What Is The 80/20 Rule And Why It Will Change Your Life
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I mention the 80/20 rule frequently in my writings so I thought it was about time to write a proper introduction to the concept. I believe it’s fundamental to every business person - to every human being - so if you have never heard of this rule, please read on and absorb everything I’m about to tell you, it could potentially change your life.
The 80/20 rule sounds like a statistic and in some ways it is. Personally I’m not a big fan of maths and beyond basic web statistics like pageviews, impressions, unique visitors - and when I stretch myself - conversion rates and split testing, I try and avoid all complex numbers. I work better with feelings, ideas and concepts.
The good thing about the 80/20 rule is that you don’t have to understand statistics to be a believer. Yes it has foundations in economics and yes, it was “proven” using statistical analysis by a man named Pareto, but it is not meant to be understood only by economics professors.
Here’s what the Wikipedia has to say about it:
The principle was suggested by management thinker Joseph M. Juran. It was named after the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who observed that 80% of income in Italy was received by 20% of the Italian population. The assumption is that most of the results in any situation are determined by a small number of causes.
I can’t remember exactly when I was first exposed to the 80/20 Rule but I know when it first really hit home. I was in my local bookshop and I picked up a copy of Living The 80/20 Way by Richard Koch. Koch took the 80/20 Rule and made it his own by writing a series of books on the topic. Living The 80/20 Way fit me well because it discussed living life productively seeking maximum satisfaction by focusing on your passions (Koch has written other books focusing on the 80/20 Rule for business and managers that I didn’t enjoy quite as much). At the time I sometimes accused myself of being lazy for not “working hard” but I realized what I was doing was living an 80/20 lifestyle and in fact probably being a lot more productive than those working harder than myself.
What Exactly Is The 80/20 Rule?
By the numbers it means that 80 percent of your outcomes come from 20 percent of your inputs. As Pareto demonstrated with his research this “rule” holds true, in a very rough sense, to an 80/20 ratio, however in many cases the ratio can be a lot higher - 99/1 may be closer to reality.
It really doesn’t matter what numbers you apply, the important thing to understand is that in your life there are certain activities you do (your 20 percent) that account for the majority (your 80 percent) of your happiness and outputs.
You may have expected me to say that 20 percent of your activities produce 80 percent of your financial rewards, and that is true, there are probably a handful of activities you do each week that produce your income. You can definitely apply the 80/20 Rule to most aspects of your business or working life, however I believe your overall happiness and satisfaction are much better variables to focus on. Money certainly plays an important role in your happiness and your money is influenced by 80/20 relationships, but it is only a component that leads to your overall well being, which should be your primary concern.
80/20 Examples
There are many economic conditions, for example the distribution of wealth and resources on planet earth, where a small percentage of the population controls the biggest chunk, which clearly demonstrate the 80/20 Rule. There are business examples such as 20 percent of employees are responsible for 80 percent of a company’s output or 20 percent of customers are responsible for 80 percent of the revenues (or usually even more disparate ratios). These are not hard rules, not every company will be like this and the ratio won’t be exactly 80/20, but chances are if you look at many key metrics in a business there is definitely a minority creating a majority.
At a micro level just by looking at your daily habits you can find plenty of examples where the 80/20 Rule applies. You probably make most of your phone calls to a very small amount of the people you have numbers for. You likely spend a large chunk of your money on few things (perhaps rent, mortgage payments or food). There is a good chance that you spend most of your time with only a few people from the entire pool of people you know.
I’ll present to you how the 80/20 Rule applies to my life and how I have used the concept, although not always deliberately - it’s just the way I construct my life (for maximum pleasure!) -to improve the efficiency of my output and enhance my overall lifestyle.
My 80/20 Life
In my life I’ve noticed plenty of 80/20 ratios and generally they relate to my core competencies and passions. I really enjoy writing articles such as this, recording podcasts and interacting with other business people through Skype and blogging. In terms of rewards, the two-to-four hours or so per day that I spend writing - when I’m in the creative zone and my best work comes out almost effortlessly - is my money time. My articles and podcasts work hardest to generate income for me, create business opportunities and allow me to express myself creatively. I get the most financial and intrinsic satisfaction from this time.
