Skip to main content

80/20 Principle


For many years I have heard people in the church say, “80% of the work gets done by 20% of the people.” I always heard it as an axiom, not as a true mathematical principle. I recently read a book titled, The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch in which he dives deeply into the veracity of the 80/20 (Pareto) principle. While it was pretty easy to get lost in the mathematical weeds, I found it to be quite helpful in a few ways. A few of the thoughts I drew from the book are listed below.


The author talked both of 80/20 analysis and 80/20 thinking. Rather than reducing all of life into mathematical formulas, he talks about applying the principle to all of life.

The big idea is that, most of the time, 80% of outcomes are produced by only 20% of inputs. The select few will be most productive for almost any enterprise. Here are some examples that you may consider in your life and ministry.
·        20% of your relationships probably produce 80% of the fruit of your ministry.
·        20% of your time spent in ministry will likely produce 80% of your effectiveness.
·        20% of your donors will contribute 80% of the funds for your ministry. (I did some analysis of this and it came out 20/76.)
·        20% of your leisure time and activities probably produce 80% of the joy you experience.

What’s the point? If it is true that 20% of inputs contribute 80% of productivity, let’s be great at that 20%! Invest even more deeply in those 20% most fruitful relationships. Be excellent in your 20% most productive time slots and activities. Be very intentional in developing relationships with those top 20% donors. Be 100% present in the 20% of your family time and leisure that produces great joy. You may even want to cut out your least productive 20% in order to invest even more in the 20% most productive.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sport Chaplains at the Olympic Games

Today marks the official beginning of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London with the Opening Ceremony this evening. Among the thousands of people in the Olympic Village throughout the event is a collection of our colleagues from around the globe. There are sports chaplains, carefully selected from a wide variety of ethnic, national and sport backgrounds, speaking many different languages and from both genders, who are officially recognized by the London Organizing Committee and provided uniforms and credentials. They work through the Olympic Village’s Religious Services Center and have already been in London for over a week. They will also stay beyond the Olympic Games to serve in the Paralympic Games.   Please pray for these, our colleagues and fellow-servants, as they serve our Lord and the people in sport in these days of exhilarating triumph, painful defeat and even crippling despair. Some of these people were themselves Olympic competitors in past years and are thereby...
1 comment
Read more

Retirement announcement

On 30 May, I will officially retire from my service as Character Coach Director for Nations of Coaches ( https://nationsofcoaches.com/ ), a ministry to college basketball in the USA. The health challenges my wife, Sharon, is experiencing have led to this somewhat abrupt change. At this point in our soon to be 50-years of marriage, she needs me more than I need to work. The spring and summer months will reveal how strongly she will recover and that will determine if and when I can resume some level of ministry. She is my highest priority. I am contemplating making myself available to sports ministry leaders for mentorship, coaching, and consulting. I will provide more details as they become available. In the short term, I am available for chats via telephone or Zoom, if I can be of service to you. Sharon and I are moving from our home in Carbondale, Illinois to an apartment near our son’s family in Southeast Missouri. I plan to continue to produce content via blog posts, Bible studies, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

More Reflections from the Front Lines of a Cancer Battle - Week Four as a Widower.

Week Four as a Widower. Formerly, I had to work hard, schedule well, and plan wisely to achieve some solitude. Now, retired and widowed, solitude surrounds me, all day and all night. I, the incurable and unapologetic extrovert, find myself alone…. a lot. In crowds, alone. At church, alone. Waking up in my bed, absolutely alone. I am not as emotional about my loss as I was a few weeks ago. I am more emotionally numb than anything at this point. I have enough tasks to keep me busy presently, but I know after the sale of the house is closed, the banking is completed, and I return from the Congress in Texas, a lot of open space and unoccupied time awaits me. That is worrisome. I have a number of people with whom I correspond daily. I send one set of folks battling disease scripture and prayer. Another few receive a daily prompt for devotional reading. Dozens of sports chaplains across Latin America receive a link to each day’s post of my devotional book in Spanish, which they in turn share...
1 comment
Read more