I’m a firm believer in the Pareto Principle. Most of us know it as the “80-20 Rule”, and it states that 80% of the output is the result of 20% of input. I look at everything this way, constantly trying to pare down the things I’m doing to what is actually effective and beneficial.

Naturally, attending other churches with the kind of insider knowledge I have means that (for a while) I’m looking at what can be improved upon and what is working well. For six months I have been given a perspective on congregational life that few pastors get. And so, in hopes that it will be helpful, here are the Top 5 things I’ve learned about church in the last six months:

1. Preaching matters. A lot. I’m not saying you’ve got to be Anna Carter Florence or anything, but if you half ass the sermon, shame on you. This is your number one job.
2. If the folks you serve don’t know how to be hospitable, it’s over. And the bigger you are, the harder it is. Think about it like the way you want a server at a restaurant to behave: attentive to what you need and willing to get it, but not too chatty that they smother you. It’s a fine line and it’s hard to find, but that’s no excuse.
3. Casual or informal worship is fine. Unintentional and watered down is not. Plus, anything that smacks of a performance? Boo.
4. All things to all people just doesn’t work. There are a gazillion churches out there. Not everyone is gonna love the kind of stuff yours offers and that’s okay. Do what you do, do it well, and make it easy for folks to get involved. This is particularly applicable to Christian Education programs. Multiple offerings is fine, but come on – Some of us are ridiculous.
5. Every congregation needs a mission project to rally around. Of course, given my belief in open source methodology, congregations should have a culture of experimentation and permission, but a lot of people are not “starters” and need something to latch onto.

These, in my opinion, are the 20%. They are not earth shattering, but in this changing landscape of whatever church is and is becoming I have to admit that I was surprised by a couple of these.

During the course of the 16-weeks I was in “Book It”, we kept coming back to one concept that was particularly resonant with me – the Pareto Principle - basically the idea that of the 100% of stuff you could do to achieve your result, that there is a specific 20% of that which will get you 80% of the results. In “Book It’, my 20% varied from week to week, but included a variety of vocal exercises including tongue isolations, jaw isolations, and lip isolations. And the thing is I never had as much time to practice as I would have liked, but I saw astronomical improvement in my voice from applying a focused mindset to getting results.

At the end of 2011, as I was looking forward to 2012, I started to evaluate the 80-20 rule again. What is the 20% I need to do this year to book that Broadway show, to get a fitness modeling gig for a National Magazine, to publish a fitness article in a major magazine, and to triple my income? The answer that kept coming back to me was mindset.

When I sat back and evaluated what separated the good auditions from the not so good auditions, the days I sounded awesome in Tom’s class from the day’s when I sucked, and pretty much every other aspect of my life I could imagine, the answer was mindset. If I was relaxed, at eased, trusted myself, and was in a playful mood, things went great. When I worried if I was good enough, if I would be successful, what others thought of me, whether I was making the “right” next move … things strangely didn’t go as well.

So when I was evaluating my daily plan to succeed at my 2012 Goals & Resolutions, I new I had to address my mindset on a daily basis. This has been slow on the uptake … while I have made some small gestures towards this, I hadn’t truly begun what I truly intended … daily meditation until this week (Tuesday to be exact.). While I haven’t fully complied with daily meditation I have found those critical 30 minutes 3 days this week and plans to find 30 minutes later today and tomorrow too.  Which makes 5 out of 7 days, not bad.

This week was particularly stressful. I spent far more time in auditions this week than I have been and several of those auditions I was not seen at because I’m non-equity and there just wasn’t time for them to see non-equity because of large turnout or one audition where so many people turned out that they had to type (and I was typed out.). So there was a lot of time spent without much reward …

But I know I handled myself better this week, and let a lot of stuff roll off my back that usual would bother me. I felt stronger and more courageous and ready to try again tomorrow.

Eventually, I would love to have a routine where I meditate at a consistent time each day, but as I’m getting used to a more vigorous schedule, getting up early or staying up late to meditate doesn’t yet seem possible. But I know that it will become possible, especially as I begin to feel the rewards of my meditation.

For now, I am content to have found 2 1/2 hours in the course of my week to meditate and will aim for 6 days next week. I know that the gradual changes are more likely to stick anyway. After all, I am on the path to setting healthy routines that support me for life!

One of my favorite books is Living the 80-20 Way by Richard Koch. He observes that the ancient Greeks were the greatest civilization for a key reason:  They had slaves to work for them. All they did was sit around thinking, pondering, evaluating and assessing.  (Yeah, I’d be brilliant too if that’s what my day consisted of!)

But there’s merit to thinking before acting. Koch encourages a certain level of laziness (“lazy intelligence”) in order to focus and to be creative.

“A lazy person wants to do as little as possible and so concentrates only on the essentials….For most of us, the only way to create something new and valuable is to slow down, do fewer things, chill out.”

It gets down to doing what really matters. Getting rid of activities you don’t value. Focusing on embracing each moment rather than rushing through it. Because only then can we truly savor life. Or, as Thoreau states in Walden, “I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life.”

Natural Productivity and Life Management

Dragos Roua agrees with Koch’s idea of thinking things through. In November, I read his eBook Assess – Decide – Do:  Natural Productivity. In it, Roua presents a life management system. His premise is that we spend too much time “doing” so we can check things off our lists. But the real question is:  Are they the right things?

I’ve been using this system for a couple of months now and am experiencing more peace during my day. I was surprised at how easily I cleared activities off my schedule. Now, I’m only doing those things that truly matter to me, and it feels good. Very good.