I expect you could tell me a similar story about your life. During times you really enjoy yourself your output is at its peak. Your passion activities probably don’t pay your bills at the moment, which unfortunately means that you can’t sustain your life by indulging only in what you enjoy. I’ll talk more about transforming your life to a financially stable and personally fulfilling 80/20 format later in this article.
During some times in my life I struggle and waste time performing activities I don’t enjoy or I am not good at. For example bookkeeping is not high on my fun list. I don’t always like managing keywords in Google AdWords campaigns because I don’t have the patience to thoroughly test the variables and track the numbers. The same can be said for things like Google Analytics. These activities are more numerical in basis, I’m not a numbers person so when possible I leave these tasks, along with other activities like programming, graphic design and proofreading to other people, the specialists who enjoy them.
Some of my time is spent procrastinating or working inefficiently doing activities that provide very little benefit. This often occurs when I am tired or below peak physical condition. I sometimes lack the mental throughput to motivate myself to be productive (and boy, my writing stinks when I’m tired!), but I’m working on it and getting much better at reducing time wastage. When I’m in this state it’s smarter for me to study - read books and ebooks - because I’m not capable of producing quality output, but taking input - learning - is a good use of time when I am not there 100 percent mentally.
80/20 Business
When I look at one of my businesses, BetterEdit.com, it’s very clear that a small handful of repeat customers account for most of the income. The customers who become longterm users, who gain the most from the services and fit well demographically and socially with the business model, are key. They provide 80 percent of the value but only represent 20 percent (or much less) of the overall people that use the business. My job is to determine the best way to attract and convert more customers into longterm users.
With blogging I learnt (and teach in my Blog Traffic Tips newsletter) that there are a handful of activities that I do every day that produce the most results. Breaking things down further, there are usually a key 20 percent of elements within an individual blog article (think article headline) that have the most dramatic affect on results. The numbers of course are not clean 80/20 ratios but there are definitely dominant factors at play.
In a business sense, finding the 80/20 ratios is crucial for maximizing performance. Find the products or services that generate the most income (the 20 percent) and drop the rest (the 80 percent) that only provide marginal benefits. Spend your time working on the parts of the business that you can improve significantly with your core skills and leave the tasks that are outside your best 20 percent to other people. Work hardest on elements that work hardest for you. Reward the best employees well, cull the worst. Drop the bad clients and focus on upselling and improving service to the best clients.
How You Can Live An 80/20 Lifestyle
When you start to analyze and breakdown your life into elements it’s very easy to see 80/20 ratios all over the place. The trick, once your key happiness determinants have been identified, is to make everything work in harmony and avoid wasting time on those 80 percent activities that produce little satisfaction for you.
The message is simple enough - focus on activities that produce the best outcomes for you. This applies to both your business/working life and your “other” life (I think they are all part of your “life” but people often prefer to distinguish them). The problem for most people is how to make a living from what you really enjoy, so lets focus on that…
I’m sure you have heard the phrase “struggling artist”. The stereotype where a creative person, musicians, actors, writers and artists, struggle to get discovered and work long hours on horrible day jobs, often in retail and hospitality, until hopefully they finally break out, get discovered and become famous. It shouldn’t surprise you that the ratio of struggling artists who actually become famous enough to live off their craft also follows an 80/20 Rule - only a small few of the overall total manage to get that far.
The same can be said for entrepreneurs. How many of you now reading this article are working day jobs, jobs you probably don’t like much, while you work hard after-hours to get your dream business up and running?
In truth, and this is a sad fact, most people in the world work jobs they don’t like and only truly live their passions on weekends and outside of working hours. Only a small sample actually live their passions day in and day out, how they want to and when they want to. If you want to become one of the special few so you can live your passions on your terms there are a few things you can do.
