I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the Pareto Principle, also known as the “80-20 rule”. It states that for many events 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. This principle was named after Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto who studied and found that 20% of the population controlled 80% of Italy’s wealth and income. Later studies have been done to show this principle rings true in many areas. For example:
20% of your wardrobe is worn 80% of the time.
20% of clients account for 80% of an organization’s income.
20% of streets account for 80% of traffic.
20% of your friends account for 80% of your satisfaction.
How do we apply this to our life? It all comes back to thinking efficiently and getting better results. Doing less, gaining more. How great is that?! I heard one speaker who figured out that in an eight hour work day, 96 minutes works out to be 20% of our day. So if we focused basically an hour and half of our entire day on accomplishing something really important, 80% of the results we are looking for will follow. Everything on top of that is gravy.
My question for you is, what are you doing 80% of the time that is only accounting for 20% of your results? And how could you flip that equation in your life or work?
On that note, I have been hearing from so many of you that in this economy it feels unwise to take risks. So many of you have these brilliant business ideas and have such marketable talents but due to the financial state of the world, you are keeping your head low. I actually think boldness has never been more important than right now. I am not encouraging people to quit their day jobs but I do want keep your ideas and passions alive. Which is why I created the below class, “Dream Job…On the Side”. What if you dedicated 20% of your time to your business idea, would you get 80% of your satisfaction out of it? And if so, isn’t that worth it? We all need something to look forward to right now, something that fuels our fire. What fuels yours and what are you doing about it?
Mastermind Series
Dream Job… On the Side
Come meet fellow budding entrepreneurs and share a glass of wine while learning how to work on your business idea.
In this class you will:
1. Learn how to create a basic business plan
2. Find out how to ease your worries
3. Discover what it takes to implement your big idea
4. Establish concrete goals to achieve success
5. Receive a free half hour follow up consultation
*Space is very limited
When: Monday November 10th – 7-9pm
Where: BIN 38 – 3232 Scott Street San Francisco, CA
Registration Fee: $15.00
Ticket Link: http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=169773
3 responses so far ↓
Thomas W.P. Slatin » Blog Archive » Speedlinks #6 // October 30, 2008 at 2:16 am |
[...] 80 20 Rule An interesting look into the 80/20 rule, named after Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto. The article talks about how 80/20 can be applied not only to economics, but to everyday life. [...]
tgace // November 6, 2008 at 11:43 am |
I am in law enforcement and the Pareto Principle has become one of the cornerstones of “Problem Oriented Policing”. Under the POP concept, the belief is that 80% of criminal offences are committed by 20% of the overall population. By focusing on that 20% and leveraging more information out of them (the 20%’ers tend to “hang with” other 20%’ers) we hope to have a positive effect on the crime rate.
tgace // November 6, 2008 at 10:23 pm |
In the same vein, one can say that 80% of crime is focused in 20% of locations, so be aware of where you are.