SHARE:

the blog

Pareto Principle or 80/20 Rule: How to leverage this favorite productivity technique to do less

The Pareto Principle or 80/20 Rule: How to leverage this favorite productivity technique to do less ( Ep 92)

LISTEN ON YOUR FAVE PLATFORM: Apple // Audible  // Spotify

This is part 4 of my 5-episode mini-series, jumping into my favorite time-management methods and how to use them to create more productive work-life harmony in your busy life! Next up: Pareto’s principle, otherwise known as the 80/20 rule! Name after the Italian economist Pareto, this time-management gem is all about prioritizing tasks, amplifying results, and ditching the energy vampires. Let’s unravel the magic behind the 80/20 rule!

The Pareto Principle or 80/20 Rule Lowdown

Picture this: 20 percent of your efforts are responsible for a whopping 80 percent of your outcomes. Yeah, you heard it right – a small chunk of your work is creating the lion’s share of results. Flip it around, and you’ve got 80 percent of your efforts yielding only 20 percent of the results. The goal? Prioritize the tasks that pack a punch, allocate more time and energy to them, and bid farewell to the energy-draining, result-light activities.

Unleashing the Power of Pareto’s Principle

When we talk about doing less but better, the 80/20 rule takes center stage. To unlock its potential, you’ve got to track and analyze. Know where your time is going, understand how clients are coming to you, and pinpoint what’s fueling your income. Imagine having ten different marketing strategies – without tracking; you might be oblivious to the fact that 8 of them are practically doing zilch while 2 are bringing in your dream clients.

This is where the 80/20 rule swoops in like a productivity superhero. I can’t express enough how much I adore this principle. Regularly asking myself, “What’s my 80/20 right now?” keeps me on track. Tracking is the secret sauce – it’s the compass guiding you toward what’s truly making a difference.

The Pareto Principle or 80/20 Rule

Making 80/20 Work

Wondering why the Pareto Principle or 80/20 Rule rule is such a game-changer? Let me break it down:

  1. Prioritization Perfection: It’s your VIP pass to prioritizing tasks like a pro. Identify the star players and give them the attention they deserve.
  2. Spot the Magic Makers: Recognize what’s working and what isn’t. The 80/20 rule lets you shine a light on the real game-changers.
  3. Free Up Wasted Time: Time is precious, and the 80/20 rule helps you reclaim it. Let go of tasks that are sucking your time without delivering results.

Avoiding the 80/20 Fail

Now, let’s talk about how to fail at the 80/20 rule – and it’s simpler than you think.

Don’t Track: If you want to see Pareto’s Principle crumble, just skip the tracking part. Blindly guessing won’t cut it. You’ve got to know how and why things are happening.

Pareto Principle or 80/20 Rule

There you have it – the Pareto Principle or 80/20 Rule. Whether we’re talking about income streams, client retention, or managing your household, paying attention to what truly matters can be a game-changer.

So, my friends, track, analyze, and let the 80/20 rule elevate your productivity game. Stay tuned for more pearls of wisdom on the Balancing Busy podcast. Until next time, keep prioritizing, keep Pareto-ing, and keep rocking that busy life!

Links You Need: 

Ep 89: Time Blocking 101 – how to win and fail at time blocking (Part 1 of 5)

Ep 90: Task Batching 101: My #1 productivity tip to front stack progress (Part 2 of 5)

Ep 91: The Pomodoro Technique 101:  Why it works and when to use it (Part 3 of 5)

You’re in part 4!

Connect with me over on Instagram, and let me know what you’re taking away from this episode!

Want to learn how to drop an entire workday a week? Grab my FREE COURSE

Other Episodes You’ll Love:

Ep 6: The Simplicity Hack 5 Strategies for a More Balanced Life 

Ep 66: The Calendar Cure: 4 Steps to Balance Your Schedule 

[00:00:00] Leah: Let’s talk about Pareto’s Principle or the 80 20 rule. . The 80 20 rule is a technique created by an Italian economist, Pareto, and it’s this idea that 20 percent of actions are responsible for 80 percent of outcomes. Okay. So let’s think about that. 20 percent of the work you do is actually responsible for 80 percent of the outcomes.

[00:00:25] Leah: And that means 80 percent of the work you’re doing is only producing 20 percent of the results. The goal of Pareto’s principle is to help us prioritize our tasks to wait. What is actually producing results higher so that we give it more time, more energy so that we can expand our results and to also recognize those things that are sucking the life out of us, sucking the energy out of us and aren’t actually producing the results.

[00:00:58] Leah: The 80 20 rule is powerful. And when we’re talking about doing less, but better, it is the 80 20 rule that We want to lean into now the only way to actually establish and find what your 80 is and what your 20 is is to track we have to know where our time is going. We have to know how our clients are coming to us.

[00:01:23] Leah: We have to know what is actually bringing in the income. You might be doing 10 different marketing strategies. And you’re not actually tracking, so you don’t know that of those 10, 8 of them are producing almost nothing and 2 of them are producing all of your best clients. Add to that, that those 8 might even be the more time consuming tasks.

[00:01:46] Leah: This is why 80 20, Oh, I can’t, I can’t tell you how much I love this principle and how Often I think about what is my 80 20 right now and make sure that I am tracking, that I am looking, that I am paying attention so that I can identify what’s actually producing the results for me. Whether we’re talking about income streams, we’re talking about client retention, we’re talking about our home, we’re talking about being able to make the things happen.

[00:02:17] Leah: Paying attention to where our time is going and what’s actually making the difference. Oh, it’s so, so powerful. So why it works, it is amazing for prioritization, identifying what’s working and what isn’t, freeing up wasted time and being able to actually let go of what isn’t working. If you want Pareto principle to fail, don’t track.

[00:02:38] Leah: I mean, it’s really that simple. If you don’t know. how things are happening, where they’re coming from, why it’s happening the way it is, then you are just blindly guessing. But when we actually look to track, to pay attention and to know what’s bringing what, oh, 80 20 rule or Pareto’s Principle, it can change the game for your income, for your time management.

[00:03:07] Leah: For just the way that you are operating, you just operate at a higher level when you start focusing in on the 20 percent that is giving you all the magic and you become okay, letting go of the 80 percent that as a strong generalization is more of just a time suck. All right, that’s the Pareto principle.

[00:03:31] Leah: Let’s keep going.

[00:03:36] 

FILED IN:

Podcast

SHARE ON:

you said:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

LEAVE A COMMENT

Explore Episodes

Join us every Tuesday for new episodes on Balancing Busy Podcast

Growth Strategy & Site Design