Focus On Your Passions, Not Material Possessions
The simple fact is not everyone can be a famous artist. Not everyone will start a million dollar business. I’m not going to tell you stop striving for those goals, I’m working on them myself, however you can work smarter TODAY to find greater fulfillment, and that is what living an 80/20 lifestyle is all about. Best of all, your likelihood of becoming one of the famous artists or entrepreneurs is enhanced if you tweak your life to follow the 80/20 Rule because you tap into what you do best more often.
The first thing you must decide, and this is often the hardest step, is to determine what it is exactly you have passion for. Some people can answer this question easily - “I want to be a famous pianists/singer/poet/author”, “I’d like to run my own real estate agency/coffee shop/advertising company” etc. Others may have a general idea “I don’t want a day job” or “I want to run a business” but the specifics are not sorted yet. If you are not sure what your passions are all I can suggest is test yourself. It’s usually easy to determine what you DON’T like so keep doing that until you find what it is you DO like.
Outputs Vs Inputs
I’d like to make a point about outputs vs inputs before moving on. Most humans are good consumers - we are good at taking inputs. Chances are you can easily rattle off a bunch of things you do enjoy about your life: eating out at nice restaurants, consuming junk food, reading books and magazines, going to parties and dance clubs, watching movies and DVDs, listening to music, meeting new people, surfing the net, having sex, playing sports and shopping. All of these activities more or less are inputs which means you consume the outputs of other people.
You may consider the activities I just mentioned passions but it’s hard to find a sustainable passion if all you do is consume. To foster an 80/20 lifestyle you need to locate activities that are passions for you because you create output for others to enjoy. Yes you can get paid to have sex, watch movies, eat at restaurants and read books, but chances are you won’t find it fulfilling or sustainable for very long OR you will be required to provide something back as part of your involvement - that’s your output, the value you create.
It’s okay to love eating out at restaurants and claiming your passion is food, if your intention is to also create output by starting your own restaurant, or a restaurant reviews website or a newsletter or magazine or becoming a chef. If you enjoy listening to music you might also enjoy producing your own music or covering the music industry as a journalist on your own blog.
Only by producing output for other people to enjoy or make practical use of can you expect to convert a passion into a sustainable income. You should understand this already as I suspect the times in your life that you have created something for others or worked on something that benefited other people you experienced the most fulfillment. If you suffer from a lack of direction now, if you are depressed because you don’t even know what your passions are to start applying the 80/20 Rule to, you need to do one thing - start being creative and giving back - produce output! You won’t find fulfillment only by consuming.
An 80/20 Lifestyle Blueprint
To start living 80/20 today you have only to do one thing - focus your energies on what you enjoy.
Part time work - Part time passion
Many people work a full time job and work after hours on a business or hobby or creative talent. If this is you I suspect your ratio is not 80/20 and probably closer to 20/80. You spend way too much time at a job you don’t like, you are probably not very motivated to do it well so you don’t fall into the vital 80/20 employees for that company, and by the time you get home you are too exhausted to spend time on your passion. You feel like you are getting nowhere fast. This lifestyle is not good for anyone since all the relationships fall into the 80 percent that produce 20 percent of the value. You get very little from it and the people you work for get very little from you.
If this currently describes your situation what you need to do is start changing those ratios. Reduce the amount of time you spend at a job you don’t like and increase the amount of time you spend on your passion. You may say you can’t do that because you need the money but I suspect you don’t really need as much as you think you do. Most people can live off part time work but choose to work more because they want more things. You may see your peers enjoying material goods which creates desires in you. Your wants start to outweigh your needs, which is probably the biggest pitfall in our modern, advertising driven, materialistic society.
I’m not saying you have to live like a pauper but I know that your real happiness comes from spending time doing things you enjoy the most, not from earning more money. Chasing the dollar for the sake of the dollar does not work. Chasing passion often leads to a greater income because the quality of your output is so much higher. Focus your energy on increasing investment in your core strengths and you will reap rewards.
