Life 80/20

A lot of us have heard about the Pareto Principle or 80/20. While the theory,

introduced in the first half of1900 was focused on the distribution of wealth in Italy,

the concept was later integrated into production, quality control, and many other

business and strategic management areas. The principle establishes that 20% of

the efforts produce 80% of the results.

Some examples of the Pareto principle in the business world are that 20 percent of

the sales team make 80 percent of total sales, or 20 percent of customers generate

80 percent of total profits.

Organizations use this 80/20 rule to focus on the 20 percent of factors that will

produce the best results. This doesn’t mean that the other 80 percent should be

ignored—it’s a matter of prioritization. In these cases, the company should

prioritize keeping the 20 percent segment maximized.

On the personal side, this 80/20 approach is very useful in decision-making,

efficiency, and time management through prioritization and the distribution of

resources (time, energy and money).

It is important to assign an order of importance to the things that really have value

to our current lives and goals and distributing the resources accordingly.

Prioritization could be done by selection or elimination, and can be achieved

through small and consistent choices based on your values and needs.

For example, a good way to identify individual priorities is to look at the four main

pillars of well-being: physical, spiritual, mental, and financial, and evaluate how

they are aligned to our needs, values, and aspirations (development and growth).

Having that in mind facilitates the drill-down to identify what the real priorities are.

Developing a thought process toward the 20 percent also allows us to separate

between what is value-added and non-value-added.

Prioritization is not an easy process. Once we establish our priorities, it’s time to

move to the distribution of resource. We should actively distribute and allocate our

resources (time, energy, and money) in alignment with our priorities, goals and

needs.

Are we spending our energy looking at other people’s lives, with continued

emotional battles among family and coworkers? Or are we putting our energy

toward continuous improvement, plans, and growth?

Are you spending your time watching TV, engaging in unconstructive or unhealthy

relationships, or just living your days with a lazy Sunday mentality? Or are you

aggressively looking at how you spend your days and what you are going to

accomplish today, this week, this month, and beyond?

Are you truly making time in your agenda for your goals and needs?

We should ask ourselves how our actions are supporting our priorities and how our

schedules are reflecting those priorities.

And remember this is part of the development of a continuous improvement

mindset and as any habit or improvement it takes time and consistency.