Rather than just doing, why don’t we spend more quality time assessing whether or not these things are important to us? Then we can decide whether or not to do them. If we focus on doing the things we value, we increase our ability to live in our best 20%. That results in giving ourselves the gift of richer, more satisfying lives.

Your best 20% refreshes and energizes you – Why not spend as much time there as you can? Good luck in your efforts to think more and act less!

One humongous, much-needed change glaring me in the face centered on my business and the way I work. The last couple of years have been anything but normal.

After a painfully slow (and I mean slooooow!) 2009, I was crazy busy in 2010. Last year gave credibility to the proverb “all work and no play makes (Jill) a dull (girl).”

Moving from a complete halt to breakneck speed is challenging, to say the least. Sometimes I think I want to pursue balance in my work. But when I evaluate further, is balance really the goal…for any of us? Or do we simply want to work within our strengths for as long as possible?

Your Best 20%

If that’s the case maybe we should be focusing on working in our best 20% for 80% of the time, rather than pursuing “balance.”

You know what I mean. Your best 20% is your “sweet spot.” And when you hit it, time stands still. You’re working away, happily engrossed in the task-at-hand, and then you look up. It’s 5:00. Where did the day go?

Focusing on your best 20% means playing to your strengths  so you’re less stressed and more excited about your work. The results can be anything from a smoother work day to feeling refreshed at quitting time to being incredibly productive.

According to Tim Ferris, author of The 4-Hour Workweek:  “The opposite of happiness is…boredom. Excitement is the more practical synonym for happiness, and it is precisely what you should strive to chase. It is the cure-all.”

rekindle your excitement

What gets you excited about your work? Is it your best 20%? (More than likely, it is!) Can you streamline your activities so you’re working in your best 20% most of the time? And don’t immediately respond with “No way! I can’t do that!”

Have you tried?

I’m adjusting my office hours so, when I write (my best 20%), I’m more focused. I’m also challenging myself to get my first thoughts down faster in order to let creativity (more of my best 20%) flourish. And both my clients and I benefit!

Even though none of us can work in our best 20% all the time, we can find small ways to tweak our activities and create a more pleasant way to work. Have fun discovering your best 20%, and let me know how it goes!

We are now quite far from the Industrial Revolution and not quite far from the Information Age.

Interestingly, through the emergence of commerce, the industrial age has introduced us to a new concept of work which has evolved over the years into the model of being corporate employees. The information age changes this further by introducing the exchange of information in another world – the virtual world (which is previously commonly regarded as cyberspace). A world outside our physical world is created without any need for space exploration. And we soon realise that the virtual world brings with it some changes in our communication style  – communication becomes real-time correspondence,  individuals workers are able to collaborate as teams to work on beneficial projects for their companies, networking can be achieved even while gaming, research can be done online and many more. These developments are improving as the web develops. While I make the stand that there are flip sides to technology, there is an edge to be gained when it comes to businee networking and personal branding.

And through all these developments, I believe another era is upon us. You can read about my blog on it here. Businesses are taking advantage of what the web has to offer in terms of business, marketing and branding opportunities. And this refers not just to organisations. Individuals are beginning to do personal branding online. And yes, many of them are becoming entrepreneurs. Books such as Mitch Joel‘s  “Six Pixels of Separation” and Clara Shih’s “The Facebook Era” emphasise on the importance of social media marketing, and entrepreneurs who have a wish to make this world a better place can also use the knowledge gained for social marketing. Terms such as Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and  Social Media Optimisation (SMO) are becoming common terms among personal branding experts and will probably be here to stay for a while.

The internet has opened up a new frontier for all of us to explore and there are already some of us who are at the forefront. And who are they?

They are the Entrepreneurs – the Business Starters, the Business Niche Explorers, the Business Marketing Developers.

A good question to ask is why entrepreneurs are the pioneers of this trend and not others? There may be more than one answer to this question but one thing is for sure – the knowledge to learn and the enthusiasm to help others better themselves and make this world a better place are two factors for the drive behind most entrepreneurs.

So why do someone want to be an entrepreneur?

They have a strong and intense passion in making this world a better place.

 That’s all it takes for one to become an entrepreneur. Be it to be an educator to provide small group coaching to students to improve their studying skills or subjects that they are struggling with, be it to be an environmentalist who strives to make the world a more humane place to live in or be it to be a photographer who wishes to put his travel photography skills to good use to enable others to know another culture,  there are many ways that individuals can start a business on their own that is aligned with their abilities and skill sets – alongside their altruistic vision.

Well, for starters, an entrepreneur gets to live out their own vision to make this world a better place and it’s very meaningful to do that. Vision such as “Building and Developing Schools in every developing countries”, “Media Literacy for all” and “Let kindness and altruism be the two values that people live by in this world” forms a higher calling for entrepreneurs and thus forms the drive behind their passions. While some may not see much development in some careers such as being circus performers,  Cirque Du Soleil made their mark entirely based on this profession. And with some creativity – it has garnered more success than some businesses. What makes successful entrepreneurs successful is that they have dreams and more importantly, they have a very intense and strong passion to realise them, just like the performers in Cirque Du Soleil.

In the same way that customers are getting more niche in their demand for products and services, there are more entrepreneurs that are offering products and services that are often more diverse. It is getting harder and harder to categorise things and people anymore. This is already happening in the education field, where more varied diplomas and degrees are being offered. While a general business degree is sufficient for one to get a job, some organisations are now looking for job candidates with business academic qualifications with certain majors, such as economics, commerce or e-commerce. At the other end of the spectrum, organisations are also more stringent in their recruitment process in getting the right candidates for the job. One can observe this very clearly in the various job adverts posted everyday. While there are still some positions which are quite open to job candidates, most job positions require someone whose position is quite niche. Let’s use a metaphor to illustrate this point: while previously we are able to gulp down water from a glass of water since the opening surface is large, we now need a straw to drink the water because we are now drinking from a bottle with a straw attached to it (No, we can’t remove the straw and drink from it!).

