Recently I featured a career reinvention story about Lisa Montanaro who is a solutions expert and Principal of her company LM Organizing Solutions, LLC. Lisa has found her true career passion as a professional organizer even though she taps her transferable skills as a former practicing lawyer on a regular basis. Her new book The Ultimate Life Organizer: An Interactive Guide to a Simpler, Less Stressful, and More Organized Life is hot off the press so do check it out to get some clarity in your life.

But today’s entry is not just about Lisa’s book – it’s about something she shared in her recent newsletter that struck me. You may have heard of the Pareto Principle – otherwise known as the 80/20 rule. This concept illustrates the reality of unequal distribution when in most cases 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.

Lisa went on to share examples such as 80% of your sales come from 20% of your clients and 20% of the work we do consumes 80% of our time and resources. Most of us only wear 20% of the clothes in our closet on a regular basis!

The bottom line, as Lisa so aptly describes is that 20% of what we do is vital and 80% of what we do is trivial. So, from all our daily activities – only 20% produce meaningful results. The goal is to identify the 20 % that matters so we can be proactive instead of reactive and more in control of the productive way we use our precious time. We must remind ourselves to focus on the 20% each day that really matters in work and life so we can produce the most positive and successful results.

Likewise, if you play to your strengths, you will use the 20% of your time even more effectively because you will be firing on all cylinders and working efficiently at what you do best. The bonus is that you will also be enjoying the process because you are honoring your strengths.

So – cheers to Lisa Montanaro for reminding us of the value of the 80/20 rule if you use it to your advantage. I hope you will check out her book, she really is the solutions expert!