What is the Pareto Principle and how it can improve your life

Time, as most people know, is a precious resource. Many successful executives make loads of money, are in relatively good health, but are always struggling to make time in their schedules. However, even those who don’t live in a busy circle of commitments often complain about the lack of time. The fact is, many of us just don’t know how to use our time wisely.

There are, of course, no ways to ‘buy’ a few more hours, but there are ways to take advantage of the scarce time we have, focusing on what really matters. This is where the so-called Pareto Principle comes in.

The Incredible.club gathered some of the most important points of this principle, which can help make your life better and more productive. Stay with us!

Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1932) was an Italian economist who discovered something curious and, in a way, worrying: 20% of Italian families concentrated 80% of the existing wealth in the country. Fascinated by the discovery, he decided to apply this same 80/20 principle to other areas, not just economics. This relationship, curiously, was repeated in his garden: only 20% of the seeds were responsible for 80% of what was harvested. Pareto concluded that this standard could be applied to any circumstances and in any case.

Okay, by now you might be wondering what the heck crops, gardens, and income distribution in early 20th-century Italy have to do with time management. Keep reading!

The first thing to bear in mind is that the world offers thousands of opportunities for a single idea to come to life. Explaining it in a simpler way and using the Pareto Principle, only 20% of our work corresponds to 80% of the result. In other words: out of, let’s say, 10 tasks that you imagined doing today, no less than 8 of them are not that important.

So all you need is to know with some precision what are the other two tasks, the ones that are really important. On the other hand, if you focus on the other 8 tasks, you will be wasting energy and precious time on something that will only give you a 20% result.

This is perhaps the most crucial part of working on the Pareto Principle. You will have to be strong and have an iron will. Because, at the end of the day, we all know that, in the vast majority of cases, the most important tasks are precisely those that are the most difficult and complex. Unfortunately, the human brain is lazy by nature.

Thousands of years of evolution made our brain ‘learn’ to spend most of the time in an energy-saving mode to be used in situations of real stress, such as capturing prey to get food or escaping from predators. This is how our head was shaped. Therefore, it is normal that, even living in the comfort of cities, our brain really likes to procrastinate, giving preference to less important tasks.

So, face reality: the most important tasks are the most challenging.

A good way to start tackling priorities is to write down six of the most important issues on paper. Mark five of them in a corner of the paper and write your last, most important priority on a separate sticky tape or sticky note. Put this note in a conspicuous place.

Then start working on that most important task for an hour or an hour and a half every morning. Don’t let ANYTHING distract you. Forget Facebook, WhatsApp, kids, wife, husband, girlfriend, boyfriend… just focus on what you’re doing. If some external issue (a bill to pay or an argument at home, for example) doesn’t get out of your head, write it down on another paper and refocus.

Teachers, instructors, conductors… all, consciously or not, adopt the Pareto Principle in tests. Think: as there is no time to evaluate the entire program of a course, in the evaluations they tend to focus on the most important topics. So they’ll do their best to gauge whether you’ve learned the most important parts of your course, which in turn tend to make up the 20% of material you might have focused on in your study the night before. Intuitive, no?

Those who work on their own know the insecurity of not having a health plan, vacations, FGTS, retirement and other benefits. That’s why, in the eagerness to have a little more guarantee against lean times, he takes on dozens of projects at the same time.

Here, the Pareto Principle comes into play again: if you’re in this situation, perhaps you’ve intuitively realized that about 80% of projects result in only 20% of the gains. So, keep in mind what the main client or project is and try to prioritize it. So, considering what we’ve already said, you’ll put in 20% effort on that customer (or those customers) and you’ll get 80% return. Sometimes it’s worth passing up smaller, low-paying projects to have a little more time and less headaches.

The legendary Steve Jobs also knew the Pareto Principle. And, according to him, the adoption of this method has already helped save Apple from bankruptcy. Apparently, this principle is something that has been done for years. But in short, it’s a very simple philosophy: less is more.

If you have trouble running your business or are being beaten by the competition, focus on the essentials. Forget about projects with potential that never come to fruition. Have the courage to let go of what will not work.

If you are in a managerial position or own your own business, try to identify those 20% of employees responsible for 80% of production. And give them the best working conditions.

Changing environments: in your home, identify, in the closet, which are those 80% of clothes that you wear only 20% of the time. With the exception of a party outfit that will inevitably be used one day, is it worth keeping the rest? Detach!

One more change of scenery: maybe 80% of your friends (or colleagues) ‘contribute’ only 20% of your happiness. And who are the real friends, the ones who bring the remaining 80% of joy? Yes, it is difficult to ‘count’ happiness. But deep down you know who the people that really matter are. So is it worth making great efforts for others?

As you have seen, the Pareto Principle can be applied with great utility in the most diverse areas of life. What are the 20% of your work that produce 80% of the result? And what would you be willing to give up to focus on the 20% of activities that make you truly happy?

Share your opinions with us!