And when a job candidate secures a job, he or she might find that their abilities, skill sets and life goals are at times not aligned with that of the organisations. This might not be an issue with job candidates who is willing to blend in with the corporate culture and practices of the organisations, to work together with their colleagues as a team and to contribute to the organisations to their best abilities and make them flourish.  But the same cannot be said of those who choose to pursue their own passions, taking the road less travelled by finding their own like-minded teammates, sharing their same altruistic hopes and dreams and spurring one another on to make all their dreams come true. There is nothing wrong with both choices but the latter – more often than not – chooses to be entrepreneurs simply because of the freedom and flexibility that they so desires.For these entrepreneurs, their mindset are different from others . For them, when it comes to developing their career, they often like to ask one question:  rather than being among the selected, why not be the selector?

So, the question to ask oneself is: are you the former or the latter? If you are the latter, it’s time to join the flock of entrepreneurs. Of course, there will be hard work, so patience and perseverance is required. Are you ready to do so?

So how do one become an entrepreneur?

Cost is a major consideration for most individuals when they consider entrepreneurship but this is reducing over the years, since the cost of personal branding is dropping as well. With the existence of social media networks such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Wordpress, Blogger and many more, networking efforts is getting easier and cost in this area is getting lower. If there is a time where there is a great rise in the number of entrepreneurs, it should be about now. And the numbers are set to rise in the coming years.

While cost- especially networking cost- is coming down, there are still other costs involved, such as the establishment of a retail outlet, hiring of staff and renovation expenditures. It really depends on your type of business and how much investment you wish to put into your new business venture(s). Nevertheless, it will be good to start small if possible – especially if it’s a business that you are taking on alone, such as a life/career coach, consultant, financial planner, real estate executive, freelance writer or even a tutor.

To get inspired, it might be good to learn some concepts and read some books to get one started. Some insights and titles that are quite inspiring include:

• The Pareto Principle (The 80-20 Rule)

• The Parkinson’s Law (In a nutshell, work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion)

• Technology hinders more than aids us when it comes to work (except when establishing meet-ups with others, that is)

• “The 4-hour workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the Rich” by Timothy Ferriss

• “Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to achieve Career Success” by Dan Schawbel
  

After reading the above, if you feel that you are cut out to be an entrepreneur, why not think about your altruistic vision for the world, how you wish to and are able to contribute as well as trying to identify your abilities that are aligned with your goals? If you still feel that there are some skills that you have not yet mastered, why not go for some upgrading courses or even form a like-minded team and work together to make this world a better place? Educate children with the right and proper beneficial values such as altruism, kindness and filial piety. Guiding working professionals on maintaining the right work-life balance. Conserving the environment by promoting recycling campaigns. There are so many things that we can do to make this world a better place to live.

Let us all work towards bettering this world.

80-20 Rule Pictorial

The reality is driving business growth, as well as, mainstay business requires innovative technology.  Spending 80% of an IT budget on maintenance and support whether code fix, infrastructure or end-use support just doesn’t work.   

 Why does “keeping the lights on” take so much time and energy?

In order to truly address this we must ask ourselves “How did we get here”?    

If the answer to this was short and sweet the problem would have been addressed and resolved years ago. The simple fact is that business has become more complex due to globalization,  the Internet,  cloud computing,  government regulations,  competition and price pressures just  to name a few. In response to these issues IT organizations would respond reactively and without long term strategies.    Enterprise architectures and infrastructure plans are costly and take time. The end result is a complex and disparate environment of applications, automated business rules, and aging infrastructures which require a great deal of support to keep operating.  This complexity has led to abundance of organizational dysfunction.  “Tribal knowledge”, which exists in the workforce most poised to lead innovation, is often drawn in to fight fires.      

 The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) in its 2^nd version attempted to address by separating IT into two areas, “Delivery and Support”.  The premise was that if you did “Delivery”, the act of planning and developing IT services, perfectly you would reduce the “Support” requirements.  The result?  The overly academic and process centric views left IT becoming too internally focused on process and controls.  ITIL release V.3 with the goal to be more focus on business-related service management ideas.   It encourages IT departments to assess where they are and where they’re going.  To develop a roadmap with associated key performance indicators in order to reach that destination.  While still flawed, it provides some great guidance on ways to reduce operational spend and increase innovation.    

Ok sounds great, but how do we get THERE?    

Next article: Flipping the 80/20 Paradigm

Private Victory

Habit 1: Be Proactive – Principles of Personal Vision
Habit 2: Begin With the End in Mind – Principles of Personal Leadership
Habit 3: Put the First Things First- Principles of Personal Management

Covey teaches that you spend your time in these 4 quadrants:

Image via Wikipedia

1. Important & Urgent
2. Important & Not Urgent
3. Not Important & Urgent
4. Not Important & Not Urgent.

You probably recognize what is urgent and what in not urgent. It’s more of a challenge to recognize what is truly important and even more difficult to have the self-discipline to spend the appropriate time in each quadrant. I am a firm believer that the Pareto Principle (80-20 Rule) applies to your time management. You will get 80% of the benefits in 20% of the activities. You will increase your effectiveness by spending more time in Quadrant 2 – Important & not urgent. These are all of the proactive activities that are difficult to fit into your day if you let the tyranny of the urgent crowd them out.

