Eighty twenty

I think I might have done too much rest (that is, from blogging) thanks to my previous post. My other side had been quite filled up, it's really sick season these past few weeks both in the clinics and in the hospital. Actually had just been back from a seminar and some respite, I might as well post on the same topic as promised.

The world literally had trained us to keep busy if we want to go up the ladder of success. Tim Ferris puts this in a graphic tone as follows: "If you want to move up the ladder in most of our corporate world, and assuming they don't really check what you're doing (let's be honest), just run around the office holding a cell phone to your head and carrying papers from 9 am to 5 pm. Now that is one busy employee". Unfortunately ( or quite fortunately), that's not how you increase your results and attain objectives.

Being effective is different from being efficient. Effectiveness is doing the things that get you closer to your goals. Efficiency is performing a given task ( whether important or not) in the most economical matter possible. Sadly, being efficient without regard to effectiveness is the default mode of the universe.

It is no different to you to see so many people working in a company or more so in the government, when you visit their offices. It would surprise you why even with so much manpower, you find yourself with so much people waiting like you in a queue where the service staff seem to have no regard for your personal time. Then observing them closely, some of them just chatting with each other, some just having their eyes fixed to their documents not even looking at you when they talk to you, and most just running around in circles. All for the routine of just to consume their 9 to 5 regimen. It is a wonder why it takes months just to get some simple government permits done. The society is infected with AIDS (As If Doing Something).

Applying this to your life, there are two truisms to take note of.
1. Doing something unimportant well does not make it important.
2. Requiring a lot of time does not make a task important.

Enter this principle of a renowned economist who lived from 1848 to 1923, Mr Vilfredo Pareto. The principle he conceived and presented then is now one of the secrets of the most successful people in the world. His Pareto principle is more popularly called the "80/20 principle". 


His principle originally describes how uneven the income distribution was in all parts of the world. "80% of the wealth and income was produced by 20% of the population". But this proportion is found actually in almost all aspects of human life.

• 80% of the outputs result from 20% of the inputs.
• 80% of the results come from 20% of the effort and time.
• 80% of company profits come from 20% of the products and customers.
• 80% of all stock marketgains are realized by 20% of the investors and 20% of an individual portfolio.

So with this in mind, here are two basic questions which you should work on to free your precious time (as recommended by Mr Tim Ferris in his book "The Four Hour Work week)".

1. Which 20% of sources are causing 80% of my problems and unhappiness?
2. Which 20% of sources are resulting in 80% of my desired outcomes and happiness?

Just set an entire day to ponder on these questions and write and record your answers in each aspect of your life ( family, business or career). Your goal is to find your inefficiencies in order to eliminate them and to find your strengths so you can multiply them. 

Being overwhelmed with things to do is often as unproductive as doing nothing and is far more unpleasant. Being selective- doing less- is the path of the productive. Focus on the important few and ignore the rest.

It;s easy to get caught in a flood of minutiae, and the key to not feeling rushed is remembering that lack of time is actually lack of priorities. Take time to stop and smell the flowers...



"One does not accumulate but eliminate. It is not daily increase but decrease. The height of cultivation runs to simplicity. - Bruce Lee

Hurrah to rest :)

It seems a little bit odd for me to be sitting here at the balcony of our hotel typing on Blogger thru my iPad right on top of and almost beside the blue clear resort pool and the gushing waves of the blue sea. My wife is attending her lecture, the kids are already having their classes so they were left home, and here I am alone in the room just pondering on what to do.

It's a bit odd coz just days or even hours ago, my mind is filled up with so many things to do and self guilt as to why I'm not accomplishing everything as planned out. Is it my old habit of postponing things again at the helm? Hmmm, let me work at why I don't think so...



So far, I was already able to take a step forward as far as medical pursuit is concerned. Had already fulfilled & submitted the requirements to be a member of the prestigious American College of Physicians. And as of last week, I had received an official email from them confirming me now as an official international member. :).

It was not just the title I was after. What lured me was the perk of being able to access all the full text journals of the Annals of Internal Medicine (whether past or present) and their other resources which certainly would help me a lot with my practice and in my teaching. So far the past few days I had been actually been busy downloading some PDFs which some I had come to and were indeed very good material. I hope that as I intend to share them with the medical residents, they would have the enthusiasm to appreciate them and use them in their training.

As for my online marketing ventures,  I was able to get involved with a low entry network marketing company with good products which is also backed up with huge online resources to boost its marketing and pay plan. I felt it was a good fit for my brother in law and my wife's secretary whom my wife and I are trying to help. So we got them in and in the past few days had managed to enroll too my other 2 sis in laws and placed them in my bro in law's downline. I missed attending their online marketing seminar this Saturday and missed clinic too but in exchange was able to attend my niece's daughter's birthday and saw our son dance with her.

Enough mumbling.....it's now time to go back inside, rest so I could clear my mind for the following days and be more in tune with my life purpose (or maybe in tune with the latest hits on Myx or what's up at HBO). I believe I should take heed of what Tim Ferriss says, "Less is not laziness". Doing less meaningless work so you can focus on things of greater personal importance, is NOT laziness. Focus on being productive rather than busy.

I have a full week ahead once we get home but for now it's rest time......... :) Why slave, rest, and retire when you can do the mini retirements and enjoy things at the moment . The next few posts will be about achieving results by not necessarily being busy.

Hurrah to rest!!

"By working faithfully eight hours a day, you may eventually get to be a boss and work twelve hours a day..."   -   Robert Frost          (tsk tsk tsk)