Drop your working hours to three days per week and spend more time attracting more clients, booking more singing gigs, finding more time to write your novel or to develop your invention or code your software or find investors or whatever it is you really want to do.
For those of you who have no intention of turning your passions into money generating enterprises this is still a good option. If money isn’t your primary concern but your music is, why do you spend so much time working to earn more money than you need? Yes you need to plan for the future and build assets, but clearly for your musical soul it’s not something that needs to take the majority of your time and energy. You can be happy without that mansion by the sea and you never know, if you spent more time on your music the eventual album sales may one day lead to that mansion by the sea. If not, at least you will be a lot happier for following your enthusiasm rather than the dollar.
If financial freedom is important to you and a big part of your plans look at this step as phase one and work to convert your passions into income generating propositions. Grow your business client-by-client, gig-by-gig or sale-by-sale. keep adjusting your work vs passion time ratio as your business grows to support you and you no longer need your job income. Look for 80/20 activities in everything you do and drop any inefficiencies as soon as you can.
Don’t Let Fear Stop You
The biggest factor that stops most people from chasing their dreams and working towards their real goals is fear. Fear of the lack of security, the reduced paycheck and of the unknown future keeps people locked into routines that are not satisfying. That path leads to sadness, depression, poor health, low income and ultimately an early death. Who wants that!
Don’t let fear be the reason for not achieving your goals. Stop, reassess your real passions, remove the money equation long enough so you can think without worrying about finances, and make plans to move towards your 80/20 lifestyle activities. Maximize what you are good at. Find the activities that produce the most results for you and your business and put your energy where the big rewards are.
Yaro Starak
80/20 Optimizer
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[...] “The principle was suggested by management thinker Joseph M. Juran. It was named after the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who observed that 80% of income in Italy was received by 20% of the Italian population. The assumption is that most of the results in any situation are determined by a small number of causes…”[What Is The 80/20 Rule And Why It Will Change Your Life] [...]
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[...] Yaro Starak does an excellent job of explaining the Pareto Principle or 80/20 Rule over at Entrepreneurs Journey. Even if you are aware of how this principle works I’d still highly recommend reading this article for the practical tips and insights Yaro shares. [...]
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[...] Update (March 30, 2006): The above ties directly into the 80/20 rule which Yaro on the excellent Entrepreneur’s Journey blog covers very well. [...]
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[...] What Is The 80/20 Rule And Why It Will Change Your Life - Learn how to use this powerful concept to enhance your life and business. [...]
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[...] I pass this on to Dave who has just launched a new niche website, Caesar who has launched the yesfollow project (more on that later)and Yaro who has written an excellent in-depth post on the Pareto principle (also known as the 80/20 rule) - I’m very familiar with Paretos’ work on efficiency from my Economics days! [...]
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[...] If you would like to read the full article, please visit http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/428/80-20-rule-pareto-principle/ [...]
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[...] 1- Yaro from Better Edit wrote about the Pareto Rule. 2- FMF wrote how how trick yourself into contributing into your 401K. 3- Debt Hater wrote how to climb out of your Grandaddy’s debt. 4- Madame X from My Open Wallet wrote a piece asking What makes you feel poor? 5- Nina from Sitting Pretty wrote a great piece on being a Late Adopter. 6- Jim from Bargaineering wrote an intersting piece how Student Loan Debt is An Investment. [...]
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[...] Entrepreneurship • Venture Capitalists are Not Long-Term Investors • Forget Investors, Get Out There And Make Some Money! • Elasticity for Entrepreneurs • What Is The 80/20 Rule And Why It Will Change Your Life [...]
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Links and Minifeatures 04 03 Monday…
Carnival of Investing Recommended: Frugal Wisdom from Wenchypoo……
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[...] What Is The 80/20 Rule And Why It Will Change Your Life » Entrepreneur’s Journey - by Yaro Starak What Is The 80/20 Rule And Why It Will Change Your Life (tags: lazysheep) [...]
