The Powerful Pareto Principle

Could a simple analysis of your workload make 80 percent of it disappear?

The Amazing Discovery in an Italian Garden Vilfredo Federico Damaso Pareto was born in Italy in 1848. He would go on to become an important philosopher and economist. Legend has it that one day he noticed that 20 percent of the pea plants in his garden generated 80 percent of the healthy peapods. This observation caused him to think about uneven distribution. He thought about wealth and discovered that 80 percent of the land in Italy was owned by just 20 percent of the population. He investigated different industries and found that 80 percent of production typically came from just 20 percent of the companies.

80 percent of results will come from just 20 percent of the action.

80/20 Reading and Studying Example

Knowing what the textbook author thinks is most important, and then going back and finding the answers to those questions in the text itself, is much more efficient than reading the entire chapter from beginning to end.

The 80/20 Mindset 

It’s more important to have a mindset of identifying the few things and activities that will give you outsized returns. You want to:

• Look for shortcuts.

• Do the most important things exceptionally well, and the rest just “good enough” or not at all.

• Develop your skills to be exceptional in a few targeted areas;

don’t try to master everything.

• Realize that you can work less, stress less, and increase your happiness by figuring out the 20 percent of goals and activities that are most important to you.