Use the Pareto Principle to Prioritize Your to-Do List
You’ve probably heard of the Pareto Principle (perhaps even while reading my tips on how to be more productive or learn more effectively ), but do you know what it is? Also known as the 80/20 rule or the law of the vital few, it can be a little confusing at first, but truly understanding it will help you manage your time better and get more done with less effort.
What is the Pareto principle?
Essentially, the Pareto Principle states that 80% of your results come from just 20% of your efforts. This principle was coined by consultant Joseph M. Juran in the 1940s and named after a sociologist and economist named Vilfredo Pareto, who was famous for pointing out that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the total land. People. You’ll hear it different: 80% of results come from 20% of the work, or 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. Regardless of the wording, it all means the same thing.
An often cited example of how this works for ordinary people is learning to play the piano or guitar. You learn individual notes, keys, time signatures, tempos, chords and more, but when it comes time to jam, you probably fall back on a few of the most common chords. So a huge part of your actual playing depends on just one little thing you learn. Or imagine that a relatively small number of excellent players are responsible for the majority of the points scored by your favorite sports team. As another example, think about how much work you do in a day: you do your job, any part-time jobs you may have, housework, hobbies, raising children, preparing for classes you may be taking, going to the gym, finding time. for friends – you do a lot , but you only get paid for a small part of that work, so you may want to prioritize your work over some of the other things on this list, even side hustles that make less money. And that’s why it’s important to understand the 80/20 rule: it helps you prioritize your to-do list.
How to Use the Pareto Principle to Maximize Results
You can identify how the general principle shows up in your work. For example, if you work for a retail company, you may find that most of your profits come from a small, dedicated group of repeat customers. The real trick to using this principle is to figure out how it applies to your own work.
When creating your daily to-do list, use a prioritization technique such as the 1-3-5 list , Kanban , or the Eisenhower Matrix . This will immediately help you understand which of the necessary tasks for the day are important and which can be postponed or delegated. Spend about two weeks working through your to-do lists every day as usual, but at the end of the day, write down what the direct results of each action were. So, if you spent half an hour answering emails and got 10 new clients, write it down. If you spent an hour collecting data for the big meeting where your project got the green light, celebrate that. Over time, the core functions that produce the most results will become apparent, and you can begin to make these activities (the activities that account for 20% of your effort) more of a priority so that you spend less time on tasks that aren’t delivering results. the same number of results.
Working backwards and considering the consequences and then identifying their causes will help you prioritize and get more done, but it can also help you with non-work tasks. In a more abstract sense, it takes a relatively small amount of effort to grab coffee with a friend or help your child with homework, but an 80% success rate can help strengthen and maintain friendships or help your child feel safe and successful, which have more long-term effect than the 30 minutes these tasks take. When you free up your work time by prioritizing and understanding the Pareto Principle, you are more able to allocate it to other areas of your life and continue to reap the benefits.