How You Can Apply the 80/20 Rule in Your Life and Work (2024)

FAQs

How You Can Apply the 80/20 Rule in Your Life and Work? ›

Here are a few examples of how the 80/20 rule can apply to your life: Your to-do list: You might find that 20% of the tasks on your to-do list contribute to 80% of your productivity, while the other 80% of tasks contribute to just 20% of your productivity.

Here are some ways you can incorporate the 80/20 principle into your life: You spend 20% of your time with people that bring you 80% of happiness. Spend more quality time with those who make you happy! Your wardrobe consists of 20% stylish clothes that are worn 80% of the time. You wear what you love!

The 80-20 rule is the principle that 20% of what you do results in 80% of your outcomes. Put another way, 80% of your outcomes result from just 20% of your inputs. Also known as the Pareto principle, the 80-20 rule is a timeless maxim that's all about focus.

For project management, the first 20% of the effort put in on a project should yield 80% of the project's results. Thus, the 80-20 rule can help managers and business owners focus 80% of their time on the 20% of the business yielding the greatest results.

Prioritize the first 20% of your workday regarding the tasks you complete and know when it's time to pivot and make changes when working on the remaining 80% to ensure you don't waste too much productive time and energy.

"Of the things we have to do, we should do 80 percent as quickly as possible, and reserve the other 20 percent for our very best." There's plenty of upside to planning your personal and work life with the Pareto Principle in mind: It can help you focus on the things that are most important to you.