You will need to understand what is truly important if you are going to spend more time in Quadrant 2. What are your top goals for 2010? If you work in Food Processing, the common priorities are Safety, Quality, Yield improvement, Efficiencies, Lean implementation to name a few. What about outside of work? How will you strengthen your family relationships and your spiritual walk? What other priorities did you set for yourself when you looked at Habit 2, beginning with the end in mind? You will need to spend less time in the other 3 quadrants so you can focus on Quadrant 2. Don’t confuse the time you spend fighting fires which is important and urgent, with the proactive Quadrant 2. Let’s use a production line that is down and waiting for parts as an example. Troubleshooting the problem, expediting the parts, and repairing the line is fire fighting in Quadrant 1. Performing a 5-Why Root Cause Analysis on why the line went down and why no parts were available would be Quadrant 2. Implementing effective countermeasures like improved Planned Maintenance, inspections, and parts control would be Quadrant 2. You could be telling yourself that you are too busy and are always fighting fires. Life in a manufacturing plant can be non-stop fire fighting if you only focus on the urgent. Start with addressing just one or two issues that are keeping you from hitting one of your top goals. If you take it to a true root cause and countermeasure then you have solved an issue and prevented a fire in your future. It feels good.

You won’t be able to solve everything today but you can take steps towards your top goals by scheduling your priorities today.

View all 7 Habits

Please leave a comment below if you liked this article. You can also connect on LinkedIn and follow me on Twitter.

Private Victory

Habit 1: Be Proactive- Principles of Personal Vision
Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind- Principles of Personal Leadership
Habit 3: Put the First Things First- Principles of Personal Management

Public Victory

Habit 4: Think Win/Win- Principles of Interpersonal Leadership
Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood- Principles of Emphatic Communication
Habit 6: Synergize- Principles of Creative Cooperation

Renewal

Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw- Principles of Balanced Self-Renewal

It is important to note that the habits must be learned in order prescribed by the author to be effective. Covey also notes that private victory comes before public victory. Naturally, we will start with the first habit which is to be proactive. Covey teaches more than to just take initiative though that is part of being proactive. We are responsible for our lives, not victims of circumstance. Our behavior is the result of our decisions, not our conditions. The author also teaches about the Circle of Concern and the Circle of Influence.

Learning to have an impact beyond my team was a lesson learned that would have a huge impact on my effectiveness as a leader. My Circle of Concern was everything that had an effect on my business results. This would include the members of my team, other departments and supervisors, our corporate office, our vendors, and even the local utilities. The circle of influence is what I felt was in my control. For most of us, our circle of concern is larger than our circle of influence. I quickly learned though that my circle of influence needed to include more than just my team. Proactive leaders take steps to gradually influence more and more in order to improve results. How do increase your influence? Start by looking at the outside factors that are impacting your results. Use the 80-20 rule to determine what battles are worth the fight, then start reaching out to those groups. Work together to find improved procedures, inspections, and PM’s. Form cross-functional and multi-department teams to address issues that are having an adverse impact on your business results. Reach out to vendors that are not meeting your needs instead of complaining that they are always a problem. You have increased your circle of influence as soon as you have a positive impact on those who do not formally report to you.

Today’s leaders need to be able to influence more than the team that reports to them. You will need to be able to influence other managers, other teams, and even people in other companies to reach your goals. As Covey teaches, act or be acted upon.

• Change Management and the Pareto Principle….The Vital Few and the Trivial Many &
• Implementing Change-Overcoming the Resistance

In fact, these two segments generated half of the traffic. I believe that this is consistent with the feelings I hear manufacturing professionals express about implementing change. First, there is a strong sentiment in many Food Processing Plants today that there are too many things to do and not enough resources to do them well. Prioritizing our projects and how we use our time is critical to success and using the 80-20 rule is a great tool to help accomplish that. Here are a few comments that you shared on the topic:

• Lots of organisations are going through change and in UK it’s happening in nearly every industry including the Government Organisations (Mina Joshi).
• I’ve been involved service desk delivery for close to a decade and a Pareto chart is one of the most effective ways to explain the tradeoff of effort for return. Too may times we get caught up in the small detail, the exceptions, when the value is in that 80%. Keep that rule in mind, and it’s actually difficult to stumble (Shanegenziuk).

Second, there is a strong sense among leaders in many fields that people resist and even fear change. This is not unique to Food Processing, Lean Manufacturing, or any other segment of Leadership. Overcoming the resistance is a critical skill needed by virtually all of today’s leaders. Here are some of your comments on resistance to change:

• I always remember and tell my team members, when you are seeking solution for a problem, you must first define the problem clearly (Thanigaivel).
• Fear of change is often overlooked as a stumbling block to improvement. Reduce people’s fear and change becomes easier. Also people will support what they help to create (Reno Lovison).

Significant change is never easy. Picking your battles or prioritizing will help you to make sure you get the most benefit for the effort you will have to invest in these changes. Proper communication will reduce the fear, head off issues, and help you to gain more buy-in to the change.

Remember, weight loss is a gradual progression. You must give each aspect of your life a complete effort at each given moment to reap the full benefits of life. If you spend all your time with losing weight, you may be neglecting your career or personal hobbies. If you spend most of your time with your job, you may be neglecting your children at home. Too much of anything is not good for you. You have to find balance in each aspect of your life, but ensure you are giving 110% of your effort to the specific focus you may have at any given time. Approach your weight loss the same way. If you maintain a positive attitude, adapt a lifestyle change, follow habitual routine, and most importantly sustain consistency in everything you do, you WILL be successful! The idea is to be 80% good, and maintain consistency 100% of the time.

