Pareto and His 80/20 Principle: Another Time Management Skill

Hey guys...

I am really sorry; I was busy in different stuff in the last two weeks so could not post the blog. Today, we will see how can anyone achieve expected results in fewer efforts. It will damn interesting if you not only read this blog but also follow the actions given below. 

Vilfredo Pareto was an economist-cum- sociologist who lived from 1848 to 1923. He used a mathematical formula to demonstrate how wealth in society is grossly distributed. He found that 80% of wealth and the income was possessed by 20% of the population.

Pareto's 80/20 Principle

He applied his formula outside the economy and surprisingly he found approximately the same ratio everywhere.

• 80% of the consequences flow from 20% of causes.
• 80% of company profit comes from 20% of the production and the customers.
• 80% of results are given by 20% of the efforts and time.

The list is long and diverse and the ratio is also sometimes changed to 90/10, 95/5 and 99/1 also. But they are uncommon and most occurring ration is 80/20.

This means that if you have 10 products or customers then out of them, 2 products or customers are contributing 80% of your profit. It also means that 20% of sources are causing 80% of your problems and unhappiness.

Let's get started to adopt this 80/20 principle.

•  The number of tasks versus an important task:

Suppose, you have 10 tasks to accomplish and they all take approx. the same amount of time to accomplish. But there are only one or two key tasks which create the actual result and contribute the most. 

Even a single task contributes more than all the others put together. That one task is the most important task because it gives you 80% of your result.

And you know what, that one task is the toughest task among all the other 9 tasks most of the time. Remember friends, the most important actions are never comfortable to do. Don't get busy doing unimportant tasks. Remember, spending more time on less important tasks does not make them important. So, your responsibility is to identify that one or two tasks and execute them to get 80% of your result.

• Focus on activities, Not accomplishments:

You have seen many people seem to be busy all day but accomplish very little. These the people who spend most of the time doing less important tasks and procrastinating the one or two important tasks which will get completed quickly then will create a real difference to their career and their companies. 

As I said, the most important task to do is always the hardest task to accomplish. But that same task will give you maximum results.

So, before you begin your work, ask yourself, "Is this the task in the top 20% of my activity or in the bottom 80%? " 

Remember, the thing which you do over and over, again and again, eventually becomes your habit. So, if you keep doing less important tasks again and again then it will become your habit and you will never succeed. If you keep doing that one important difficult task daily then not only you will get expected results but also it saves your time. 

The hardest part of any task is getting started on it. Once you actually start to work on that important task, your mind gets motivated naturally. Your job is to keep feeding your mind.

• Be Motivated:

Just thinking about the starting and completing the most important task will give the feeling of satisfaction and pride. Most of the time, the time required to complete the important task is the same as the time required to complete the unimportant task. 

Time management is like life management. your ability to choose between important and unimportant task will decide your success in life and career.

Successful people start their day by starting to work on the most important and difficult task. As a result, it not only saves their time for the day but also gives expected results in less work. This happens only because of the implementation of the 80/20 principle.

I hope, you will now start to follow the 80/20 principle and accomplish the most important 20% of your task to get 80% of your results.

See you in next post...