gift - that's how the church is supposed to work.  

3 | Focused work

Now that you've cut out the things that are unnecessary and delegated the rest, you're left with the %20 that matters. Don't squander the extra time you've created! Put your phone away. Stop looking at Instagram. And focus! 

If you do this, you'll get more done in less time and create margin. We'll talk about how to utilize that margin you've created tomorrow.