Pareto Principle During the Holiday Break
The Pareto Principle is the 80/20 rule that most of us have heard of. The overall concept is that most outcomes are the result of 20% of the overall effort.
Here are a few examples:
· 80% of sales are from 20% of clients
· 80% of the wealth is owned by 20% of the population
· 20% of professional athletes cause 80% of ticket sales (inverse)
Over the holiday break, I decided to try this out with items within my own living space. I realized that I use 20% of the cookware 80% of the time. I tossed out the 80% of the cookware that I didn’t use much. I wear 20% of my clothes 80% of the time. I gave 5 bags of clothes to the Goodwill. 80% of my personal email is sales material and irrelevant to my life, while 20% is valuable. I unsubscribed from at least 50 email lists. I wear 20% of my jewelry 80% of the time. Goodwill received a big donation of jewelry over the holiday.
It felt liberating to get rid of so many items taking up space in my life. Over the course of the next month or two, I will do the same exercise at work, looking at email folders, bookmarks, and files. There is a feeling of liberation that comes from this exercise that is difficult to describe – you just have go try it yourself. Trust me, you won’t miss those items that are gone, and you will create space for new items. Enjoy the content below!
Good Quote
The greatest mistake you can ever make in life is to be continually fearing that you will make one.
Ellen Hubbard
Life
I listened to a quick 10-minute interview with the author of Tiny Habits, BJ Fogg. His perspective on building habits is quite insightful and backed by science. He takes the approach of being easy on yourself and setting very small, achievable goals. I am going to try this out on reading. I always have a goal of reading more books, and it seems to always go unachieved. With this new method, I might finally gain some traction!
Corporate Ecology
I found a fellow avid reader, Ivaylo Durmonski! As a corporate mom with 3 kids, I would love to read more, but just can’t find the time. I discovered Ivaylo's book summaries, and I feel like a kid in a candy store! Hands down the best book summaries I have read - and they’re free.
Below is Ivaylo's summary of Rework. It's a book about lean startups, but the advice and lessons apply to the corporate world. Those companies that can churn out ideas quickly will win every time. Read Ivaylo's book summary below!
On Family
Short and sweet article on the 11 secrets of happy moms. What is your favorite secret? Mine is "Access good childcare" - this is critical for a corporate mom's sanity!
Disconnect
In the Forbes article below, Amy explains the process that led her to turn off her social media notifications. I only have LinkedIn on my phone, but notifications are turned off. The number of notifications I received was distracting and exhausting.
Amy explains in her article that turning off notifications “redirects your behavior to support conscious and intentional consumption." I love it: reading content on my terms. Read the entire article below.