Do Less yet Achieve More
It’s out.
Imagine the following individuals quoting Pareto in their work. What might they say? (Yes, I have made these up…)
Paul McCartney:
‘You know, John and I wrote about two hundred songs together, but really, it’s forty or so of them that everyone remembers: Yesterday, Hey Jude, Let It Be….The rest? Well, they’re gorgeous, but those vital few are what changed everything. The trick is recognising your ‘Yesterday’ when it arrives at three in the morning.’
Isaac Newton:
‘In my investigations of celestial mechanics, I observed that a small number of fundamental laws govern the vast majority of natural phenomena. Three laws of motion explain countless movements: one law of gravitation accounts for both the fall of an apple and the orbit of the moon. Nature, it seems, is economical.’
Henry Ford:
‘I can reduce the manufacturing of an automobile to twenty critical operations. Perfect those, and 80% of your quality problems vanish. Most men waste time improving trivial steps. I improve the vital few.’
Neil Armstrong:
‘We trained for thousands of hours, but success depended on getting a dozen critical decisions exactly right. One small step-that single moment-defined the entire mission.’
Yoda:
‘Focus on the few vital tasks, you must. The many trivial things, distraction they are. Do or do not. But do the right 20 percent, hmm?’
William Shakespeare:
‘All the world’s a stage but mark me well-’tis but a handful of scenes that move the hearts of men. A thousand pretty speeches fade to nothing; yet ‘To be or not to be’ endures eternal.’
Marcus Aurelius:
‘Most of what we do and say is not essential. Eliminate it, and you will have more time and tranquillity. Ask yourself at every moment: Is this necessary? Remove the superfluous, and you remove most of life’s obstacles.’
Steve Jobs:
‘Focus means saying no to a thousand good ideas so you can say yes to the great ones. We’re as proud of what we don’t make as what we do.’
Hunter Gatherer 21C
