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5-Ways to Apply the Pareto 80/20 Rule

* This article is taken from Scott Dinsmore, who has given permission to reproduce here.

I am sure we've all surely heard of the 80/20 Principle, or Pareto's Law as it's more formally known. It goes like this: 80% of the results come from 20% of the effort.

5 ways to apply the 80/20 Principle to enhance your life:

1. Do the 20% of your work that leads to 80% of your results

Track all the time you spend on projects each hour of each day for a week. How many of these things were necessary? How many got you closer to your goals? How many were a waste of time? How many could someone else have done?  Pick the 20% of your tasks that yield 80% of the results and outsource or simply discontinue the rest. Wondering what to do with your remaining time? Enjoy life.

2. Locate the 20% of your customers who drive 80% of your profits and fire the rest.

Yes, fire them. The goal is not to work your life away. It is to make a good living to enjoy your life. If you must work more, then list out the characteristics of your 20% customers and go out and find more of them.

3. Prioritize the 20% of your friends who provide 80% of your support and enjoyment

On the other side, there is likely another 20% group of people who account for most your sleepless nights, tears, anger and frustration. If you don't want to feel this way, stop spending time around your
bottom 20. Fire them and work on duplicating your top 20. This may sound a little callous, but it's not. It's practical. The quality of our life comes down to the quality of the people and experiences that fill it.

4. Fill your life with the 20% of your experiences that provide 80% of your happiness

As humans, our two biggest priorities are to move towards pleasure and away from pain. As mentioned above, find the few people, things, places and experiences that provide 80% of your happiness, fulfilment, pleasure and excitement. Also find the things that cause you to feel the majority of your negative emotions. Focus your time on the top 20% and avoid the bottom 20% like the plague.

5. Do the 20% of your workouts that lead to 80% of your physical gains

The majority of fitness results come from a small portion of most workouts.

In summary, the only way to get there is taking Pareto's 80/20 principle seriously. It will make all the difference.

Do not let more than 3 months go by without performing a full 80/20 breakdown of all areas of your life (especially your personal life). It will only take a couple hours and those hours will likely save days before you know it...80/20 in action yet again.

Compiled by Andy Ng, Chief Trainer with Asia Trainers, details here.

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