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Minor in Major Things

Zig Ziglar says that too many people major in minor things. In other words, they spend too much time on the trivial and the urgent. To be truly successful, I don't believe that you have to major in major things, but you might want to consider having a minor in major things. What do I mean by that? In our personal and professional lives, we all have a few key levers that affect our success or failure. Putting just a little more attention on those levers (i.e., minoring in major things) will deliver massive benefits over time.

Vital Few vs The Trivial Many
Joseph Juran, the godfather of quality, says that businesses should focus on the vital few, not the trivial many. I call it the 4-50 rule: 4% of your businesses produces over half of the delay, defects, deviation and lost profit. Minoring in these major profit eaters will dramatically boost profits.

Similarly 4% of your customers produce over half of your profits. They buy from you; they recommend you to others; they evangelize the magic of your business. How can you make it easier for them to spread the word?

And 4% of your customers consume 50% of your support costs. Fire them.

Most companies major in sales, but most fail to minor in reducing costs. That's why I wrote Lean Six Sigma Demystified, because minoring in reducing costs can double your profits and triple your business.

Wealth
I hear a lot of people whining about how much money they make. But it's not how much you make that matters; it's how much you keep.

Twenty years ago when I was in my 30s, a couple of friends mentioned The Richest Man in Babylon. I read it and implemented its simple prescription for wealth creation .It worked! And it was easy.

I know highly paid professionals that spend everything they make and I know average workers who have paid off their debts and built a fully funded retirement nest egg.

All you need is a minor in saving and investing. Instead of working for money, you can start to let your money work for you.

And it doesn't hurt to make more money. The simple wealth creation strategy above will make you a millionaire in twenty years.

Relationships
Just like companies have great customers and lousy customers, we all have friends and family that energize us and drain us. Have you cut off the psychic vampires so that you can spend more time with the energizer bunnies?

Health
Are you learning what you need to know to improve your diet and exercise to maximize your health? You don't have to be a fitness junkie to reap most of the benefits. If 30 minutes of walking every other day is good enough, according to many medical sources, why not add that to your life. I consider my dog my personal trainer; she takes me for a walk almost every day.

Knowledge
Too many people stop themselves by saying: "I don't know enough." Have you ever noticed that you don't have to know everything to do anything? I have friends that have enormous tool chests in their garage. They've got tools I've never heard of. But my experience suggests that a hammer, saw, screwdriver, pliers and drill will perform most home maintenance tasks.

On cable there's a show called The Big Idea. Donny Deutsch talks to people who took their ideas and turned them into a business. Most didn't know how to bring a product to market, but they created a prototype and started to show it around. They learned what they needed to know at each step along the way.

You don't have to know everything to do anything.

Minor in Major Things
Get the idea? If something is draining too much of your time and energy, fix it. If something feeds you and helps secure your future, do a little bit more of it.

Learn how to minor in major things.

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