Hi there!
If you are reading this, it’s likely that you put a considerable amount of effort into getting the most out of the time you get in this life.
And I am willing to bet that in doing so you’ve come across countless hacks, rules, and principles that productivity gurus swear will let you manage a life where you are completely capable of getting every single thing done, but a lot of the time these so-called rules sound a little sketchy, and when you try them, they don’t live up to their expectations.
However, I think some of these stand out to me for the value they have added to my life; in this post, I’ll cover one that I genuinely believe can help you build a better and more meaningful approach to making the most of your time and improving your overall life: The Pareto Principle.
What is the Pareto Principle?
The Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, states that in a given situation 80% of the effects come as a result of only 20% of the causes. It owes its name to Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who first discovered it after observing that 80% of the land in his country belonged to roughly 20% of its population.
Although this principle is not universal, it can be found in a lot of aspects of our world, like:
In workplaces, only 20% of the tasks contribute to 80% of the overall productivity.
In social relationships, most of our happiness, well-being, and support comes from a handful of our connections.
In our possessions, in the case of our clothes for example, it is only about 20% of them that we wear for 80% of the time.
The point that I’d like to highlight is that the specific percentages are not relevant and can change, but the underlying idea remains constant: that a small portion of inputs tends to have a disproportionate impact on the outputs.
Unveiling the Importance of the Pareto Principle
This concept gains immense importance in a world where we have nearly infinite to-do lists and countless options for what to do at any given moment of our time, as it facilitates the process of setting priorities.
If we understand that we can only ever do one thing at a time, the challenge of choosing what to do with the present moment is difficult; the Pareto Principle, however, can provide us with a simple framework for navigating this obstacle.
Suppose there is a project that you are working on or a goal that you want to achieve, whether it is personal or professional, this concept can help us find the next action for us to focus on with the benefit that this will be the one that the furthest toward the completion of our objective.
Basically, it helps us identify the most relevant task so that we can prioritize it above the other options; thus, we get the most results out of our efforts and potentially free the rest of our time to pursue other important duty or just spend it on leisure.
Putting the Pareto Principle to Practice
If I have managed to convince you that this principle is worth putting into practice by now, here are a few simple steps on how to do it:
Choose an area of your life you want to focus on, it could be a broad part of your personal or professional life, or it could be a specific project or goal.
Identify the tasks within the area you chose, making a list of all the tasks that come to mind is the way I do it. (and it works great for me)
Once you have a rough list of tasks, ask yourself: “Which of these contributes the most to my goal or desired result?” and “Which of these would keep me busy, but fail to generate any progress?”. Then you select the ones with the most impact and execute them.
Finally, after doing the high-impact actions you can adjust your approach based on how it went. If there was one task that you thought would yield better results, but didn’t; take note of it and make sure to consider that going forward.
In conclusion, armed with the power of the Pareto Principle, you have a valuable tool to tackle the challenge of making the most of your time. By identifying the tasks that contribute the most to your goals and focusing on them, you can optimize your efforts and create meaningful results. So, why not give it a try?
As always, I hope this was helpful
Have a great week!
-Alan