The last concept we are going to cover is the Pareto Principle (AKA the 80/20 rule). I don’t remember when I first heard about it, but I do remember not quiet understanding the rule the first time I did. After listening to Ali Abdaal (https://www.youtube.com/@aliabdaal) and Jim Kwik (https://www.youtube.com/@JimKwik) talk about it more in-depth, I started to get a better understanding of it and how to put it into practice.
Essentially, the 80/20 rule states that 20% of the work with produce 80% of the output and to get the remaining 20% of the output, it would take 80% more effort. Which is where I was initially confused, I consider myself very driven and so the idea of not going 100% didn’t quiet add up for me. The reality is that the goal is not to minimize the amount of effort, but to focus your effort on a specific portion of work to create a bigger impact. You still have to put 100% of effort into that 20% of focus to achieve 80% of results.
Since that confusion and new clarity, I have been able to find ways to utilize this in my daily life as a leader, helping myself and my teams communicate and strategically attack multiple priorities. The goal isn’t to ignore the details of the last 20%, it’s to prioritize them correctly to still get completed while also creating tremendous impact in other areas.
This principle isn’t an exact science, but it is incredibly useful to breakdown larger pieces of work or to problem solve big issues in your business. The point is to recognize that most things in life are not distributed evenly, so make decisions on allocating time, resources and efforts based on that.
Let me know how you feel about the Pareto Principle and how it works out for you!
I hope this was helpful! Thanks for being here! Take care!
