Work Smarter: Apply the 20/80 Principle

“Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least.”
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

If you divided your life into two categories, what would you put in the top 20% most important things and what would you say are the less important 80%?

Should you ignore the 80% to achieve more with less?

In 1897, Vilfredo Pareto, an Italian economist, discovered that the majority of land (80%) and income was controlled by the minority of the population (20%).

Later, he found that this principle could be applied, not only in different countries relating to land and land owners, but also in many distinct contexts. For example:

• 20% of the criminals are responsible for 80% of crimes
• 20% of the streets have 80% of the traffic
• 20% of customers represent 80% of the profit
• 20% of the workers represent 80% of the productivity

“20% of what we do leads to 80% of the results; but 80% of what we do leads to only 20%. We are wasting 80% of our time on low-value outcomes.”
— Richard Koch , The 80/20 Principle

What are the 20% of things you can do to achieve 80% of the results you need?

Remember, it is not how much effort or time you put into what you are doing that will define the effectiveness and the results you will achieve, you should focus on what's really important to you.

Work Smarter!