Here are a few tips to help find the balance in your life:

1. Make a Schedule for Yourself. Variety is the spice of life, but it is difficult to allocate your attention to every aspect of your life without scheduling time for yourself. Success in weight loss is not accomplished by juggling things that need to be done. Rather, you must have a game plan, and constantly execute that game plan to secure results. Make a scheduled time for your career. Schedule appointments to exercise, eat right, play with your children, and taking vacations. By scheduling your professional and personal lives, you will truly get the most out of life and find a proper balance of work and play that keeps you grounded.
2. Do not confuse Extreme with Effort. Life is about finding balance, not about living in extremes. Most people start a weight loss program, give it 100% by eating right and exercising every day, and eventually fall of the wagon because of the difficulty in sustaining that routine. When you allow yourself to indulge once in a while, take a day off from exercising, and avoid the feeling of starvation and deprivation most diets call for, you are not sacrificing your effort. Effort is about finding consistency in practicing those healthy habits, not about going 100 mph then suddenly come to a screeching halt. A successful weight loss journey requires a lifestyle change. It requires much more effort to keep your weight off for the rest of your life, than the instant gratification you may get by losing a few pounds by being extreme.
3. Majority outlasts Minority. Success and sustainability come from what you are able to accomplish through hard work “most of the time”. If you put 100% effort into eating right and exercising during most of the week, a day off, cheat day, or lazy day will not deter your weight loss efforts in the long run. Now of course if your actions during those days off go a bit overboard, you are prone to sabotaging your hard work. But if you are sticking with your weight loss program consistently for the majority of the time (at least 80%), and establish repetition in your actions, you will be successful!
4. Adapt a lifestyle change. Finding the balance in your life is about accepting the necessary changes and healthy habits you will need in your life to be successful. Nobody said losing weight was easy. You cannot just lose weight spontaneously over night. What you will find however is that if you incorporate healthy eating habits and exercise into your daily routines, you will naturally start adhering to a philosophy of a lifestyle change. If you used to eat 8 slices of pizza per serving and now cut back to 1 or 2 slice occasionally, and if you prevent yourself from falling back into bad habits of overeating, you are establishing a habitual change in your life. Always remember that sustaining a lifestyle change will not just drastically increase your ability to lose weight, but more importantly keep the weight off.
5. Be a creature of habit. It’s all about repition and practice. As the old saying goes “practice makes perfect”. Finding balance in your life also requires the ability to schedule personal time for yourself. We often forget that the best thing you can do to help other people is often to take care of ourselves first. By constantly sticking with a program and the common practices needed to actively live a healthy lifestyle, you will soon become a creature of the habits you need to sustain success.  The best game plan is to find what types of diets and exercise routines facilitate the best weight loss results for you and repeat them over and over again. If your body becomes accustom to that routine and your results slow down, change things up and become a creature of the new habits you adapt in your life.
6. Reward your accomplishments. Finding balance in your life stems from rewarding your accomplishments. Work hard, play hard! Do not be afraid to treat yourself to your favorite cheat meal every once in a while if you have done a great job reaching your weight loss milestones. Maybe you buy a smaller pair of jeans when they fit you, or take a weekend off to enjoy a spa getaway or vacation. Rewarding yourself for your hard work will bring a sense of extra satisfaction to your hard work that allows you to stay grounded and appreciate your accomplishments so much more. The more you acknowledge your successes, the more you will find you strive for excellence in everything you do.
7. The 80/100 Rule Does NOT Mean 80% Effort / 20% laziness. The common mistake most people make is they view their lives as one big pie and try to distribute their time and efforts into one piece or slice of the pie at a time. Following the 80/100 rule does not mean give 80% of an effort to each aspect of you life and mentally check out for the remaining 20%. Nothing will be accomplished that way! Do not spread yourself thin when adapting a healthy lifestyle. Instead, with each slice or aspect of your life, give 110% of your effort, focus, and execution to that aspect at any given moment. If you are at work, focus on the job at hand and give it everything. When you are with your family, dedicate your time in enjoying your loved ones to the fullest. When you are exercising, give your workout everything you have. Finding balance and being good 80% of the time, means for that 80% of the week when you focus on healthy living, give 110% of you effort to be successful.
8. Establish Accountability. Is it really possible to keep moving forward and strive for excellence without any level of accountability? The key to sticking with your weight loss program is to hold yourself accountable for those days you fall of track or deviate from your diet. If you know you are attending a wedding next weekend and want to indulge on a piece of cake, make sure the week leading up to the wedding has accounted for controlling your calories by eating better or exercising an extra 1 hour to account for the inevitable. If you take a cheat day, make sure it stays a cheat day and not a cheat week or cheat month. Ensure Monday morning you are back in the gym and following your diet. The best type of accountability is self-accountability that you hold for yourself. If you need a friend to help weigh you, or keep you in check with weekly follow-ups, then set up a system that ensures you have to report to somebody. If you get a habit of holding yourself accountable for the 20% of the time you are not following your strict diet, you will ensure longevity in your weight loss results.

Remember to check out HealthyWage, the health incentive experts who pay you to be healthy!

Image via Wikipedia

This blog has been looking at change implementation which is a skill you need to be a successful leader in nearly any arena. We have already explored the 8 Steps of Change Management, Overcoming Resistance to Change, and the first step: Identify the Improvement Area . Since there are often more opportunities for loss reduction than there are resources in today’s Food & Beverage manufacturing plants, the Pareto Principle is a powerful tool that will help you prioritize initiatives and will support your case that there is a need for change.

The Pareto Principle is also known as the 80-20 Rule. The 80-20 Rule is credited to the early 20th Century economist Vilfredo Pareto who observed that 80% of the wealth was owned by just 20% of the people. Dr. Joseph Juran coined the term the vital few and trivial many to describe this principle. The vital few and trivial many are illustrated very well by using a Pareto Chart which is a bar chart ranking the causes by the frequency of occurence.

