Blog
I’m new to this whole blogging thing. I’ve always said I’m too busy to read blogs, let alone write them. But as we re-name our Center the Fuller Youth Institute (FYI) and come up with a host of new resources, we’re trying to respond to the youth workers who have been asking us to share research insights more regularly.
Hence this blog.
So I’m rearranging my schedule a bit, as are other team members of FYI, to make this blog possible.
Figuring out what to say in my first blog could be a daunting task. It could feel like I’m setting a tone, or a trajectory, or expectations, or who knows what. But actually there’s one burning issue that I haven’t been able to shake for months.
It’s the 80/20 Rule. The 80/20 Rule, adapted from the Pareto Principle developed by twentieth century Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, is basically this: we get about 80% of our results from 20% of our work. Business leaders tend to get 80% of their profits from 20% of their clients. You probably wear 20% of your clothes 80% of the time. You likely cook with 20% of your pots and pans 80% of the time. Your family experiences 80% of your collective joy from 20% of what you do.
The percentages might be a bit off, but the principle seems pretty sound: there are certain tasks we do that produce the most “bang” for the “buck”. So as youth workers, we have to ask: what is it that we are doing that is MOST impacting kids? How can we do more of that? When it comes to the rest of what we’re doing, should we modify it to make it more transformative or simply stop doing it?
I don’t have the answers, but it’s a question I think about every day.
Trackback URL: http://fulleryouthinstitute.org/2008/09/8020/trackback/
September 2nd, 2008 at 10:29 am
I love what you have done with the place; looks great. I will be book marking your blog for sure. Thanks for all the work you and Brad put in on the new site. I am glad God made people like you two who get do so much to further the Kingdom. I am 100% sure that you all are heros of mine.
September 2nd, 2008 at 12:35 pm
The 80/20 principle reminds me of the Examen question, what was most live giving for you today? I wonder if the same 80/20 applies, i will have to think about that.
Like the website!
I am at a coffee shop on my vacation but didn’t want to miss out!
September 2nd, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Obviously the answer will lie in our personality & giftedness. Perhaps is isn’t the activity that isn’t transformative rather the problem is the person trying to lead or do it. Much of what we do should be delegated.
There are activities which should be scrapped though. Perhaps our main problem is that we just try to do to much.
September 2nd, 2008 at 2:37 pm
I’m excited to see that you have included a blog in your redesign. I’ll be adding you to my feeds.
My husband and I are youth workers, and our pastor has passed a couple of your books on to us, in case you are wondering who I am.
Andrea Elliott
September 2nd, 2008 at 3:19 pm
The 80/20 rule definitely rears its head in the church community as well, though sometimes it seems more like 90/10, if you work out the statistics. Most of the ministry work tends to get done by the same group of believers, who invest themselves into multiple ministries within a smaller church environment.
Within youth ministry I see it in different ways as well, for example: 80% of the activities regularly involve about 20% of the group population.
September 3rd, 2008 at 8:43 pm
The new website is great! Looking forward to checking it all out in the near future. Good things are yet to come, eh!
October 11th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
The 80/20 rule is even more important when you take into account the limited amout of time youth workers actually interact with the teens. 45min to 1 hour every Sunday morning, or evening, if the teens come to church regularly is not very much. Better be prepared and pray for insight!!
January 5th, 2009 at 10:38 am
[...] Principle” is helpful in determining a task’s importance relative to our vision.6 This principle states that “20 percent of your priorities will give you 80 percent of your [...]