In 1897 An Italian Economist named Vilfredo Paretto was studying wealth and income distribution patterns in England. He discovered there was an unequal distribution. To test his findings, Paretto looked at wealth & income distribution patterns over hundreds of years and dozens of countries. His findings remained consistent.

Paretto tried to test his formulas in other areas such as productivity, sales and profitability. Sure enough, the formula always held, that a relatively few people, customers, salespeople, products and activities account for the majority of results a country, company or person is able to achieve.

What The 80/20 Rule Means To You...

Today we all know “Paretto’s Principle” as the 80/20 Rule.

In almost any arena you study, you will find that about 80% of the results you or your company achieve derive from only about 20% of the activities. It’s not always exactly 80/20, but there are always a disproportionate number of activities that result in the majority of your accomplishments.

Why am I talking about an Italian Economist from more than 100 years ago?

Because his principle can help you achieve more results with less work. If you invest the time to identify your 20% and properly delegate the rest you will soon find yourself with a lot of free time on your hands to invest in more Rainmaking so you can have more and better clients to choose from, thereby reducing your stress, reducing your firm’s accounts receivable problems, and make the practice of law fun again!

Well, I’ll tell you that in practice, most solo practitioners and lawyers with limited support staff never achieve that kind of theoretical perfection. But you can come close enough to experience huge improvements, so let’s give it a try...

List All Of The Things You Actually Do

Start off by listing all of the things you actually do in your personal and professional life in any given week. Include everything from the mundane like eating & driving to work. . . to the things that you do for work like going to court, drafting documents & research. . .to the things that are truly important in your life, like time invested with family & friends, your health, etc.

Then, divide the list into two broad categories. The first list will include all those activities which could conceivably be done by someone else; for example someone else could conceivably appear in court for you, drive you to work and play catch with your kids. You’ll find this first list will be much larger than the second for the things that only you can do for yourself like eating, sleeping or exercising (don’t I wish!)

For all the activities on your “could be done by someone else” list, write out next to each item, all the skills someone would need to possess & the level of trust they would have to demonstrate before you would feel comfortable delegating the activity to them.

For each activity on your “Only I can do this” list, answer these two questions:

1. What’s the worst thing that could happen?

2. Is it more important to get it done perfectly or that you concentrate on your 20%?

If you find yourself saying “But I can Do it Better Myself!”, ask yourself, “Whose to say you can do it better?” Maybe your way is just different?

And another thing: So What!?! Is this a task that really has to be done 100% perfect, or is it more important to just get it done?

Warning: You Now Know Enough To Be Dangerous

If everything you’ve read to now makes sense, and you are beginning to be able to see a path out of the morass that will take you to a place where your productivity soars with increase time & energy available for your 20%, I need to warn you: You’re in dangerous waters!

Just because you understand the value of delegating non-essential tasks does not mean you are ready to do so, either responsibly of emotionally. First you must train your staff & allow them to demonstrate reliable proficiency. Repeat: I am not advocating that you just dump everything on your secretary’s desk, walk away and call it delegating!

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RJon Robins - acclaimed author, lawyer and law practice management consultant - has a challenge for you:

If your law office looks like a GHOST TOWN, and if you're absolutely going insane trying to figure out how to bill enough hours to stay above water, then go to HowToMakeItRain.com right now to discover a whole new world of doing business as a solo lawyer.

It's time to start working smarter - not harder. It's time to make it rain. Make this year your year...

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