The good news is that this principle applies to most situations and if used properly will help you to quickly determine your priorities. Let’s take for example the losses due to minor stops (downtime event of 10 minutes or less) on your line. You can make your Pareto Chart as follows:

1. Take the downtime data that you are probably already collecting and categorize the data as it makes sense for your business.
2. Graph the data with the biggest downtime category at the left of the graph.
3. The second largest would be next to the first and so on.
Note: It is important to list the downtime categories in this order for the full impact of the 80-20 distribution as you can see by following this link: Pareto Chart

In this example, the filler and capper represent the vital few causes which become your priority areas for improvement. You will find that there are several causes of downtime for these machines. You should apply the 80-20 rule to decide which issues to address on the filler and capper as well. You may find it helpful to make a Pareto Chart for the downtime causes on the filler and capper.

Using the 80-20 rule will help you to prioritize your projects and change initiatives. It can be applied to all types of losses in your manufacturing plant including quality defects, consumer complaints, and downtime, etc. Use this powerful tool to prioritize your time and to illustrate the need for change.

To achieve progress and increase one’s output, an individual must strengthen 20% of his or her resources to the greatest extent to achieve something and the remaining 80% up to a reasonable level. Have you ever applied this rule, professionally or personally? How successful were you in applying this rule?

To read the complete article, please visit http://blog.commlabindia.com/elearning/80-20-rule

Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, believed that 90 percent of all money is earned by 10 percent of the people. He called it the 90-10 rule of money. For example, if you look at the game of tennis, I would say that 10 percent of the players earn 90 percent of the money. In the Philippines, approximately 90 percent of the wealth is owned by 10 percent of the people.

Question: What is the name of the game of the 10 percent earning 90 percent of the money?

Answer: Cash Flow

To better understand the game of cash flow, the following are examples of how cash flow game is played in real life.

Many students, who graduate, enter the job market, find a good job, and watch their cash flow to the government via income taxes. The more they earn, the higher the percentage they pay in taxes. To save money, they eat at Jollibee or McDonalds, and cash flow to Jollibee or McDonald. They deposit their paycheck in their bank, and cash flows to the bank in the form of fees each time they use an ATM to get their money. They buy a car, and cash flows to the car company, finance company, gas industry, auto insurance, and, of course, to the government for an auto license. They buy a house, and cash flows out of their pockets to pay for the mortgage, insurance, cable TV, water, electricity, and government for property taxes.

Every month cash flows to the stock market to invest in mutual funds for retirement plans, and cash flows from mutual funds to fund managers in the form of commissions and fees. Later in life, when people are old and feeble, cash flows to hospitals for medical expenses and nursing home. And when they die, cash flows to pay taxes on what they left behind, if ever there’s any. For most people, their entire lives are spent trying to keep up with their outgoing cash flow.

The reason 90 percent of people struggle financially is because cash is always flowing out to someone or something else – flowing to the 10 percent who know the name of the game. The harder the 90 percent work and the more money they earn, the more cash flows out to the 10 percent.

This is the story of most Filipinos. Most work very hard. Some even went back to school for higher degrees and specialized training. Some made more money and saved some of it, but most never got control of their outgoing cash flow. When some lost their job and was forced to stop working, no cash flowed in – yet they still had to honor their outgoing cash flow obligations. Clearly, some are in real financial trouble.

Question: What can I do?

Answer: Learn how to play the game of cash flow.

Question: How?

Answer: Educate yourself financially.

Credits to The Conspiracy of the Rich by Robert Kiyosaki.

The 80-20 Rule (a.k.a. Pareto principle) is far from new. The rule can be simply explained as “20% of your customers generate 80% of revenue” but it has somehow evolved into the new buzz term in marketing is called “Flip the Funnel”. There’s this new book about it and Seth Godin also wrote about it back in 2006. The main idea is to look at marketing as a funnel and when it is upright, that’s how traditional marketing is done – sell one to many.  Target the mass and shove them through the funnel to squeeze out the few good customers at the end, rinse and repeat. While this approach has worked for many decades, the effects have been severely diminished due to the increase number of marketing avenue and market saturation. But what if you flip the funnel upside down -  you can sell many to one. But how?

By making customer retention the new customer acquisition. Focus on your few (well, 20%) good customers. Retain and reward them, make them your brand ambassadors.

Set Godin wrote in 2006, “Turn strangers into friends. Turn friends into customers. And then… do the most important job: Turn your customers into salespeople.”

Joseph Jaffe, wrote, “It’s time to ask this question, “what if we got it all wrong?” What if all of marketing was completely backwards? If 75% (or more) of our revenue comes from returning customers, why on earth are we only investing 25% (or less) against them? If 20% (or less) of our customers are responsible for 80% (or more) of our revenue or volume, why don’t we know each and every one of these customers by name? What are we explicitly doing for them?”

If it is hard to look at marketing differently, just look at the picture.

What do you see? A funnel that can be used to squeeze masses or a megaphone that can be used by your loyal customers to talk about your brand?

“Spray and pray” vs. “retain and reward”. Which end of the funnel are you using?

“Do you look in the mirror and say…

a) i look awesome

b) i look gross

If you answered “a” then good job. However, if you answered “b” then everyday go run up a hill for an hour and eat less.”

Very, very simple and doesn’t require much thought, but I”m sure you would get results. The trick for me is to try to get people to have fun while gradually progressing them to do more work like that without getting hurt. Have a good day, and don’t take it too seriously!

Put this into effect and you'll be working your 4-hour work week too!

