I read a great article tonight about increasing your productivity and thought I’d share it with you. This one focuses on spending your time in your power areas.

Understand that you may have weaknesses but do not get caught up in them. Here is the article by Vince Harris.

Stop Trying to “Fix” Yourself and Focus on Your Strengths

I have to admit, yes, I was caught up in the “fix my weaknesses” mindset at one time. Sound’s logical, does it not? If you have been a reader of After Hours for long now, however, you know that what seems logical is often the path to nowhere.

While your “weaknesses” will certainly have to be addressed if they are significant enough, far too often, that’s just not the case.

More often than not, what’s really holding someone back has more to do with them not focusing on their strengths; they are not maximizing the power they already have, and are instead, focusing on bringing the weaker aspects of themselves up to par.

The fact of the matter is this: Most people excel at a handful of things, and border on pathetic in far more areas.

I am an idiot when it comes to mechanical things. When my bathtub is leaking I call a plumber. If the computer starts getting goofy, I call a computer tech. Car needs worked on? “Hello, Mr. Good wrench please.” You get the picture, right?

My strengths are in presenting, training, teaching and consulting- all things that involve speaking and talking to other people. I took to this area like a duck to water, and have invested thousands of hours and dollars in continually getting even stronger in this area.

Now, have you ever met someone who was determined to be good at everything they do? Determined as they may be, there is one factor that makes this an ill-formed goal: TIME!

The one thing we all have the same amount of, whether we are Bill Gates, or a homeless person sleeping on the streets is the amount of time we have available. We each have 24 hours each day, and, we either use it wisely, or not.

With very few exceptions, those who are living a life that is close to, or even exceeds the life they always dreamed of, are the ones that have identified their strengths and/or things they thoroughly enjoy doing, and have then focused most of their time and energy there.

They have mastered the use of Pareto’s 80/20 Rule. This rule states that 80 of the results you create come from just 20 % of the activities or things you do.

While it may vary a bit (90/10, 70/30 etc.) it is pretty darn close just about every time. 80% of the world’s wealth is owned by 20 % of the people. 80% of the crime is committed by 20% of the criminals. 80% of any stock portfolio’s profits come from 20% of the stocks.

Key Point: Since 80% of your results come from 20% of the things you do, find out what those things are, and do MORE of those, and LESS of everything else. The things that you feel like you aren’t very good at, are probably not part of the 20% of the things you do that account for 80% of the results. Therefore, in the grand scheme of things they really don’t matter that much.

More than anything else, perhaps, our weak areas work on our ego. Most people aren’t comfortable with not being good at something. I can tell you that no longer feel anything less than comfortable about the areas where I don’t excel.

Besides, why would I want to take time away from the things I enjoy doing-the things I’m good at, when for $7-$30 an hour, there is someone that does excel at what I need done, that can do it in a fraction of the time, and do it right?

We are 3 months into 2008, and I’ll share this with you.

*If you will spend the rest of this year on identifying what you are good at, and squeezing all you can out of that by focusing more of your time in that area, the results you create in the remaining 9 months will be so significant that you’ll finally see your weaknesses for what they are.

Does that mean you have to let go completely of becoming stronger in the weaker areas? Of course not. Just make sure that you are spending most of your time on the 20% that accounts for 80% of your results.

Now, I know that I’ll get some emails telling me that there are some things that everyone should work to improve in their lives. And, let me say that I couldn’t agree more. One such area is that of communication, both verbal and non-verbal.

Almost anything you do in life, will, at one point or another involve communicating with others. How well (or not) you are able to do that will determine a great deal.

So, if you are weak in this area, by all means work to bring it up to speed. Just don’t forget, the 80/20 rule should still apply.

So, take sometime this week to write down a list of the things you are really good at, and then, start to ask the question “How much more time can I contribute to this area?” Then ask, “When would NOW be a good time to start?”

by Vincent Harris

Vincent Harris is a Body Language Expert, and the President of Harris Research International. As a speaker, trainer and consultant, Vince teaches others to transform their ability to achieve communication mastery. Visit http://www.successpath.info or http://www.vinceharris.com

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