The Pareto Principle: The Harmful Myth People Should Disregard
It’s a rule of thumb at most, but shouldn’t be tried to achieve or taken seriously.
We live in a very divided world and a clear sign of it is that many people firmly believe in the Pareto Principle. Otherwise known as the 80/20 rule, this principle has spread like wildfire across productivity blogs, productivity gurus’ articles and speeches, and many of us believe in it.
In our hyper-focused individualistic priority lives, the principle is presented as appealing. It serves as a rallying cry to focus more on the few things that are making the biggest impact on your life and work. And while that seems sensible, it also underlies something darker the more you look at it. Not to mention several vital flaws to this principle in the first place.
How The Principle Started
To fully understand why this is so problematic today, it’s important to go back to how it first started. Vilfredo Pareto was an economist in 1890s Italy and he discovered this principle. Named after him, he discovered that 20% of his pea pods that he grew had 80% of the peas yielded in a single year.
This sort of ratio fascinated him and he then started to apply that to other things. Most notably is that…
