Productivity

Pareto & Parkinson’s Law

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Pareto & Parkinson's Law

These two laws, if realized, have the power of accelerating your productivity significantly, guaranteed!

Understand what they are, how they work and you will benefit. The sooner you start implementing them, the better it is. Because the compounding principle will take effect – the earlier you start an action, the more returns you get over time.

Pareto’s Law: 80-20 Principle

It means that about 80% of effects are a result of 20% of causes. This can be applied to practically anything. There are a lot of articles and books published on this topic; a simple Google search will give you sufficient knowledge on this subject. Be careful no to over-research. Once you understand what it is, start applying it. A few of the books are mentioned below.

To apply it, you will focus on energies on the 20%, i.e. the causes that effect 80% of results. Be mindful of these and work on improving this ratio.

Parkinson’s Law: Time Inflation

Ever wonder where time goes? When you have an important task to complete and you assign 2 hours for it’s completion, for example. Only to realize that now you will need 3 hours instead?

This is Parkinson’s law in effect. The amount of time you think you will need to complete a task is exactly the amount of time you will need.

Force yourself with a tight deadline and you will be surprised that it was all the time you ever needed. This is also called “the magic of imminent deadline”.

Again, you can Google search this topic to your heart’s content. But spend enough time on this to understand what it is and how you can benefit from it. Apply the Parkinson’s law in researching for the Parkinson’s law.

Source:

The One Thing, by Gary W. Keller and Jay Papasan

Eat That Frog, by Brian Tracy

The 4-Hour Workweek, by Timothy Ferris

Writing Thoughts Down

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post-it-notes-1284667_640

The brain is like a computer, I know people say this all the time, but what I mean is more technical than just the expression. Computers have a limited cache and RAM. Before you can process new information, the cache must be cleared. This is only done by storage on a HDD.

So, to clear your brain’s cache, you need to either write your ideas down on paper (or computer) and store them for later processing, or execute the idea so that it is done and over with. This is the only way you can have new ideas.

One of the subtlest inventions of our modern times is the “sticky note”. Post-it® is the most recognized and popular brand of sticky notes. The discovery of this invention here.

I am an avid user of this technology. I would strategically litter my work area with these notes that serve multiple purposes: reminders to do things; my daily checklist, which I carry with me during the day; inspiring quotes; Scrum-ing tool — what is Scrum is best explained in this video.

But I take it a few steps further. I use the sticky note in my car. I would note down important ideas and notes when I listen to audio-books. I note down places that I want to visit when I drive by them (for my sales prospecting job). Of course, writing the actual note when the car is safely parked.

In the washroom, I have a water-proof notebook which I often take into the shower. Like most of us, the best ideas come when we are in the shower, and what a shame that as soon as we exit, the idea is washed away. There are products you can buy to “write in rain”, but I like to keep it simple with a cheap and reliable water-proof notebook and a pencil.

I have sticky notes apps on my desktop PC and my cell phone. I use “Simply Sticky Notes” as it is one of the simplest app out there.

The idea is to get rid of the stickies asap by completing the task — put them in the recycle bin. The act of trashing the sticky is a satisfying dose of endorphins, which further reinforces the habit.

You can keep things old school by carrying a notebook always — which I also do — but, the tactile nature of the small piece of paper adds an additional dimension to the habit.