To do, and what not to do? That is the question!
Ever feel like you’re not ticking enough boxes on that never-ending list? Is there a task that keeps lagging or requires more and more of your time before you can call it a success?
What if the real secret to extraordinary results isn’t about doing more, but doing less? Well, here is that secret!
The Minimalist Mandate
The Minimalist Mandate, or 10:90, proposes that a majority (90% or more) of accomplishments result from a minority (10% or less) of functions. Not dissimilar to the Pareto Principle or Covey’s 90/10 rule, 10:90 proposes a material shift in the focus of concentration to those tasks that truly matter. Most importantly, to those responsibilities that serve the greatest Purpose.
When emphasis is placed on identifying, instituting and implementing the most meaningful and impactful projects – total focus, energy, and resilience are bound to hit another level. Characteristics that are central to achieving success with significance and high fulfillment. The key here is to aspire for instituting projects built on strategies that are authentically purposeful.
With your purpose as the core motivation, task identification becomes simpler. Primarily because you will naturally select efforts that will contribute significantly to your long-term vision. It’s this Purpose-driven planning that guides your priorities for high-impact activities – the top 10% – that lead to extraordinary achievement. There is also an offshoot benefit to this approach. Mainly, minimizing effort spent on low-value tasks, which are often the biggest cause of project lag and burnout.
Comprehensive Utility
10:90 can be applied across all functional facets to help you achieve meaningful results with greater efficiency – @ home, @ work and @ leisure.
10:90 @ Home
Family is central to a happy home. The core of a fulfilling life. Using 10:90 at home is important because it is often the small things that make the greatest impact. For instance, identifying activities that have the most emotional value for your loved ones—whether it’s something simple like sharing a family meal together, reading bedtime stories to your children, or dedicating undistracted time to your spouse. By focusing on quality, you create deeper connections rather than just checking off a long list of family tasks that may seem common or “normal” to do, but are in fact time-killers.
10:90 @ Work
One important key to leadership success is efficiency and effectiveness. A quality built on priority, performance and promptness.
Instill the 10:90 approach in the workplace by focusing on strategic activities centered on purposeful impact. Effective leaders prioritize initiatives that inspire, empower and resonate across teams and the organization at large. For example, by ensuring tasks are aligned with goals; key projects and assignments are competently managed, and valuable relationships are assembled, engaged and enlightened. But the secret is not to try and establish, motivate and manage everything, rather concentrate on leading efforts that are symbiotic with company objectives and consumer demands without compromising the root purpose of the product and service you provide.
Here are 3 examples of Fortune 500 companies adopting purpose-driven programs that advance their core values and achieve their fundamental aspirations:
- Google has a policy known as 20% time, which allows employees to dedicate twenty percent of their work hours on projects of their choice. This policy built to fuel employee passions has resulted in some of its most innovative products, like Gmail and Google Maps. A great example of using a minimalist mandate to encourage maximum creativity and the pursuit for boosting productivity and innovation.
- Toyota is synonymous to continuous improvement, mainly through the adoption of the Kaizen philosophy. At every level of the organization, teams are motivated to propose and perform small, incremental changes to improve processes. A majority of Toyota’s success is rooted in this dedication to constant improvement—another compelling example of how a minimalist mandate focus can drive continuous improvement.
- 3M is a multinational juggernaut with a reputation for high level innovation. As part of its commitment to being ahead of the curve, employees are provided time off from their regular day to day work obligations to dedicate to other projects. Classic products like the ever-popular Post-it Notes have been birthed from this initiative. Allowing staff at all levels to seek and create new product pathways in their 9 to 5 slot shows how even the best of the best value minimalist mandates to achieve maximum benefits.
10:90 @ Leisure
As the proverb goes, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”.
All of us need some type of relaxation, recreation and/or retirement plan away from our career. Mastering a craft can be that much needed release—whether it is honing your artistic skills, musicality or sportsmanship. Applying 10:90 to your approach can not only help accelerate the growth and mastery, but also enhance the passion, fun and freedom of that exercise.
By honing in on a few crucial aspects and activities that will propel you forward, and by dedicating regular time to practicing your signature skills or talents it can help you level up more effectively and efficiently. Rather than attempting to cover all areas at once, these small yet essential efforts are often the ones that bring long-lasting, impactful results in skill mastery.
10:90 Application Tips
How to apply 10:90 to your life, work and leisure for maximum productivity:
Step 1: Overall Destination and Pathway –
- List all your short and long term goals
- Map out a pathway with tasks to help you get to your destination
Step 2: High-Impact Activities –
- Identify which activities will make the biggest difference by asking yourself:
- Do they contribute to my purpose-driven goals?
- Will they move me significantly closer to my vision?
- Are they aligned with my core values?
- If I do not do this, what will be the consequences?
- Does focusing on this activity mean I’m saying no to something else potentially more impactful (think: opportunity cost)?
- Am I or the team best suited to complete this task?
Step 3: Top 10% Identification –
- Determine the top 10% of tasks by identifying the few tasks that produce the most results, and are likely to have the following characteristics:
- High-Leverage Tasks: Actions that, when completed, result in major progress.
- Core Business Activities: Activities central to your main goals or priorities.
- Strategic Initiatives: Projects that can create long-term benefits.
Step 4: 90% Determination –
- Assess the remaining 90%, and if they are lower-impact tasks, either:
- Delegate: Assign to someone else who can handle them effectively.
- Automate: Use technology or systems to reduce the manual workload.
- Defer or Eliminate: Decide if the tasks are unnecessary and can be eliminated or delayed without any significant consequence.
Step 5: Maintain Focus –
- Regularly review your task list and adjust your priorities.
- Stay focused on the 10% that truly matter.
- Avoid getting sidetracked by tasks that fall into the 90% category unless they are critical.
Key Takeaway: The key to effectively applying 10:90 is knowing and buying-in on what truly drives the highest value returns in your life, work or leisure. The Minimalist Mandate is all about helping you find and launch ways to work smarter, not harder. Why? Because we all deserve to create a life of significance, built on impact results, rather than being overwhelmed by trivial, mundane and busy for busy sake techniques.
Over to you! Have you identified the key activities that drive and align with your purpose? Or perhaps you’ve eliminated tasks that weren’t delivering the results you wanted? What approach has made the most impact?
Feel like sharing your secrets, successes or challenges? We’d love to hear from you in the comments section below.