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[...] What Is The 80/20 Rule And Why It Will Change Your Life » Entrepreneur’s Journey - by Yaro Starak What Is The 80/20 Rule And Why It Will Change Your Life (tags: lazysheep) [...]
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[...] Deciding on having less come into your life forces you to keep only the best. And when you think about it, the 80/20 Pareto principle applies here as well, most of the time 80% of the good stuff comes from 20% of the input. [...]
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[...] What Is The 80/20 Rule And Why It Will Change Your Life » Entrepreneur’s Journey - by Yaro Starak (tags: blog) [...]
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[...] Once again the 80/20 Rule applies nicely in this situation and I reminded myself of this while promoting in Melbourne. While realistically there are no doubt hundreds, even thousands of opportunities to market in Melbourne it’s much smarter if I spend most of my time on a small handful of locations using what works - my posters. If I can locate the 20% of locations in Melbourne where 80% of the international students spend 80% of their time I have the key to gaining massive exposure at minimum cost. Heck I really only need to hit the top 1% of places where 99% of students are and I’ll get tremendous results. [...]
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[...] My recent article - What Is The 80/20 Rule And Why It Will Change Your Life - was featured in 12th edition of the carnival at Be Excellent. Technorati Tags: blog carnival, carnival of entrepreneurshipInternal Tags: blog carnival carnival of entrepreneurship [...]
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[...] Like many small business mine goes through peaks and troughs. In a typical 80/20 Rule relationship, I generate 80% of my income in 20% of the months in the year (roughly). [...]
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What Is The 80/20 Rule And Why It Will Change Your Life…
When you start to analyze and breakdown your life into elements it’s very easy to see 80/20 ratios all over the place. The trick, once your key happiness determinants have been identified, is to make everything work in harmony and avoid wasting time on…
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[...] As I wrote in a previous article - What Is The 80/20 Rule And Why It Will Change Your Life - finding what you enjoy AND what pays you income is a matter of deciding to seek out the activities that provide the most intrinsic pleasure for you and not letting the pursuit of money only for money’s sake rule. [...]
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[...] PPC needs to satisfy the long tail of users, the average small business joes, who only have so many hours per day to devote to PPC campaigns. Since I follow an 80/20 rule I’ll spend my time where I can get the best results with the least effort. That is Google AdWords. [...]
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[...] Entrepreneur’s JourneyHas AdSense Gone Too Far? (695 words) “When a webmaster gets a taste for the money suddenly their eyes start to sparkle and… the motivation behind building the website goes from one of indulging in a hobby to making money.”Favorite: What Is The 80/20 Rule And Why It Will Change Your Life [...]
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[...] Let’s think 80/20 rule. If you get 80% of the outcomes from only 20% of your efforts then you really only need to focus on a core few functions to handle this situation. You need to keep working your job so a good chunk of your day is gone to that. Then you have all the other “life things”. In my case that realistically probably leaves about 2 hours per day of real productive time for your new Internet business. You could start sacrificing sleep to get more hours but I’m not known to do things like that - you might be. [...]
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[...] By using the 80/20 rule, you can spend your time improving what works well and prevent yourself wasting time on what is not working. [...]
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[...] I remember Yaro Starak of Entrepreneur’s Journey and BetterEdit recommending a book a while ago and I haven’t had a chance to pick it up but I personally think that the type of thinking this book encourages is what most entrepreneur’s need and seldom find. It’s called “Living the 80/20 way†by Richard Koch. I think this is a book that I need to pick up personally. I don’t expect it to solve all my life’s problems but having some different tools and insights into managing sure couldn’t hurt. [...]
