Can the 10 minutes you'll spend reading this change your life? Probably not. But applying what you learn might...
Right now you're reading this post for a reason. That's because you want to learn how to better manage your time. Whether you're a college student or an adult education student, understanding the 80/20 rule will move you ahead by light-years.
Now, I don't know if you know anything about the 80/20 rule yet. This could be the first time you've heard of it. Or perhaps you've had exposure before, but never fully understood how to make it work for you.
My goal in this post is to give you both a basic understanding of what the 80/20 rule is and how to start using it fast.
Sound look a good deal? Awesome. Time to get started.
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Where did the 80/20 Rule come from?
To answer this, we need to go back to the 19th century to Paris, France. This was where Vilfredo Pareto was born in 1848 into an Italian family.
To put this into context, 1848 was the "Year of Revolution" in Europe.
The discontented working class rose up against the French establishment. King Louis I abdicated the throne, and Napoleon III took power.
A picture of Italian engineer, economist, and political scientist Vifredo Pareto. Pareto is the first known person to observe and record that 80% of the wealth in Italy was controlled by 20% of the population.
Pareto's family moved from France back to Italy when he was 10, where he remained for most of his early life.
A gifted student, Pareto achieved a doctorate in civil engineering. But near the turn of the century, he shifted his focus to economic and social issues.
Much like the US Founding Fathers, Pareto was a classical liberal. He believed in protecting the individual's right to religious, economic, and political freedom.
Pareto became a lecturer of economics and politics at a top university in Italy, and later became chair of the Political Economics department at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland.
It was here that Pareto made his groundbreaking observation that 20% of the population in Italy controlled 80% of the land. This observation was later generalized to what is now known as the Pareto principle aka the 80/20 principle.
What is the 80/20 rule?
Simply put, the 80/20 rule states that 20% of causes lead to 80% of the effects, and also that 80% of causes lead to 20% of the effects.
Vilfredo Pareto
Italian engineer, economist, and political scientist
For many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.
It's easy to read this definition for the first time and come away scratching your head. You might be wondering what it means, and especially what it means for you. Don't worry! We're going to get there.
Rather than worrying about the numbers, let's break this down by focusing on the concept.
The 80/20 rule is about balance and imbalance
Picture your closet. Isn't it true that out of all the shirts you own, you wear only a few most of the time?
Then can't we say that 80% of the time, you wear just 20% of your shirts?
Now, I don't know if you play a sport or not. But have you ever noticed how on any team, just a few of the players score most of the points?
Then isn't it safe to say that 20% of players score 80% of the points?
What's noteworthy here is that these relationships are not 50-50. They're imbalanced.
These are just two of the many possible examples of imbalances that arise in daily life. But how does this impact you?
The 80/20 rule and investment
To grasp how the 80/20 principle can help you, consider investing.
Why do people buy stocks? Because they’re hoping to make more money back than the cost of buying. In other words, they’re looking to buy low and sell high.
Imagine investing $20 and making back $80. That would be a 300% return on investment. Sweet deal, right?
Now on the other hand, imagine investing $80, and only getting back $20...Not a fun time.
Applying the 80/20 principle is all about finding ways to put a little in and get a lot more out. And it applies not just to money, but to many other areas. Especially time management.
Can you remember a time when you put a lot of effort into something, only to have it fall flat? We all can, and it feels terrible.
As I said, the 80/20 principle is about putting a little in and getting a lot out. When this equation gets reversed, it causes frustration.
Don't worry about the numbers!
By now, you probably have a better understanding of the concept behind the 80/20 Principle. But you might be wondering why 80/20? Why not 70/30?
Well, we could just as easily call it the 70/30 rule. Or the 90/10 rule.
We could even (gasp) call it the 90/20 rule. You're probably wondering how this makes sense. After all, 90 + 20 doesn't add up to 100.
This is a common misconception of the 80/20 rule.
The fact that 80 and 20 add up to 100 is a coincidence. The numbers do NOT have to add up to 100!
This is true because we're talking about inputs and outputs. The only relationship that must hold is that the input values must add up to 100. And the same is true for the outputs.
Thus it's possible to get a 90/20 relationship such that 20% of the inputs contribute to 90% of the outputs.
The 80/20 rule of time management depicted in terms of inputs and outputs. 20% of inputs can lead to 90% of outputs, and 80% of inputs can lead to 10% of outputs in certain cases.
Here's an example to clarify this.
Imagine studying for a test and spending 20% of your time reviewing with flashcards. Then imagine spending 80% of your time reading the textbook. When you get your test back, you see that you got an A.
Could it not be possible that 90% of that A grade was a result of 20% of your study time, namely the time you spent studying with flashcards? Yes. It's very possible.
An example demonstrating how 20% of inputs can lead to 90% of outputs. Here, the 2 study methods [flashcards and reading] are the inputs, and the percent contribution to the exam score is the output.
If you're still having trouble seeing how 90% of results can come from 20% of causes, then don't worry about it! To benefit from the 80/20 rule, it won't matter. Again, the numbers aren't that important.
What's important is to understand that your success is not a 50/50 relationship. Unfortunately, when it comes to productivity, putting a lot of time and effort in alone doesn't guarantee you'll get back a high return.
This isn't to say that hard work and effort aren't important. Because they are still essential. But realize that it's highly possible to waste your time and effort by not understanding and applying 80/20 thinking.
