Work Smarter, Not Harder: The 80/20 Rule
Also known as the Pareto principle, the 80/20 rule is a productivity formula that economists have been using for more than 100 years, and for many years, people have also been implementing this law into their personal life management.
According to this law, 80 percent of our outcome (whatever the scenario is) comes from 20 percent of our input. Simply put, 80 percent of our productivity is led by 20 percent of our tasks.
We use the Pareto principle in various contexts of our lives without even knowing it.
For instance, among myriad apps that we keep on our phones, we end up using only 20 percent of the apps 80 percent of the time on a daily basis. Another instance is when you have a large social circle, and yet it is only the 20 percent of them around whom you feel most comfortable and with whom you spend 80 percent of your time.
(and I’m sure there are plenty more scenarios like this you can come up with on your own)
So, what does this law teach us?
This law teaches us the power of priority. Yielding more results by focusing on the most important few.
For example, 80% of exam questions come from 20% of the topics from the syllabus. Hence, focusing on the key concepts or topics stressed most by your teacher during lectures can increase your chances of scoring a good grade.
What’s most interesting about this 80/20 rule is that you can utilize it in varied contexts. Whether it’s managing your time and finances or organizing your day-to-day life, the 80/20 rule can always help you identify the right action to drive you toward more rewards.
Let’s say you want to minimize your screen time. As the 80/20 rule suggests, by locating the apps (20%) where you’re spending most (80%) of your time on your device, you can create awareness within you and help yourself to make a more effective strategy to sort out this issue. For example, next time, you can be more mindful about their use, or you can simply remove them from your device to increase your productive usage of time.
That’s all in today’s productivity jargon. I just wanted to introduce you to this interesting productivity law; hence, I didn’t dip my toe into in-depth discussions. But if you are interested in learning more about it, I am listing some useful sources below for you to go through.