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[...] I was listening to a question and answer session in my coaching club with Rich Schefren and one of my fellow students, who had read Chris Anderson’s book, The Long Tail, just after it was released was asking Rich whether the 80/20 Rule still applied since it appears the Long Tail changes the way the game is played. We had recently covered a module that included the 80/20 Rule in some depth as it related to our businesses and at the time Rich had not read The Long Tail book (I think he has since then). Rich didn’t really argue either way since he had not read the book and simply restated the importance of focusing on the few things that are responsible for the majority of outcomes in your business - the core principle of the 80/20 Rule or Pareto Principle (you can read a detailed explanation of this principle in my article - What Is The 80/20 Rule And Why It Will Change Your Life). [...]
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[...] If you take a look at Darren’s post - How Much Do I Earn from Blogging? - you will see that it’s in fact because he operates 20 blogs (that could be an old figure now) that he earns so much and I’m pretty sure if you did some analysis of Darren’s network, a small number of sites bring in the majority of his income (another example of the 80/20 rule). Those sites are very likely his heaviest trafficked sites, relying extensively on search traffic since search engine visitors are more likely to click ads, unlike Problogger.net readers who know very well what an AdSense or Chitika ad looks like. [...]
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[...] the site look popular, and rippling the Chow experience by reiterating his posts. As part of the 80/20 rule, these V.I.P.’s are what make John’s popularity and ad sponsorships soar! It’s [...]
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[...] For more information on the 80/20 Rule, you may want to visit Entreprenuer’s Journey’s page on the 80/20 Rule. [...]
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[...] Realize the activities that create the most value for you and increase the time spent on these activities (learn about the 80/20 rule) [...]
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[...] stumbledupon the 80/20 rule… and can confirm… that unlike the pareto principal, 80% of my happiness is achieved by [...]
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[...] the 80/20 rule to keep yourself focused on the most important tasks. Simply, the 80/20 rule says that 20 [...]
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[...] Following on from yesterday’s post about researching areas. What about another avenue. Buyers Agents and Bird Dogs. Funny names, but seriously its a great way to leverage your time and effort and fits into the 80/20 rule. [...]
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[...] the wisdom of children and knew that many kids would choose the fruit bowl. In accordance to the 80/20 rule, I predicted that 20% of kids would choose the fruit, the other 80% would choose the [...]
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[...] the wisdom of children and knew that many kids would choose the fruit bowl. In accordance to the 80/20 rule, I predicted that 20% of kids would choose the fruit, the other 80% would choose the [...]
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[...] Yaro Starak: "What is the 80/20 Rule and Why it Will Change Your Life" [...]
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[...] use the 80/20 rule to increase these results even [...]
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[...] Those communities will evolve into regular site visitors. It starts with you giving first. Yaro Starak likes to talk about the 80/20 rule for blogging. If a piece of your 20 isn’t about developing your social network presence, you are [...]
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[...] You blog about a topic you thoroughly enjoy and understand. Most of us don’t have 100 different hobbies to blog about but we do have at least one that we could blog about all day (an example of the 80/20 rule). [...]
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[...] 80-20 rule is still very much applicable today. Eighty percent of business revenue is often generated by [...]
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[...] 80/20 is a nice ratio to remember. It may even be more helpful than the infamous PE. “By the [...]
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[...] It’s called the Pareto principle. [...]
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[...] you’re finished, you might want to try reading Yaro Starak’s milestone post on the 80/20 Principle. It’s about prioritizing your work for maximum efficiency–very important stuff, but way [...]
Yaro,
Good stuff! It’s great to find another marketer who shares solid advice and concepts based on what works.
Charlie
http://www.marketingforsuccess.com
Sign up for the free marketing guide
I think you might have just won the award for longest blog post in history.
Michael - Not sure about that. I’m in competition with Steve Pavlina, but I think he’s still winning
It did break the 3000 word mark though. If only my 3000 word assignments back at university came out so easily (and didn’t require references and research and all that).
Yaro,
Great post. Love the length and the in-depth look at something I’ve always wanted to know more about but never had the motivation to check into.
You here a lot of people talk about it and a lot of people trying to unlock it’s secrets. I may stop by and pick up one of those living the 80/20 way and read about what it has to say.