This rule here is a rule that you never want to forget for the rest of your lives.  It’s called the “80/20 Rule”.  I’ve got a video for you that is from the “Inner Circle” group of coaching that I needed to give you today because this is something that needs to be solidified within our community with everything that you’re doing.

This concept was brought to my attention by Robert Kiyosaki, the auther of “Rich Dad Poor Dad”, “Cashflow Quadrant”, and a few others.  I’m sure my wife would get me for not underlining these titles but this is what makes sense to my mind right now so I’m moving on =)=)

The other gentleman who brought this to my attention is Timothy Ferris, the author of “The 4-Hour Work Week.”  I absolutely recommend this book because it changed my life and can help point you in the right direction as well.

All of my talking couldn't have summed up this principle any better than this pic!

To make this specific for what we’re doing here online I’m going to cut to the chase and tell you that 80% of your time should be spent on Driving Traffic to your site.   20% of your time should be spent on Back-end products and other developmental areas.  The key to making sure you’re able to spend that time driving traffic to your site is to make sure you have everything running for you so that you don’t have to send emails all day long and be a cashier at a store front.  Tellman Knudson is truly bringing this point home all day long!  Bringing people to your squeeze page or your splash page or where ever you want people to see your business or product is the focus.

That’s all I wanted to get to you today, here’s the video talking about this principle in a little more abstract but effective way =)

Take a look at this book! Better than that, apply it and wait for the magic!

Watch this video and begin looking for ways to implement this into your life right now because the sooner you do this the sooner you’re business can grow and the sooner you can start enjoying what you’re working on because you know it’s effective.

http://www.ImprovementMillionaire.com/IM/6_Additional_Secrets_Vid_3.html

~Jerome

Well I promised it… An up-close-and personal interview about The 4 Day Diet by Dr. Ian K. Smith.  The 4 Day Diet has power-packed chapters; Resist Temptation, Reward Yourself and Think Thin, just to name a few.  But don’t take my word for it, let’s hear from Freda, who successfully lost 30 pounds while following The 4 Day Diet, combined with her personal motivation and philosophy…

LoveDiet21 sits down with Freda Howell (Aggie PRIDE) to learn more about her experience with The 4 Day Diet.

| 4 Day Diet Interview w/ Freda |

LoveDiet21: Tell me the main concept behind the 4 day Diet?

• Freda:   The main concept to me was a diet and exercise program that was very simple to follow.  Dr. Smith tells you exactly what to eat and how much exercise to get on that particular day.  He also understands that it is hard to follow the SAME eating regimen over a LONG period of time.  So, the diet changes basically every four days.

The main concept to me was a diet and exercise program that was very simple to follow.

LoveDiet21: What made you trust Dr. Ian Smith?

• Freda: Nothing in particular.  I have been working out and eating healthy (sometimes not so healthy…lol) for quite some years, but I have not been the size that I really wanted to be.  I know that cardio is important, especially for women, but did not want to accept it.   So in searching for the NEXT level and after hearing some raving fans of this diet, via the Michael Baisden Show, I decided to give it a try.

LoveDiet21: Are you familiar with his other initiatives?

• Freda:

The 50 Million Pound Challenge? Yes, but I have not signed up.

Celebrity Fit Club? Yes, but I am not a religious watcher.

LoveDiet21: Have you followed any of his other diets?

• Freda: No, this is the first one.

LoveDiet21: How much weight have you lost so far?

• Freda: I have lost about 30 lbs on the 4 Day Diet.

I lost 30 lbs on the 4 Day diet.

LoveDiet21: Are you currently following the 4 Day Diet?

• Freda: No, not at this current moment, but I plan to start certain phases this Monday.

LoveDiet21: How long do you plan to continue?

• Freda: Maybe for 12 days, then a break and soon after I will embark on the entire diet again.

LoveDiet21: How long have you been following the 4 Day Diet?

• Freda: I first started in June of 2009.

LoveDiet21: What inspired you to begin a fitness program?

• Freda: Well, I have always struggled with my weight, especially through my child to young adult years.  So I make it a TOP priority to get to a comfortable weight and maintain it.

LoveDiet21: What is your work out regimen?

• Freda: It varies.  I like to change up things quite often to avoid boredom and also to make sure that my body does not get too used to doing the same things all the time.  During the winter, it is basically the gym and currently P90X DVD’s.  As the weather breaks, I enjoy outside activities such walking and/or running in the park or other areas, going to the track, running stadium steps, playing tennis, riding my bike, running hills, cutting the grass, etc.  Anything that gets me active.

LoveDiet21: Would you recommend the 4 Day Diet to others?

• Freda: Yes.

LoveDiet21: Why?

• Freda: I believe if you are looking for the next level and are serious about following the information provided (and it is all provided)… Why not?  You have nothing to lose but the WEIGHT!

The seven phases are interchangeable

LoveDiet21: What don’t you like about the 4-Day Diet?

• Freda: The only thing I dislike about the diet is preparing a pot of something [food] and then the diet allowing you to have only 2 cups of it.  We are in a recession!!  I cannot afford to be wasteful!! (LOL) Another drawback, and this becomes a positive after a while, is the preparation of some of the food.  The positive is that I have to buy food early and prepare it for the week.  This is a good thing as it cuts down on buying outside food (fast food), because you know you have food cooked and prepared at home.

LoveDiet21:  What have you learned that you didn’t know before?

• Freda: The biggest lesson from this diet is that change is important.  I have always known this, but sometimes I have to be reminded of that.   Dr. Smith not only reminded me, but also took all the guess-work out of it by providing all the information.

LoveDiet21: Is there anything you do not like about Dr. Ian’s weight loss/weight maintenance philosophy?

