This is a very helpful concepts for life and time management and can be applied to anything in life. It is very powerful rule that suggests the 20 percent of your activities will account for 80 percent of your results.
It really doesn't matter what numbers you apply, the important thing to understand is that in your life there are certain activities you do (your 20 percent effort) that account for the majority (80 percent result) of your happiness and outputs. You may be not aware of this but literally you have been applying this rule without knowing it. Even I wasn't thinking about this until I went through this book, The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch, and it taught me the lesson and the message is very simple enough - focus on activities that produces the best outcomes for you. This applies to both your business/working life, personal life, and in other parts in life as well.
What is 80-20 rule?
The 80-20 rule also known as the "Pareto Principle" that was named after it's founder, the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto in 1895. He noticed that people in society seemed to divide naturally into what he called the "Vital Few," or the top 20 percent in terms of money and influence, and the "Trivial Many," or the bottom of 80 percent.
We can take Pareto's 80/20 rule and apply it to almost any situation. Understanding the principle is essential to learning how to prioritize your tasks, days, weeks, months, and years.
In some cases, for few people it may work the opposite that 80 percent of efforts bring the 20 percent of results but not in all cases. However, once you become aware of this law you will certainly cut off your 80 percent efforts for the 20 percent of results and find out the way in the opposite.
You may definitely apply this 80/20 rule to most aspects of your business or working life, however, I believe your overall happiness and satisfaction are much better variables to focus on. Money certainly plays an important role in your happiness and your money is influenced by 80/20 relationships, but it is only a component that leads to your overall well being, which should be your primary concern.
How does this principle work?
This principle is a concept that suggests 2 out of 10 items, on any general to do list and turn things way worth than the other 8 items put together. Which means in any situations the 20 percent of the efforts are more valuable than the other 80 percents and bring more results.
Lets see some examples regarding this principle;
80/20 rule in Business -
80% of products are consumed by the 20% of service providers
80% of complaints come from the 20% of customers
80% of profits come from 20% of the company's effort
80% of sales are made by 20% of sellers
80% sales come from 20% of products or services
80% of clients come from the 20% of marketing activities
80/20 rules in Personal Life
To apply this rule in personal life you must analyze your activities to see the 80/20 ratio and how it impacts in your life. Figure out that 20 percent which brings more results than the rests and make a lists of them. Focus only on that 20 percents and work on them to grow and accomplish.
You may focus on;
What are the 20 percent of possessions you get the most value of it
What do you spend 20 percent of your time doing that gives you 80 percent of your happiness
Who are the 20 percent of people you are close to make you the happiest
What's the 20 percent of food you consume 80 percent of the time
What are the 20 percent of things you do to feel better
What are the 20 percent of activities you do with the people those are close to you to make yourself comfortable
Chances are these easy questions for you to answer that you have never considered them before. Identifying the 20 percent of your all activities and work on them will change your life forever.
80/20 rules in Time-Management
It is not only about the time management but most helpful techniques for most effective mental models used to analyze tasks, and manage workloads. Though this rule was introduced in 19th century, however, we still can apply in this 21st century as well in terms of time management. How we are spending our 80 percent of time on less important things and you will see in the below how we do them;
We spend a lot of time on smartphones. If you have a look at your smartphone you will find hundreds of less important apps that you use them for nothing or will find few apps that you spend your time most with less important activities. Figure out the 3-5 apps that you use most of the time and delete rest of them and work on those apps you use and manage your time.
You also figure out that only few TV shows and games consumes the 80 percent of time. Choose your favorites and that you really enjoy watching and playing and stop spending time jumping from one to another channel or game lists.
On the professional front, look for the 20 percent of tasks that are super important and bringing 80 percent of results. This will help you to prioritize tasks better.
How to apply this rule in life
This is most important and you must know how to apply this rule in your life and it's obviously not that complicated. You should do this in order to effectively apply this rule which will boost your overall productivity.
First, you must write down goals you have for your life and ask yourself if you want to accomplish only one of them on the lists today, what will that be and would have a greatest positive impact on your life.
Then pick the second most important goal and work on it until you accomplish it. Do not go for the next until you accomplish 100% of it and use all highly necessary tools only and avoid less supportive tools that will cost you time and energy.
What will you find is, after you complete this exercise, you will have determined the most important 20 percent of your goals that will help you more than anything else.
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