Achieving More With Less
| posted by Buhle DlaminiThe Key To Balance and Success
By Buhle Dlamini
“It is not necessary to do extraordinary things in order to get extra ordinary results.”
- Warren Buffet
In the last four days I have touched down in Dakar Senegal, Dallas
Texas, Chicago Illinois and now I am in New York City. In the years
gone by that would have been impossible
let alone being affordable. With the advent of air travel what used to
be a long, tedious and costly process of getting from one place to
another became a breeze, literally. Technology has shown one in so many
areas of our modern lives how to achieve more with less. Sadly even
with all the evidence that stares us in the face about achieving more
with less being a real possibility many of us are not using this to our
advantage.
We all desire some measure of success in our work and life but often we
believe that the price we have to pay for it is just too much for us.
This may be very well true if we continue to hold on to the belief that
in order to achieve more in business, life and work you need to do
more. This conventional wisdom is what keeps so many stuck from ever
achieving a real measure of success in their lives.
Warren Buffet spells it out in the quote I shared at the beginning of
this article, that you don’t need to do extraordinary things or be
extraordinary to achieve great results. I listen to him because he has
proven this very point over and over in his life. If you are not aware,
Warren Buffet is now the third richest man in the world after Carlos
Slim and Bill Gates. Warren Buffet is worth in the excess of 50 Billion
US Dollars (not Zim Dollars) and gave away to charity about 30 Billion
making history in the process. Now most of us when we hear about that
kind of money we imagine someone like him having slaved hard for most
of his life to get there. The reality is that he didn’t and if we are
serious about success we need to take a leaf out of his book.
The 80/20 Principle
Richard Koch wrote a book called ‘Living the 80/20 Way’. In this book
he explains the 80/20 principle, which basically states that 80% of our
efforts give us 20% of the results and vice versa. Many of us
unfortunately live 80% effort side of life ad only get 20% of the
results we desire. We are often so busy being busy that we don’t
realize that all our busyness is only giving us a trickle of the kind
of results we’re looking for in life.
If we are going to achieve the kind of success that we desire a mind
shift is important. We need to stop looking for the hardest route to
our success and get into the habit of looking for ways of achieving
more with less. Often we hear about people who take very few calculated
steps and achieve much more than the rest of us. The difference between
them and us is that they understand this principle and they make it
work for them every time and yielding great results.
If you are tired of working hard but not getting the results you desire
take time to creating your roadmap to achieving more with less. Let us
look at what you need to look at in achieving more with less:
1. Be Clear About The Results You Seek
‘Begin with the end in mind’ is a phrase we have heard before but it is
still relevant today if not more. What is the end result you seek in
your business, relationships, finances, career and life? Becoming clear
on the results helps you to chart your course to them. So when you get
up in the morning ask yourself what do I want to achieve today? As you
get to work ask yourself the same question, what do I want to achieve
in my work today? As you handle your finances ask- what do I want to
achieve financially? As you become clearer about the results you seek
you engage in the process of being results driven as opposed to working
for the sake of working. When you know the kind of results you seek you
will automatically eliminate unnecessary activities. It will change the
way you do things and often it will make your job much easier.
2. Discover Your 20/80 Route
Now that you know what you want achieve, why not look at what is the
shortest route to achieving the end result. It has been said that the
definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and
expecting different results. Now let us look at your current work and
life. Has your current way of living and working given you the kind of
results you are looking for in the important areas of your life? If
not, then start drafting a different route to take you to your desired
results. What can you change in your work and life that will be the
shortest route to achieving your desired goals? This might mean that in
your work you have to make a list of 20% of activities that give you
80% of your desired results. Once you have compiled your list start
focusing on only doing these activities because they are your key to
achieving more with less.
Let me give you a practical example: in your finances, the best way to
get more money with the least amount of work is investing. By investing
you get your money to work for you instead of you working for money.
But the problem is that many of us don’t enough money to start really
seeing the benefits of investing. So most of us just dream about having
more money and continue trading our time for a trickle of money that
barely sees us from month to month. If you want to start achieving more
with the less you have there are a few steps you need to take. First,
educate yourself about different ways of investing; a book or a
workshop on investing will take a long way towards getting the kind of
knowledge you need to start investing. Secondly, once you know about
your investment options, you might need to start saving a portion of
what you are currently getting to get you to the point where you can
start investing seriously. Usually you need between R8 000 and R10 000
to start investing for good returns. From then on you follow simple
calculated steps and are now on the road to financial freedom. This
will enable you to achieve more with less in the financial area of your
life.
3. Manage Your Focus
If you are like many people I know you have spent a lot of time and
money on trying to improve your time management skills. I have been one
of the victims of the time management craze. Because of our lack of
focus on the right things and our misunderstanding of the 80/20
principle, many of us are taking courses on how we can cram more into
our workdays. We pay good money to learn how we can beat the clock in
our crazed running around while achieving little or nothing to be proud
of. I say to you forget time management. YOU CANNOT MANAGE TIME!!! Time
is continuous; nobody gets a better share of time, we all get 24 hours
in a day. The Millionaire and a beggar on the street corner both get
the same 24 hours in a day, what sets them apart is what they focus on
in those 24 hours. So I strongly suggest that you start focus
management instead of time management. If you manage what you focus on
you will start to achieve more with less.
So there it is, you already have in you everything you need to succeed
in life the key is getting rid of some of the myths you hold. You don’t
need to be extraordinary to succeed. You don’t need to work extra hard
to succeed. You don’t need to have a ton of money to succeed. Start
utilizing the little you have to achieve more right now. Cheers, I am
off to the Time Square, New York is AMAZING!
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Buhle Dlamini is an Entrepreneur, Speaker and Writer as well as the Founder of Young & Able Youth Advisory Services cc,
helping individuals and organizations turn their potential into
performance, succeed in every area of their lives and achieve their
dreams. Buhle is also a consulting Project Manager to Heartlines a values-based Mass Media Initiative. Get Buhle’s FREE monthly Success Newsletter by visiting his website at www.youngable.com