{"id":685,"date":"2013-05-01T22:27:01","date_gmt":"2013-05-02T02:27:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nathanbrooksthompson.com\/?p=685"},"modified":"2021-05-18T23:15:32","modified_gmt":"2021-05-19T04:15:32","slug":"doing-less-while-accomplishing-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nathanbrooksthompson.com\/doing-less-while-accomplishing-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Do Less, Accomplish More"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Success is ultimately a matter of focus.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Between the ages of 23 and 26, I rose from an entry-level analyst position to a director-level position at a company providing sponsored research and consulting services to some of the world’s largest companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I attribute much of my success to good timing, amazing mentorship, and a positive attitude. But I also give credit to a productivity method that helped me accomplish more, while, in actuality, doing less.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This method helped me to thrive in an environment where capable, much more intelligent people than I, struggled to stand out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The approach is known as the Pareto principle, more commonly referred to as the 80-20 rule.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It states that for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We use the term in business to point out that 80% of our sales come from 20% of our clients. In software, 80% of errors and crashes come from the top 20% most reported bugs. And in productivity, 80% of your results come from 20% of your actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time is finite. Your focus is finite. The only thing that can be manipulated is where you spend your time and focus.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The key, then, to doing less while accomplishing more, is to isolate the two highest impact items in any 10 item to-do list. Know that these top two items are likely to be the two items you would normally choose to avoid as you scan your to-do list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Complete those two items, and nothing else, and you’re still ahead of most people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn to focus on the top 20% all the time, and you will never fall behind. It’s a self-balancing system that protects you against wasting time on the wrong task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Follow it and you’ll always have an acceptable answer to the question, what have you accomplished?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Follow it and you’ll move ahead of those who don’t.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Success is ultimately a matter of focus. Between the ages of 23 and 26, I rose from an entry-level analyst position to a director-level position at a company providing sponsored research and consulting services to some of the world’s largest companies. I attribute much of my success to good timing, amazing mentorship, and a positive… Continue reading Do Less, Accomplish More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":773,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nathanbrooksthompson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nathanbrooksthompson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nathanbrooksthompson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nathanbrooksthompson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nathanbrooksthompson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nathanbrooksthompson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nathanbrooksthompson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nathanbrooksthompson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nathanbrooksthompson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nathanbrooksthompson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}