So with this established, let's look at the 2 big ways to apply the 80/20 principle to your life!
Application 1: When 20% gets the job done
Imagine you need to get somewhere that’s too far to walk. But your car is out of gas. No matter what you do, you’re stuck.
Now, what if you were able to fill the gas tank up 20%? Not enough to get you the whole way there, but enough to get you moving.
Obviously, a 20% full tank isn’t as good as a full tank. But relative to a 0% full tank, 20% is MUCH better. So much better, that it just might get you 80% of the way to your destination.
Make sense? Awesome.
Set aside the example with the car now, and think of someone who hasn’t been to the gym in years.
If that person were to start going to the gym a few times a week for 40 minutes, after a few months they’d be in much better shape than they were starting out.
They’d obviously never get into great shape by working out this way. But by putting in just 20% more effort than doing nothing, they’d be 80% of the way there.
80% of the way to being in great shape is still pretty damn good.
Hopefully you can already see how this mindset will be useful for you.
This is the thought process you need to adopt for this application of the 80/20 principle. But how can we apply it directly to time management?
How can I apply this?
You can apply this to time management by looking at an area of your life that you’d like to improve, but have so far done nothing about. Most of the time, just putting in a little effort will get you 80% of the way there.
Take organization as an example. Consider a college student who has no organizational system whatsoever. He uses no folders, but instead stuffs his papers into his backpack, then throws them on the floor of his room.
He attempts to keep track of all deadlines in his head, rather than using a calendar or making to-do lists.
Now, imagine that this same student decides to put just a little bit of effort into organization. He starts putting his papers into folders. He makes daily to-do lists, and marks important deadlines on the calendar.
How much extra time and effort do you think these changes will cost him? By my estimates, not much at all. Maybe an extra 10 - 15 minutes a day at most.
Just 20% of effort gets him 80% of the way to being organized. Yes--there’s a lot more he could do to get enough more organized.
But compared to no organization, 80% organization is MUCH better. So much better, that it just might be enough to get the job done.
Benjamin Franklin
US Founding Father
Do not squander time for that is the stuff life is made of.
Here’s another example. We need another fictional person to help us out here. Let’s go with a girl this time—call her Mia.
Instead of keeping up with her coursework week-by-week, Mia crams all of her studying in the night before her tests. She gets good grades, but her life is more stressful because of her cramming habit.
Suppose Mia starts spending a few hours a week reviewing her course material.
Spending no time on incremental studying was getting her 0% of the way to being ready for her tests. Compared to this, can’t you see how 20% more time and effort gets her 80% of the way there?
Now, being 80% prepared for her test won’t get her an A. She’ll still have to do some cramming the night before to get the last 20% down. But it’ll be significantly less because of the work she already did.
What's the Takeaway?
We all have areas of our lives that we’d like to do better in. But we delay taking any action because we fear the time and effort required.
Putting just a little bit of time and effort in is often enough to get you 80% of the way there.
Depending on your goals, 80% of the way there may be all you need!
Application 2: Strategically amplify what's working and minimize what's not
The second application of the 80/20 rule is to take a strategic look at how you’ve been spending your time. Identify what’s working and do more of it. At the same time, eliminate what’s note working.
An excellent example of how you could do this is to consider the last test you took. How did you study for it? What worked well, and what didn’t?
Below is a list of 10 things that a good student might do before a test. My regular readers will already recognize this list, because I used a similar one in my post _____.
How would you advise the student to improve their approach based on this list and what you know about the 80/20 principle?
Well, according to the 80/20 principle, 20% of the actions on this list will contribute to 80% of the grade. In other words, just 2 out of the 10 things on this list will count more than the others.
It might take some reverse engineering—perhaps reviewing previous test results to figure out which actions were the most beneficial.
But let’s say that by reflection on previous tests the student studied for using the same approach, they discovered that doing practice problems and studying with flashcards helped the most.
The logical thing to do would be to spend more time on practice problems and flashcards. But where would this extra time come from?
Simple. By minimizing your time spent on the other activities!
What's the takeaway?
When you're short on time, figure out what action(s) you can take that will move you closer to your goals.
You can do this by making a list of 10 things you've done in the past. The 80/20 principle predicts that only 20% of the items on the list matter the most.
Pick out the most important 2 - 5 actions and do them. Don't worry about doing everything else—not everything matters equally! Focus on what's most important, and the rest will take care of itself.
You make time for this by replacing the time you're already spending (or wasting) on less effective activities with more effective methods.
Can you "80/20" everything?
Knowing how to use the 80/20 principle can give you phenomenal results. But it must be pointed out that there are some situations when you shouldn't rely on 80/20.
Remember, getting 80% of the job done doesn't always cut it. If you want to pass a test with minimal time and effort, you don't have to know everything.
If you want to get an A on a test, you better know everything! Now, this doesn't mean the 80/20 rule won't still help you out. But you'll have to go 100%, not just 80%.
The last 20% of the job is always the hardest. But when you have to go the extra mile, don't hold back.
What's next?
The information that you learned in this article will help you be more productive. But it's just the tip of the iceberg. If you're really serious about mastering time management so you can have more freedom, joining my FREE email course your next step. Thank you!
FREE 7-Day Time Management Success Email Course
YOU'LL GET a FREE high-impact time management success lesson sent straight to your inbox every day for 7 days!
When you subscribe, you'll also get email updates from
Test Prep Champions. We respect your privacy. You can unsubscribe at any time.
