Click Here to Get All Podcast Show Notes!
Are you stuck wasting time on tasks that don’t yield results? Sharran reveals how to adopt the 20% obsession, a proven framework for focusing on what truly matters and achieving exponential results.
In this episode, Sharran explores the power of the 80/20 rule and how focusing on the critical 20% can transform productivity and outcomes. He shares actionable insights on adopting the 20% mindset, leveraging experts to shortcut your learning, and using AI to extract actionable insights. Learn how to document your knowledge and build frameworks that serve you for life. Whether you’re an entrepreneur or a lifelong learner, this episode will help you focus, simplify, and amplify your success.
To achieve exponential growth, tune in now and start your 20% obsession!
“Experts save you time–they’ve already made the mistakes you’re trying to avoid.”
– Sharran Srivatsaa
Timestamps:
01:18 – Why the 20% obsession drives results
02:07 – Mastering the 20% mindset
03:21 – Leveraging experts to shortcut your learning
04:01 – Connecting with experts using a powerful DM script
05:28 – Leveraging AI for actionable insights
08:20 – Creating frameworks for lifelong learning
08:47 – The learning dogma: Learn, teach, and document for retention
11:08 – Here’s a challenge for you
Resources:
– Grow Faster with Unicorn Assistants
– Join the 10K Wisdom Private Partner Podcast, now available to you for free
– Join Sharran’s VIP Community
– ARC Multifamily Real Estate Investing
– Sharran’s Partnership Program
– Grab Sharran’s 4-Week MBA for Free
Connect with Sharran:
– X
– YouTube
Transcript:
[00:00:00] Hey, this is Sharran Srivatsaa. Welcome back to the Business School Podcast. And in this episode, I want to let you into a little secret, a secret that I don’t even know about that I’m figuring out that I want to share with you, which is the 80 20 rule is in effect all over the place. We know that 80 percent of our results come from generally 20 percent or even smaller than that of our effort and our strategies.
[00:00:19] So how do we know the difference between the 80 and the 20? That’s the entire theme of my year right now, which I call the 20 percent obsession. How do I consistently and constantly and efficiently find that 20%? That 20 percent that drives the 80% And I break down my entire framework for you all starting right now.
[00:00:43] One thing is for certain just because it’s tried and true doesn’t mean it’s working right now. So the big question is this, where can you learn what is working right now? The strategies, the tactics, the psychology, and the exact how to. How to [00:01:00] grow your business, how to blow up your personal brand and supercharge your personal growth.
[00:01:05] That is the question. And this podcast will give you the answer. My name is Sharran Srivatsaa. Welcome to Business School.
[00:01:18] What if I told you that there is a simple way to shortcut your entire learning and become the most effective person in any field faster than absolutely anyone else? And the interesting part is it’s not magic. It’s actually just strategy. And one of the most powerful strategies is Learning from people who have already mastered what you are trying to achieve.
[00:01:42] So today I’m going to show you exactly how to do that. Today I’m going to show you number one, how to reach out to experts and get them to mentor or consult for you. Number two, how to use AI to distill and cut through the clutter. And number three, how to build a framework to learn any topic and retain it forever.
[00:01:58] The best part is at the end of [00:02:00] this, you’re going to have a complete system, a framework to dominate any skill or goal. So let’s get right into it. So the first one is the phase one. I call it is the how to adopt a 20 percent obsession mindset. We’ve all heard about this idea of 80 20 rule, right? How do you adopt a 20 percent mindset?
[00:02:18] Because if 80 percent of the things that we do are semi irrelevant, how do you look at every opportunity and say, what is that? 20%. So the goal here is to first focus on the 20 percent that matters the most. Now, how do you do that? Most people spend 80 percent of their time on tasks and ideas or information that just don’t move the needle.
[00:02:38] The key is to identify and master the small inputs. That produced the biggest results. Again, the small inputs that produce the biggest results. The question is, how do you do that? So for example, if you want to play the guitar, you don’t need to learn a hundred chords. You don’t need to learn any bar chords.
[00:02:55] You just start with the four essential ones. The artist, Ed Sheeran. Use this [00:03:00] four to play nearly every pop song. If you want to learn marketing, don’t waste time on learning advanced strategies, master customer research and messaging first. Our goal is to always ask, what is the 20 percent that drives all the results here?
[00:03:15] That is the most important part about everything. Now. That transitions us to phase two. Phase two is how do you leverage experts to shortcut your learning? If you have not been familiar with this, the fastest way to find the 20 percent is to hire somebody that already knows it, right? Why do we send our children to school?
