So how many things do you have on plate today. Some times our lives are a juggling act and we do not know how to prioritze our lives. So in this blog I wanted to introduce a short principle that I’ve used numerous times in my professional life and have begun implementing in my personal life.

PARETO PRINCIPLE

The Pareto principle (also known as the 80-20 rule, the law of the vital few and the principle of factor sparsity) states that, for many events, 80% of the effects comes from 20% of the causes. Business management thinker Joseph M. Juran suggested the principle and named it after Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who observed that 80% of income in Italy went to 20% of the population. It is a common rule of thumb in business; e.g., “80% of your sales comes from 20% of your clients.”

The original observation was in connection with income and wealth. Pareto noticed that 80% of Italy’s wealth was owned by 20% of the population. He then carried out surveys on a variety of other countries and found to his surprise that a similar distribution applied.

It also applies to a variety of more mundane matters: we wear our 20% most favoured clothes about 80% of the time, we spend 80% of the time with 20% of our acquaintances etc.

So if you have a list of ten (10) things to do the top two (2) should be your true focus. In accomplishing these, based on the rule, you inherently fulfill a good portion of the remaining eight (8). So try it and let me know how it works.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle