Negotiation #8: Negotiate the 80%

The 80% Matters

As academic physicians, we often find ourselves busy all day yet unsatisfied at day’s end—wondering why we’re exhausted but still behind. The truth is that most of what fills our schedules is low-value work. The 80/20 principle explains why. Twenty percent of our activities drive 80% of our results. Conversely, 80% of what we do produces only 20% of our outcomes. Negotiating the 80% is about identifying, delegating, and letting go of that low-yield work so you can focus on what truly matters.

Five Steps to Negotiating the 80%

1. Define Your 20%

What are the few activities that generate the most meaningful results in your career and life?

Examples might include:

• Maintaining your health—physical, emotional, and spiritual.

• Spending quality time with loved ones.

• Securing funding (grant proposals).

• Sharing your work (publications, talks, presentations).

The 20% to identify are those tasks no one else will force you to do, but that only you can own.

2. Prioritize Your 20% in Your Schedule

Put your 20% activities on your calendar first. They should shape your week, not squeeze in after everything else. Meetings about clinic logistics, administrative minutiae, or optional committees should never displace your 20%. Protect it.

3. Identify the 80%

Once you’ve named your 20%, the rest becomes clear: the 80%. These tasks still need to be done, but they’re not where you create the most value. Naming them helps you separate vital from trivial.

4. Delegate the 80%

The 80% is not your highest-value work. Delegate it. Writing the first draft of a manuscript? Data entry? Scheduling? Others can do it—sometimes better and faster than you. Your role is to guide, shape, and refine, not to carry every load yourself.

5. Ask, “Who Else Can Do This?”

The critical question for any task: Is this really my 20%? Or can someone else handle it? If it’s in the 80%, pass it on. By doing so, you free your time and energy to focus on the activities that drive the greatest impact—and reclaim energy for rest and renewal.

Focus Brings Fulfillment

When you negotiate the 80%, you spend less time spinning your wheels on low-value work and more time energized by what matters most. You accomplish more, work less, and end each day with the satisfaction of having moved the needle forward.

What’s Next: Negotiating Your Schedule

Now that we’ve explored how to separate the essential from the nonessential, the next step is to negotiate your schedule itself. In the next post, we’ll talk about designing your time with intention so your calendar reflects your true priorities.

Reflection Questions

• What are your “20%” activities—the tasks only you can do that create the most impact?

• How much of your weekly schedule is currently devoted to your 20% versus your 80%?

• Which 80% activities could you delegate immediately—and to whom?

• What would it feel like to finish a week having spent most of your time on the vital few?