It is the Parrado principle or the principle of least effort; it's a compelling concept. The 80:20 principle is the core component of may authors teaching management gurus.
The 80:20 principle, states quite simply that 20 per cent of efforts yield 80 per cent of results.
Hope you find the ideas pretty exciting, and it gets you thinking about how you can focus your time and energy on the activities that give you the most results with the least effort and time.
First, a little overview of the 80:20 principle. In 1897 when Bill Frido, Parado, an Italian economist, studied wealth and income distribution in 19th century England. His analysis stated that a minority of the population controlled the majority of land and income. In fact, 20 per cent of the population controlled 80 per cent of the wealth and income. The Law stood good in different countries, at different periods of time, across industries.
Many researchers have been busy pointing out some additional modern applications of this law
- 20 per cent of criminals account for 80 per cent of crime,
- 20 per cent of motorists account for 80 per cent of accidents.
- 20 per cent of married couples, rather, married individuals account for 80 per cent of divorces,
- 20 per cent of your carpet probably gets 80 per cent of the wear "Check it out when you get home,"
- 20 per cent of streets account for 80 per cent of the traffic,
- 20 per cent of product flaws account for 80 per cent of the problems,
- 20 per cent of clients usually account for 80 per cent of an organization's profits.
- 20 per cent of the clothes in your closet are worn 80 per cent of the time.
- 20 per cent of beer drinkers account for 80 per cent of the beer being consumed.
Look around you, see where you spend your time, and see where you get your results from. Is it 50/50 or more like 80/20? 80-20 thinking requires practice that enables us to spot the few essential things that are happening and ignore the mass of unimportant things. It teaches us to see the wood form the trees.
Many experts on time management would suggest that we take a closer look at some of our everyday behaviours. 20 per cent of our efforts lead to 80 per cent of the results. However, 80 per cent of what we do leads to only 20 per cent outcome. We are wasting 80 per cent of our time on low-value outcomes; now, if you consider that as an opportunity is a choice you have to make. So watch out target a limited number of precious goals where the 80:20 principle shall work for us. The application of this principle very well can be made in our daily lives. This shall definitely improve the quality of our lives.
A few Real-Life applications to reconfirm our claim. If you are an entrepreneur or your business owner focus on where your revenue comes from? Which products or services give what per cent of your revenue? What are your biggest expenses, and how much do they affect the business? What part of your business takes maximum effort and time and how much does it contribute to the business? Analysis and act on your results. If your books suggest that you make at least 80 per cent of your profits from 20 per cent of your activity, and 20 per cent of your revenues comes from 80 per cent of your actions. Then the trick is to figure out which 20 per cent? Once you have that figured out, you can apply effort in that right direction. Figure out what products or clients constitute your top 20 per cent and then spend as much time as you can on them.
How about learning? How do you read a book? Do you go from cover to cover, you're wasting a lot of time, 80 per cent of the valuable content can be found in 20 per cent of the book, and can be absorbed in 20 per cent of the time, " Unless you're reading a book for pleasure?" As students, we were aware of this phenomenon, and most of us adopted this strategy by focusing on 20 per cent of the course content and getting satisfactory results. However, when we come to ous working life, this great understanding gets lost somewhere, and we have people cribbing, I work so hard but am getting nowhere. Apply the 80/20 principle and give yourself freedom.
The things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least, George Bernard Shaw offers this brilliant thought the reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore. All progress depends on the unreasonable man. The wisdom is not to put all of your eggs in one basket. The actual wisdom is to choose the basket. Choose the top 20 per cent baskets that shall ensure 80 per cent of your eggs to hatch. Similarly, make life easy by choosing the right activities to earn more and enjoy more. The skill is to cull out the right 20 per cent to get the desired 80 per cent.
So remember, less effort the right direction, gets most of the results.
Find your 20 per cent and multiply your results.
