The 80 / 20 Principle
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How To Do Less & Get More Of What You Want With The 80 / 20 Principle
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could find a way to do less, yet get more of what we want?
That might be more love, more happiness, more health, more success?
Well you can and furthermore the secret is to make our lives enormously better by doing less!
The Pareto Principle – Also Called The 80/20 Principle
There is a scientific law, proven in business and economics, that states that the great majority of results come from a small minority of causes or effort.
Widely known as the “Pareto Principle,” it is also called the “80/20 Principle” because it reflects the fact that about 80% of results flow from 20% of causes.
For example:
- we wear 20% of our clothes, our favorite outfits, more than 80% of the time.
- Police investigations reveal that 80% of accidents are caused by roughly 20% of drivers
- 80% of crime is committed by 20% of criminals.
- In business, 80% of profits come from 20% of customers and 20% of products.
- we send about 80% of our emails to 20% of the people in our address book.
- in your home 20% of your carpets are likely to get 80% of the wear.
- there’s a good chance you’ll spend most of your time (80%) with only a few people (20%) from the entire group of people you know!
I’m sure you’re getting the gist of this now.
Do Less Of The Things That Don’t Work & Do More Of Those That Do
Of course, there’s a catch.
The secret is not to do less of everything, but to do less of the great majority of things we do that don’t work very well for us.
Then do more of the very few things that do deliver what we want.
Focus Is The Key
The key to making the 80/20 Principle work for you is focus.
In every area of your life you can work out the few things that are really important to you and the few methods that give you what you want.
You can divide everything around you and everything you do into 2 piles:
The Trivial Many
First there is the big pile, the 80% pile, that takes a lot of energy but delivers pitiful results, sometimes even making things worse.
This is the mass of trivia that surrounds you and normally engulfs your life. You can call this big chunk of your life the “trivial many.”
The Vital Few
Then there is the small but vital 20% pile, which comprises the few things that work brilliantly – the “vital few” that bring happiness to you.
Once you know what’s in each pile:
- the things you do.
- the thoughts you have.
- the people you meet.
- the techniques and methods you use
you can do something simple and wonderfully effective – You can do fewer of the “trivial many” things and more of the “vital few” things.
The result? You’ll exert much less effort but reap far greater rewards.
How Can You Apply The 80/20 Principles In Your Life?
Now that you’re aware of the principles, you’ll very likely see 80/20 ratios everywhere.
Think about how you can avoid wasting time on the 80% that produce little satisfaction for you.
Maximise what you’re good at, find the activities that produce the best results for you.
Focus your energies on the 20% that makes you happy and you enjoy!
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