[00:03:35] And instead of just giving them an iPad. There’s a reason for that, and that is super, super important. How do you find that expert? And most importantly, it is actually not even finding the expert. You and I both know the expert that we need to hire or that we need to reach out to, but we don’t, and the reason is there’s a block, and the block is, what do you reach out and tell the expert?
[00:03:55] Do you feel like you’re asking them for advice? What if they don’t respond? And we go in this mental loop [00:04:00] overall. So how do you reach out to experts? Here is the simple DM script that I want to give you to connect with mentors, YouTube creators, or industry leaders. And it goes something like this. You say, hi, Sharran.
[00:04:11] I love your work. I’m working on a project and hoping you can help me. Are you open to paid consulting? Let me know. Thanks. That’s it. I’ll say it again. Hi, Sharran. I love your work. I’m working on a project and hoping you can help me. Are you open to paid consulting? That’s all you need to say. And now that shows the other person one important thing.
[00:04:30] It’s clear and respectful, right? It’s short, it’s clear, and it’s respectful. Most people love sharing their expertise, especially if you value their time and their effort by offering to pay. That’s the big shift. If you just know how to reach out to somebody, you’ll do it all the time. Now, why does this work?
[00:04:47] Experts save you time. They’ve already made mistakes that you’re trying to avoid. It is the direct shortcut. So instead of guessing, they point you, um, straight to the high leverage actions. But here’s the [00:05:00] best part, there is a pro tip here. When you hire them, come prepared with specific questions and just maximize your session because they can go right into it as opposed to dealing with pleasantries or working through something where they don’t know how serious you are.
[00:05:13] The key is to making sure that the expert understands that you are serious and then they will pour into you because they know that their time is valued tremendously by you. All right, so let’s jump to phase three of what we’re trying to do. So the phase three is how do you use AI to extract all the gold?
[00:05:31] And this is kind of like my favorite. I don’t think I can live without AI anymore. AI is your secret weapon for cutting through all the clutter and finding the actionable insights. If you just do that, powerful things start to happen right away. So the question is, how do you use AI? Effectively, and let me actually break it down for you.
[00:05:50] Instead of asking generic questions, we should work on using precise prompts to extract that 20%. A quick heads [00:06:00] up, if you’re an entrepreneur, business owner, or executive, listen up. If you don’t have a virtual assistant team or offshore team yet, you’re doing it the hard way. Look, I’ve hired Uh, 11 plus virtual assistants, just in the last two years, just on Sharran brand.
[00:06:15] And since then, my brand has over five times, 500%. No exaggeration. I used to do everything myself or pay bloated us salaries, but hiring offshore has been a total game changer. So here’s the deal. Finding a great VA honestly is not that easy vetting, interviewing, onboarding. It’s a lot. That’s why I work with assistantly.
[00:06:34] They handle all of it. Job descriptions, headhunting, interviews, onboarding, even setting you up for success. The whole shebang, you get three to four top tier candidates to choose from super quick, and they don’t stop until you’re set up for success. I work with assistantly, my network works with assistantly.
[00:06:50] And if you’re serious about growing and scaling your business, you should work with assistantly too. Uh, check them out at hireyourunicorn.com. Hireyourunicorn.com. [00:07:00] Let’s get back to the show, for example, let me break down a prompt for you. Cause I clearly been working on this. You should say, Hey, I’m learning the skill.
[00:07:09] My goal is this outcome in this timeframe. So you can say, I’m learning to play the guitar. My goal is to play these three songs in the next 90 days. And then you ask, what are the top three high impact areas that I should focus on? Avoid generic advice and explain why these matter. Right? So in essence, you’re just saying, Hey, I’m learning the skill.
[00:07:31] My goal is this specific outcome in this timeframe. What are the top three high impact areas that I should focus on and just avoid generic advice and explain why these matter. This is a very specific prompt that allows you to harness the power of AI. This type of prop ensures that AI gives you focus and nuance and size and not just surface level tips that it always tends to do.
[00:07:54] Now, here’s an even more powerful thing. A lot of times we get books or PDFs or courses, etc. [00:08:00] And, um, here’s what I like to do. I upload all these dense manuals or books and ask AI, what are the top takeaways I need to know? For online courses, I ask, which lessons are the most critical to achieving playing the guitar?
