Want to work less and get more results?

I was reading 'The 4-hour workweek' by Timothy Feriss the other day, and he mentioned 'Pareto's Law' (also known as the 80:20 Principle) whereby it is shown that only 20% of our efforts produce 80% of our results. The point is to cut out the other 80% of effort that isn't producing the maximum result.

It was explained that this law not only works in economics, but also in all areas of nature.  For example, if I were to plant tomato plants, I would see that 20% of the plants I planted would produce 80% of the tomatoes at the end.  I find it fascinating when a principle holds in all areas of life.  Just like gravity, the 80:20 principle is alive everywhere, in sport and all over life.

Now to understand a principle or a law is one thing, to apply it for benefit in your life is another.
The first place I was challenged to apply Pareto's Law was in my work: What is the 20% of the things I do that result in 80% of my results or return on investment.  I started noticing how constantly checking my facebook and my emails and multi-tasking was not in this 20%, but calling out to potential clients and being on the call with my clients were resulting in 80% of the results.  In his book, Tim Ferriss had me ask the following questions:

• “Are you being productive or just active?,
• If this is the only thing you accomplish today, will you be satisfied with your day?,
• If you had a heart attack and had to work 2 hours per day, what would you do?”

These questions can just as easily be applied to your sport.  Ok, maybe not the heart attack question, since you probably wouldn’t still be competing in that example.  Instead use this question: If you were given a million dollar sponsorship, and could only train 2 hours per day because you needed to film and photograph your endorsement commercials and advertisements, what would you focus on for training?

Ask yourself: Am I being productive or just active?

In training, are you simply filling the space with what everyone else does for training, or what you’ve always done, or are you actually looking at where you need to improve, what your statistics are (to determine where you need to improve), and at which drills create the 80% of your results.  Take 30 minutes, preferably with your coach (show him/her this article so they understand where you are coming from), to analyze your training with this question in mind.  This will streamline your training to those tasks that will bring you the most improvement in your game.

Next, when you are in training or preparing for training, ask yourself: If this were the only thing I accomplished today, would I be satisfied with my training/practice?

Continuously ask yourself this question. If the answer is no, stop the drill, discuss with your coach and go again.  It is often true that your coach knows more than you.  And, by understanding his/her reasoning, you can better be present to perform the skill you are being asked to perform.  And, since presence is the key to maximal skill execution, the more present you are, the better you will execute the skill, and neuro-physiologically, the better habits you will be training and the faster you will master the skill as intended. 


Note: Make sure to share this article with your coach prior to questioning his/her choice of drills.  If you work together beforehand to create the best drills/training for your skill development, then this question is very valuable.  If you use it to constantly question your coach, he/she might not understand where you are coming from and your best intentions could be misconstrued as a lack of coachability.  In other words, if you haven’t spoken to your coach beforehand, do not question the drill in the middle of training.

Finally, ask yourself this question: If I were given a million dollar sponsorship, and could only train 2 hours per day because I needed to film and photograph your endorsement commercials and advertisements, what would I focus on for training?

I know some of you who are reading this article only practice 2-4 hours hours per week, so 2 hours per day seems like a luxury.  If this is the case, I challenge you the ask the question by replacing ‘2 hours per day’ with ‘2 hours per week’.  The point is to make this a number that seems unreasonable, like ‘there’s no way I could get to the level I want to when compared with my competition if I cut down my training that much!’.  With this question, I want you to bring your training down to the bare bones: what drills would be the most important? What skills are you most keen to develop? What extras that don’t make up that 20% (drills, warm-up, water breaks, socializing) could you cut out of your training?  You’d be surprised by how much extra time we waste, when maybe we could combine drills or make better use of our time when training.

 By asking yourself these questions, the point is to both:

1. Cut down your training time so that you do not overtrain and so that you have the time for other important life events
2. Focus in on those drills/tasks that will bring you the largest return on your training investment

The result:  you will be improving faster, and you will more quickly attain peak performance in your sport.

And I’m sure we all want that.

Here’s to your peak performance,
Coach Kara


www.performancetolife.com