A Great Way to Divide Your Work
I’ve already talked about the perils of being the Jack of All Trades. Concentrating on a few skills means giving them better opportunities improve, since you don’t have to divide your time among so many different things. So how do you maximize the concentration on your strengths, or to use business-speak, core competencies?
The 70/20/10 model, popularized by Google’s Eric Schmidt, is a great guide. For our purposes, it basically means spending 70% of your time on your core competencies, 20% on what’s related, and 10% on totally new things.
An example is a good way to explain. For instance, a freelance writer should:
- Spend 70% of his time writing. Or making a living.
- 20% maintaining his equipment, replenishing supplies, making new contacts, or other activies that support the craft.
- 10% on what may seem unrelated, but ultimately beneficial for the freelancer. Such as investing what he’s earned into money-making assets. Or looking for new ways to maximize your abilities.
This gives him enough time to do what he has to do, while at the same time letting him pursue new oppurtunities.
What is your understanding of the 70/20/10 model?
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3 opinions for A Great Way to Divide Your Work
Vyoma
Feb 22, 2007 at 10:13 am
Hey, thanks! This is a great tip - though, I still have to chalk out a lot before actually deciding what my core competency is and what I need to work on more.
These past days, I am almost working like 14+ hours every day on one thing or other. The usual 8 odd hours at my day job, and the remaining at things where I venturing out as a freelancer.
It is not that I am complaining but sometimes I feel, I am not putting in effort at what I must be putting at.
This post has given me some hints, and at least, now I will consciously work on it.
Rico
Feb 22, 2007 at 6:04 pm
Don’t sweat over it Vyoma. Finding what you’re meant to do takes time and a lot of thought.
Develop Your Strengths and Forget About Those Weaknesses
Feb 24, 2007 at 12:06 pm
[…] Contract Worker shows us the 70/20/10 model (popularized by Eric Schmidt) for developing those mad professional skills. A writer using the model would: […]
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