[00:08:13] AI helps you skip the fluff and get straight to what that matters. Now, this brings us to number four, which is build a framework to learn forever. And most people, they just go through life learning, doing, learning, doing. Instead, if you can build a framework that you could put whatever you want in and learn forever, you now have the confidence that you can learn anything at any point at any time with your framework.
[00:08:38] And so. Once you’ve learned from the experts and AI, don’t stop there. It’s important to document your knowledge into a repeatable system. I have always talked about this thing that I call the learning dogma. When you listen to something, you get to learn it once. When you teach something, you get to learn it twice.
[00:08:55] But when you document something, you get to learn it forever. Right? So a lot of times when you [00:09:00] just take your notes, it’s not about just putting it into a notion or putting it into a notebook. You want to try to figure out, hey, how does, how do these notes integrate with my life? Can I come up with a three part system to always let me think?
[00:09:09] For example, if somebody asks me about lead generation, I instantly go to, alright, is this organic? Is this paid? Or is this JVN activities? So organic is your post content. Paid as you run ads and JV is your joint venture with other people, or you do some activities like you don’t knock your cold call, et cetera.
[00:09:25] Right? So now I know I’ve created a framework. So when someone shows me this idea of lead generation, I don’t have to go back to my notes. I have a framework that I can instantly deploy because it’s based on the learning dogma. When you listen to something, you get to learn it once. When you teach something, you get to learn it twice.
[00:09:40] But when you document something, you get to learn it forever. And when you have that in place, the document, the framework, allows you to teach and transcend and never have to remember anything because now your brain is just filled with all these tight concepts. And every time someone talks to you, they’re like, Wait, how does Sharran know so much?
[00:09:56] It’s because you’ve learned it thoughtfully and you’ve learned it. [00:10:00] All right. So how to build a framework. So the first step is to extract the key insights, write down the most valuable lessons you learn. Extract the key insight. Number two, just organize them, turn those lessons into checklists or frameworks that you can use repeatedly.
[00:10:13] And the third is you teach your sharing, share insights with others and teaching helps solidify this knowledge. Now here’s my pro tip in all of this. Once I’ve come up with my framework, I just drop all of it into AI and I say, Hey, here’s a process for playing 10 songs on the guitar. Here’s my framework that I came up with.
[00:10:28] Can you clean this up? Can you create this into a system for me? And I give it everything. And now I tell AI to do the heavy lifting where it builds an entire system for me. Now, two things are good when it comes to that. One, you get a chance to have a really well built system and AI is good at that.
[00:10:42] Second, if someone ever asks you for it, you could hand that to them as opposed to your chicken scratch notes. The reason I say this is this approach ensures you don’t just learn for today, you create a system that helps you grow. That’s the cool part about building a system. Remember the learning dogma.
[00:10:59] [00:11:00] When you listen to something, you get to learn it once. When you teach something, you get to learn it twice. But when you document something, you get to learn it forever. So, let’s talk about my challenge to you. The next time you start a new project, don’t waste your time figuring it out alone. Number one, find an expert and use the DM script to ask for consulting.
[00:11:17] Number two, use AI to extract the 20 percent that matters the most. Or number three, document your process to create a framework that you can use forever. When you master the system, you won’t just learn faster. You’ll outperform everyone else. Hey, I’m not sure if this resonated with you or if you can use something like this in the future.
[00:11:37] So one request that I have for you is this, if this connected with you and you want me to make more podcasts like this, can you just screenshot this episode and Post it and tag me because that way I can make more like this for you. So please do me a favor, screech out this episode, wherever you are, post it and tag me that way.
[00:11:53] I’ll know you like this and I can make more like this for you. And I’ll catch you on the next one.[00:12:00]
[00:12:04] You got to get out of your preferred mode. And there I’d find a way where you can reduce the friction in the right channel for people so that they enjoy communicating with you and enjoy doing business with you. [00:18:37] Hey, it’s Sharran, I have a cool gift for you. Since you like this podcast, I actually have an ultra super secret private podcast that I make just for my partner companies and the CEOs and influencers that I advise. It’s called 10 K wisdom because I try to wrap 10, 000 worth of value in every single episode in just under 10 minutes.
[00:12:28] That’s why it’s called 10 K wisdom. It’s raw. It’s real. It’s got no intro or outro or anything like that. It’s just straight to the point and to the insights. Since you like this podcast, I think you will like that. So for the first time, I’m making it available to you. Just go to 10Kwisdom.com the number 10K wisdom.com and my team will activate it for you as my gift. Go to 10Kwisdom.com. I’ll see you there.