How to Simplify Your Life with the Pareto Principle

The Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, states that 20% of your efforts produce 80% of your results. I first learned about this law in my economics class, where the instructor gave us several examples to illustrate the concept:

• 20% of the wealthiest people control 80% of the world’s income.
• 20% of patients account for 80% of healthcare expenses.
• In epidemiology, 20% of infected individuals are responsible for 80% of transmissions.
• 20% of criminals commit 80% of crimes.
• About 80% of a company’s sales come from 20% of its clients.

I was amazed that such a simple idea could have such a profound impact. I saw this principle in action during my first few months at work. I struggled to prioritize my time and attention, so my manager suggested I focus on our five largest business partners (out of 35 total) and temporarily set aside the rest—these five partners accounted for about 75–80% of my sales.

Since then, I’ve noticed the Pareto Principle at work in many areas of my life, for example:

• Only a few work tasks have the biggest impact on my productivity.
• I spend most of my dining-out money at just a few specific restaurants.
• When I analyze my time, I see that most of it goes to just a few activities (like watching comedy shows on YouTube and Netflix).
• I don’t socialize much, but 80% of my social time is spent with 20% of the people I know.
• I own 5–6 suits, but I wear just one or two most of the time.

If you look closely, you’ll see similar patterns everywhere: a small number of factors and actions produce the greatest results in our lives (though the ratio isn’t always exactly 80/20). These activities can be called high-impact tasks. They’re like a master key that opens many doors in our lives. Once you understand this, you can learn to better control your outcomes and simplify your life.

With so many priorities competing for our attention, using the Pareto Principle can make life much easier. You can apply this principle in any area—let’s see how it can help you become more effective at work.

1. Identify Your High-Impact Tasks

The first and most important step is to identify the few high-impact activities in your job or role. For example, in sales, these are usually prospecting, meeting with clients, and working on proposals. For a physical therapist, it might be taking patient histories, supervising exercises, and documenting progress.

Make a list of 3–4 high-impact activities. The best way to do this is to write down all your responsibilities, then imagine you could only do one task per day—which one would be the most valuable to your manager and to yourself? That’s your top high-impact task. If you could add two more, which would you choose? Now you have your list of the three most important activities.

This method is based on the prioritization technique described by Brian Tracy, author of Eat That Frog! Brian says that 90% of the value you bring to your company comes from these three main tasks.

Photo by Terry Vlisidis on Unsplash

2. Analyze How Much Time You Spend on These Tasks

Once you’ve made your list of high-impact tasks, analyze how much time you actually spend on them—and be prepared for some uncomfortable discoveries. The first time I did this, I realized I was spending only 40–50% of my time on these tasks. Most of my time was going to less effective work. Here are the main reasons this happened to me (and probably to many others):

• High-impact tasks didn’t provide instant gratification, while less effective ones did.
• High-impact tasks were difficult (like prospecting), and the risk of failure was high.
• Over time, they became monotonous and boring.

If you’re honest with yourself, you’ll learn a lot about where your time really goes.

3. Schedule These Tasks in Your Calendar

High-impact tasks should form the foundation of your work schedule. Add them to your calendar and plan your day so that most of your time is spent on them, alternating with less important work. This helps you stay focused on what matters and avoid monotony by mixing high- and low-impact tasks.

Try not to multitask. If you must, let it be with low-impact tasks—never with high-impact ones. Otherwise, your results will suffer and you’ll spend more time than necessary. When working on high-impact tasks, eliminate all distractions.

4. Monitor Yourself and Make Adjustments

Just because you put a task in your calendar doesn’t mean you’ll actually do it. That’s why it’s important to regularly check if you’re really spending enough time on your high-impact tasks.

If you fall off schedule, don’t worry—it happens to the best of us. Just adjust your schedule and tasks for the next week. After weeks and months of this kind of review and adjustment, you’ll have an optimal, convenient schedule that prioritizes your most important tasks.

Self-analysis isn’t easy for everyone. Ask a family member, friend, or colleague to help keep you accountable.

The Pareto Principle is universal. The sooner we understand this and start looking at the world through the lens of the 80/20 rule, the better.