The 80:20 Rule

If you’ve never heard the 80:20 rule, it may seem a little odd at first glance. Sometimes referred to as the Pareto principle, the 80:20 rule suggest that about 80% of the outcomes come from 20% of the causes.

The idea does not only apply to your normal work day but also to pretty much everything else. For example it’s accurate to say 20% of the world’s population own 80% of the world’s wealth.

Or in a business sense, in many cases 80% of the profits come from 20% of the clients or 20% of the products.

However the way in which I want to discuss it, is how the 80:20 rule applies to your everyday life.

Most of us spend many hours a day working on a problem at work, eight or nine hour work days are now  socially acceptable. Yet how many of those hours are actually productive?

If you sit down and work out what the specific 20% of your work is that results in the highest outcome, you can better understand your daily routine.

What this leads to is the foundation of building a more productive lifestyle.

Spend 10 minutes now and write down what it is that you do everyday which yields the highest result and then think about if the other 80% of your daily routine can be better tweaked to deliver better results.

Related posts:

1. Kick-start your productivity
2. How to be more productive (so you can spend more time outdoors)
3. Mind-clustering: Organize your mind, and get things done!
4. Mental Discipline an introduction