There comes a point in every person’s life when something or someone causes us to re-evaluate the course of our lives and the things that we do. We see the meaning and results that some of these things bring and others appear to not add value to our lives. According to Pareto’s Principle, twenty percent of your efforts are responsible for eighty percent of your results.
This principle can be applied to everything starting with time management and ending with the clothes we wear and the things we actually need.
Now (and always, really) is a great time to look at this principle in regard to our lives and careers. During a crisis, our brain is less likely to perceive as much information as it ordinarily would. Oftentimes our creativity can even decrease while we’re grieving. At a time in which retaining our output (much less increasing it) may prove difficult, finding that twenty percent is not just smart—it’s necessary.
This thought led me to another principle I had unknowingly subscribed to a long time ago while exploring the minimalism trend: essentialism. Being able to discern the twenty percent of essential activities and finding a way to focus on those may show us that we are doing more than we need to. And in doing so, we’ll be able to increase our attention to the tasks within the twenty percent bracket and ultimately, increase our quality of life.
So, why don’t we subscribe to this lifestyle more often? The problem is not that we don’t have the ability to discern the important, the problem is that we don’t give ourselves the space to think and process what is important. A time of seclusion is imperative in determining what’s important.
Picasso once said, “without great solitude, no serious work is possible.” I’d like to argue that, without great solitude, no intention is possible. Taking the time to evaluate is not only beneficial for our work, but also strengthens our lives, relationships, and ambitions. According to neuroscientist Dr. Caroline Leaf, our brains need silence and space to enter the “decluttering and cleaning” mode. It’s in these moments that we find creative solutions and recall important facts.
People often get so lost in the mundane, day-to-day tasks that they lose track of the reason they are doing those things in the first place. In order to maintain focus on what’s important, essentialism teaches us to always concentrate on the bigger picture.
According to Greg McKeown, the first step to adopting the essentialist lifestyle is cutting out all non-essentials. It’s been helpful for me to do this by determining my goals and then setting a clear path to achieve those goals. Anything that is not on this path is not essential. This doesn’t mean that I have to completely cut off everything that is non-essential – some of these things may serve others or bring me joy. However, that does mean that if I have to choose between activities to invest my energy in, I have a clear vision on what must go if I want to achieve my goals.
A simple example in a business setting is that the goal of Haus Agency is to help my designers grow by connecting them with retailers. After evaluating my business, I can see that sales are what benefit my clients the most and brings profit to my business. With this in mind, despite how enjoyable and valuable the contribution of my creativity through writing and photography may be, it does not make up the eighty percent of Haus Agency’s profit – sales do. So, whenever I’m feeling overwhelmed or just too busy, if my main goal is still to bring in profit by helping my designers grow, some of the creative endeavors will be put on a back burner. We can always go back to our priorities and adjust our activities accordingly.
Another example is our relationships. This is different for everyone – some of us may prefer fewer but deeper connections while others thrive with a wider, more surface level network of people. Once we decide which type of relationship style is the most fulfilling to us, we can decide how to spend our time. Those that want to build deeper relationships will spend more time with the same people and those that enjoy meeting new people will habitually put themselves in new environments. Again, once the goal is set, we can easily determine the twenty percent of activities that will lead to the desired result.
The essentialist sees tradeoffs as an inherent part of life. We are not able to be everywhere and do everything, so the essentialist chooses to make a big stride in one direction (the desired goal) and rejects the notion that we should accomplish everything. The essentialist understands that only a few things truly matter, and we can do anything but not everything. Failing to say no to the things which aren’t vital can lead us to miss out on the opportunities that truly are.
A tradeoff that I am facing right now is learning French. Last October, I spent a month in Nice taking French classes every day for three hours a day. Much to my surprise, I was not fluent in French after that one month. While this was an invaluable life experience on its own, I often beat myself up for not keeping up with my French after returning home the way I had intended and thus not building on this experience. However, if I accept my humanity, in that I cannot do everything at once, I give myself grace and put my focus back on the things that matter to me now. Right now, my main focus is building Haus Agency while maintaining strong and healthy relationships with my friends and family. These are the things that matter most to me. And while I love languages and the idea of being fluent in French would be an amazingly chic flex in my book, that will just have to wait for a better moment. Accepting that this is not part of the 80/20 rule allows me to no longer stress about it.
Essentialists constantly question their motives for doing something and update their plan accordingly. When studying successful executives, McKeown found that oftentimes success actually hinders a focused lifestyle and further growth. At beginning of their career, the executives focused on a few things and achieved success. However, as their successes began opening up more opportunities, the executives’ focus was split, and productivity and results started to dwindle. It is easy for us to fall in the undisciplined pursuit of more but what is going to help us during a crisis as well as with the bigger picture of life is the disciplined pursuit of less but better.
In spite of the tendency in our culture of more is better, only a few things are actually essential to our dreams and well-being. Everything else is unimportant and oftentimes imposed on us by a comparison of ourselves to others. By focusing on the few vital things and learning to do better by doing less, we can craft a life that is far more productive and fulfilling.
x Karina