Pareto Principle

Interesting story... In the early 1900’s Italian Economist Vilfredo Pareto made a few interesting observations. He noticed that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the people. Additionally he realized that in his own garden 20% of the pea pods produced 80% of the peas.

There are many other angles that illustrate Pareto’s discovery such as the fact that 80% of your sales usually come from 20% of your customers or 20% of your efforts. Additionally 20% of the world holds over 80% of the world’s wealth, and if you were to take the top 10 richest people in the world you would see that the top three own as much as the next seven.

In looking at my time I noticed that 20% really is the most productive and thus doing 80% of the work in getting me to my financial goals. Theoretically speaking if I could somehow find a way eliminate the other 80% that fills my time and double the most productive 20% I just could increase my income by 60% and reduce my work load by 60%. Pretty cool huh!

In short, the reason I share this is to help address the importance of prioritizing and time management. First, identify and focus on the 20% in your life that is really producing the results you want, then focus your energy on expanding in that area. When the nonessential urgent issues arise remind yourself where you need to be prioritizing your valuable time. If you need to change your schedule make sure it is promoting the 20% that will make the difference.