• Freda:  I like this program because after you finish the complete diet for the first time, the seven phases are interchangeable.  I can pick what phases that I may need or want to do.  If I just want to “tighten up” because of the holidays or I have been eating “out of control”, I can pick which phases I think will help me get back on track.

LoveDiet21: What is your own personal fitness philosophy?

• Freda: My fitness philosophy is that “Rome was NOT built in a day”.  It takes time to lose weight in a healthy balanced way.  But when I start to notice my clothes loosening up a bit, I know that I can not give up. You have to Go HARD or Go HOME!!

Freda’s Philosophy:  Go HARD or Go HOME!!

LoveDiet21: What will you never do for the sake of weight loss?

• Freda: Well I will not say never because you know what they say about saying that, but I would like to think that I would not have surgery for the sake of weight loss.

LoveDiet21: Is there anything else that you would like to share?

• Freda: The 4-day Diet worked for me!! Give it a try! As I stated earlier, if you are serious, all you’ve got to lose is WEIGHT!!

The 4 Day Diet worked for me!!

Have a question or comment for Freda? Leave a Comment

Free Recipes from The 4 Day Diet

Read Chapter 1 of The 4 Day Diet

Read excerpts from The 4 Day Diet

________________________________________________________________________

Chat with Dr. Ian himself – click here.  Find out if he thinks Chocolate is better than Sex!

First let’s start with a definition from Wikipedia :

A market with a high freedom of choice will create a certain degree of inequality by favouring the upper 20% of the items (“hits” or “head”) against the other 80% (“non-hits” or “long tail”). This is known as the Pareto principle or 80–20 rule.

Above is an example of a power law graph showing popularity ranking. To the right is the long tail; to the left are the few that dominate. Notice that the volumes of both areas match.

Looking at the number of CMS products published by CMS Watch there is evidence that the Long Tail applies also to CMS systems. We’ve heard of most of the vendors on the CMS Watch list, they regulary come up on long lists, have large revenues from licenses or services, have large development community and clients bases, and they are most likely to the left of the diagram. We also come across others that are not on the list or those that have been developed by Agencies or an inhouse team, these systems are in the in the “long tail” with low volume sales, number of clients using their products and small development communities.

So some “proof” that there is a correlation between the entertainment industry and CMS systems. And if you need to select a CMS system, are you going for something that is the “top of the pops” or an obscure artist that nobody has heard of?

Related posts

• Long Tail – Wikipedia
• CMS Vendors
• Long Tail: Boon for Consumer, Bust for Producer? by Gerry McGovern

Time charts are what most traders are used to using, although tick charts have gained in popularity in recent years. Day Traders mostly use time charts and I would have to say the 80-20 rule here would apply. I can’t back that up with any stats, but that is what I believe it is.

Recently back in October last year, the (CME) Chicago mercantile Exchange, changed the way that they report tick data. It has caused a lot of confusion for traders as many did not know of the change and just started seeing the bar activity increasing on the chart. Depending on the trading method that they use, it could have caused problems. It could be hard to identify what you are looking for with all the activity on the screen. I am sure it even caused many to go back to time based charts.

I noticed it right away and took action to recreate the data after a little research. What ever the tick count you used to use, you should multiple that by 2.3 times the original is our best estimate to get things back to what it was before the change. I realize that this is old news, but I have more to say on the matter, so hang in there.

The other difference is that when the volume really picks up, like on Friday, where we had around 4 million contracts traded, you have to do some adjusting. The charts will be moving a lot faster than you are used to and that is the main reason I am talking about the subject. In November and December, we were barely hitting 1.5 million contracts per day. Friday was the highest that I have seen in a long time. The reversal probably had something to do with it. So the point is, don’t be afraid to adjust your chart settings to compensate, but do it proportionately to any of the higher time frame charts that are using.

The benefits of using Tick charts still out weigh any negatives. Tick charts give you a much more detailed view of the days price action and allows you to narrow down your entry price much better.

Let me give to other kinds of day trading chars that have got much more popular recently. In fact some think this is  the new thing, giving some the edge and that is the use of Range Charts and Volume charts. Some people do not know a thing about it and that is another reason for the post. I am still researching it for myself, but I looked at the two kinds of charts and I would have to say, I do like them. Volume charts are very similar to tick charts, but the bars are placed by volume, just like the description says.

In my brief analysis of the two, a 10,000 contract chart is equal to about 2100 tick chart, about 5 times greater. That would suggest that the average trade on the S&P eminis is 5 contracts per trade or tick. The contract chart is going to add up all the volume based on total contracts bought and sold and the tick charts are going to count the actual trades that have gone off and when 2100 is reached, it will post a bar. I have noticed slight differences, like more big volume from large institutional traders at certain area’s and less bars posted at reversal tops, suggesting that the small traders are getting sucked in before the reversal. It is not a very large difference, but I can see it. Prices are posted the same as far as that goes.

The last type of data  charts is called, Range Charts and this is what I hear is the next big thing. I did look at these, but I have yet to make a conclusion. The basic idea is, if you put as an input say 6 tick range on the S&P. A bar will post when the range is 6 ticks from high to low and not before. It does not matter how long it takes, but when that condition is met, a bar is posted. The movement is calculated and then plotted. Trade Station is what I use and they have this in their platform. I am not sure about other vendors, but if it interests you, I am sure you can find out.

Now you know the different types of charts that are available. . If their is interest, I can help those who have more questions in this area. I can help give you the corresponding tick chart settings to match the time charts you are using and if you have any other trading questions I would happy to answer them too, so please feel free to ask.  

Below is a 500 tick chart of the S&P 500 eminis and a 1 minute chart.

Good Trading, Vince