One summer in Italy in the early 1900s, Vilfredo Pareto was harvesting peas from his garden when something caught his attention. He noticed that only a fraction of the pea pods in his garden were responsible for producing most of the peas. Twenty percent of his pods were producing around 80 percent of the yield.
As an economist and sociologist, Vilfredo started to notice this percentage pattern elsewhere. Pareto eventually expanded the idea to macroeconomics to demonstrate that 80 percent of Italy’s wealth was owned by 20 percent of its citizens.
This idea eventually became known as the Pareto principle, also known as the 80/20 rule. Pareto’s observation is that 80 percent of outcomes are a result of 20 percent of the efforts.
As Pareto shows, this concept can be applied to many fields. For example, 20 percent of my posts on this blog are responsible for 80 percent of my traffic.
How does this apply to your life?
The pareto principle helps you to identify areas in your life where you can create efficiencies or better manage your time.
Maybe you spend 80 percent of your time watching 20 percent of the channels in your cable package, or perhaps you only wear 20 percent of your clothes 80 percent of the time.
You could look at the food you eat to determine if you are eating well. What 20 percent of your food do you choose 80 percent of the time? Is it healthy food?
What about your friendships? Which 20 percent of your friends provide 80 percent of your social fulfillment?
Or things that you purchase? Which 20 percent of your purchases do you use 80 percent of the time?
Or what about at work? Which 20 percent of your tasks result in 80 percent of the returns for your company?
To save yourself time and money, identify the 20 percent in all areas of your life, business, marketing, etc. which provides the highest return, and slowly reduce the 80 percent that isn’t providing as much value.
What are some areas of your life where you think it might be helpful to implement the 80/20 rule? Let me know in the comments below.
NOTE: It is good to realize that the 80/20 rule is just an average or estimate. Also, it is just a coincidence that the two numbers add up to 100. It is possible that you wear 30 percent of your clothes 80 percent of the time, or spend 75 percent of your time watching 10 percent of your channels. Nonetheless, it is an excellent principle to use to create efficiencies in your workflow and life.
Ok, that’s all for today. Be safe out there!
#CreateSomethingGreat
