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KEEP YOUR MIND ON
THE MAIN THING
All the lessons in this book have enabled me to grow, but of them, learning how to keep my mind on the main thing has changed my life the most. I remember well the frustration of working hard in my first leadership position as a pastor, yet knowing I was ineffective. Most of my time was spent in counseling people and taking care of minor administrative tasks. I was putting in long hours, but was seeing very little positive results. It was a very unfulfilling time.
My eureka moment came in a college classroom where I was taking a business management course. The professor was teaching the Pareto principle, also known as the 80/20 principle. As he explained its impact, my eyes were opened. He explained that
80 percent of traffic jams occur on 20 percent of the roads.
80 percent of beer is consumed by 20 percent of drinkers.
80 percent of classroom participation comes from 20 percent of students.
80 percent of the time you wear 20 percent of your clothes.
80 percent of the profits come from only 20 percent of the customers.
80 percent of problems are generated by 20 percent of the employees.
80 percent of sales are generated by 20 percent of the salespeople.
80 percent of all decisions can be made on 20 percent of the information.
What an eye opener! It meant that the best 20 percent of my activities were sixteen times more productive than the remaining 80 percent. If I wanted to decrease the complexity of my life and increase my productivity, then I needed to focus on my top 20 percent. That day in the classroom I realized two things: (1) I was doing too many things, and (2) the things I was doing were often the wrong things. And that is a recipe for an ineffective life!
FINDING THE MAIN THING
I immediately began to evaluate the way I was spending my time. I knew I needed to prioritize my schedule, so I started to ask myself three questions: What gives me the greatest return? What is most rewarding? What is required of me? Those were not questions I could always readily answer. Early in a career, the easiest to answer is usually the one concerning requirements. You can work fr...
