What Are Your Priorities?

Busy! Busy! Busy!

I'm so busy I'm actually doing 4 things right now - writing this blog, eating my lunch, chatting on the phone and sending reply emails!

I can tell you I'm not doing a very good job out of it and you know why? 'Cos I'm a man, not a woman. I'm from Mars, not Venus. Oh, you get it, don't you? That thing about women being experts at multi-tasking and men not so good at it?

Just this morning, my friend who faithfully read my blog since it started called up and asked what happened to me. Why did I stop blogging.

I was like, what? When did I stop blogging?

If I'm not mistaken, my last blog was posted on Tuesday, 17th June 2008 which was just 3 days ago. So what was she talking about?

OK, OK, I know they say if you want to be taken seriously as a blogger, you must post daily. Daily! Well, it's not that I don't want to, it's just that I don't have the time!

Now, a lot of people I know don't like that last sentence. Don't have the time. What the crap is that? If you don't have time, mister, make time! It's all about time management, right? Know your priorities!

There are 101 things I need to do in a single day. No kidding. Look, I'm writing down a 'To Do' List for today. Here it is...

My 'To Do' List for Fri, 20th June 2008
1. Write a new post on my blog
2. Reply all emails
3. Drop on Entrecard members
4. Read my favourite blogs
5. Bank in my cheques
6. Mail letter and buy stamps
7. Return call to Mr. Tan
8. Get a haircut
9. Water the plants
10. Buy ink for my printer
11. Watch "Death Note" DVD (must return by tomorrow!)
12. Buy gift for Cheryl's birthday
13. Work out at the gym
14. Visit my dentist
15. Change my bedroom's light bulb
16. Iron my clothes
17. Call my insurance agent
18. Practise my piano (need to perform during Cheryl's birthday party!)

Ok, so it's not 101 things, just 18. Still, that's a lot I need to accomplish in a day, don't you think?
Hello! The above list is what I need to do in addition to my daytime job which is a MUST DO.

So how on earth am I going to tick off every item on my 'To Do' list? This is when I must make use of the Pareto Principle.

A ha!

Well, in case you haven't heard about the Pareto Principle, let me just briefly mention it. Pareto Principle states that for many events, 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. Also known as the 80-20 rule, it was discovered by an Italian economist by the name of, you guessed it, Pareto.

Using this 80-20 rule, you will be surprised to find that...

20% of people in Malaysia had 80% of the money.

20% of the people in your office do 80% of the work.

20% of your customers give you 80% of your profits.

20% of the world's countries control 80% of the world's economy.

20% of bloggers who read my post won't understand 80% of what I'm blogging about.

OK, I'm just kidding on that last one.

Or I think it's more accurate to say that 80% of bloggers who drop by only read 20% of my post today. They are the Touch n Go bloggers, if you know what I mean - and I'm especially referring to Entrecard bloggers. Ha ha!

Anyway, what has all this got to do with my 'To Do' List? Plenty. Simply put, by applying the Pareto Principle, I need only to concentrate on 20% of my 'To Do' List ie. the most important ones. In other words, the ones I give priority to. It all comes back to priorities.

Unless I target the 20%, I can be wasting 80% of my time!

What I'm saying is, you can't do everything! But you can do the 20%! Let's not worry about the 80%. Because by concentrating on the 20%, you would already have made a major achievement. That's why they say average people put average effort into lots of things. Achievers put major effort into key things.

Having said that, does this mean I'll be updating my blog daily from now on?

Unlikely. The reason? I know my priorities, and I can tell you there are more important things in my life besides blogging! Posting every 2-3 days is fine with me and for the moment, let's leave it at that.