As I often write about I am constantly pulling my hair out trying to accomplish everything I want to accomplish and often times getting no where. Maybe this concept will give me some clarity on where to focus my efforts.
Who knows but great post.
Great post, Yaro! I have been struggling with the exact same thoughts - ‘how do I pursue my passion and still be able to sustain/support my family’. I wrote about this in my blog a few days ago here.
The 80/20 rule in action…
Spend you time reading longer posts that actually provide some useful information, or read hundreds of posts that only scrape the surface of a topic.
I guess you have a choice. You can write for people that have no attention span and hope they click on an ad. Or you can write for those who can handle a little more depth and will actually pay attention to what you say.
I personally read this blog because I believe you have things to say. In this post the ‘produce output’ statement rang the loudest. I get a lot of fulfilment from learning new things, but ultimately I know I will die and what I have learnt will become useless. But when I use what I have learnt to create new things, I create something that can outlive me. My passion for input stems from my passion for output.
Alan - thank you for the great comment, I appreciate your sentiments. I especially like your second last line -
“But when I use what I have learnt to create new things, I create something that can outlive me.”
Just letting you know this article has made it to the most popular page on VCNewsCentral.com. Well done!
VCNewsCentral.com is a brand new blog & news aggregator, just like digg and reddit, but specifically for Entrepreneur’s and Startup news.
VCNewsCentral lists postings from all the leading bloggers in the VC industry and then allows anyone to vote on the most interesting postings. Check it out and let VCNewsCentral know what is interesting to you!
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Can you do a podcast on the 80/20 principle- I’m sure it will be very popular:)
Maybe Avi, I’ve got a few podcast interviews lined up and they are always well received. Perhaps an 80/20 interview would be good…
I have used the 80/20 law but have never seen so much information on it
Thank You
Russ Weacver
Rubbish! I don’t think you really understood the Pareto Principle. Yes it is possible to know in hindsight but not beforehand. Your “advice” are good but it has nothing to do with the principle.
I am wondering how this concept appliesd to the church. About 80% of the population considers themselves to be Christian. I am wondering how many if this rule applies are actually Christ followers? I know that just because someone says that they are a Christian doesn’t make them one, so I am betting that this principle is perhaps accurate in theis situation too. That being the case, then many people are going to hell who actually think they are going to heaven. Very sad indeed. k, thanks for letting me stop by.
Good article. You mentioned BetterEdit….you may want to submit your essay for the editors to correct. You wrote “I realized that I was doing was living an 80/20 lifestyle”, and “Find the products or services the generate the most income”.
Even though I may sound critical of your post, I do like your site and do intend on visiting again in the future. Keep up the great writing!
John - most of my blog articles could use some editing. If I submitted them all to BetterEdit I would be broke!
Thanks for the heads up - I’ve fixed the mistakes.
Yaro
pareto 80/20: do the minimum effort with a BIG result.
in bahasa: Bekerja lebih sedikit, menghasilkan lebih banyak
its work! for me, for my family, and also for my business in Indonesia (http://www.cikalmart.com)
thanks to yaro, richard koch (i’ve read your book!), and also to alfredo pareto, sure!
Be happy & Enjoy Your Business,
Warm Regards from Indonesia,
ardi-cikalmart
Yaro:
Hey you rock! accurately you given the fact that Pareto Principal is parallel to a lot of teachings by famous people such as Robert T. Kiyosaki
Really love your writing, hope to read more of your article soon!
cheers
Jcmj
Makes me want to get skype to communicate with other bloggers/businessmen. Clearly i’m out of the loop
Hi Yaro,
Thanks for this piece. Your writing is superb! I was doing a search and I say this is the best find on the 80/20 rule explained.
I too am working towards pursuing my passions and and giving back (output).
Thanks Yaro.
How funny - I stumbled across your blog and this article this morning after thinking about the whole 80/20 rule in general life over the weekend. The trigger was washing my car and going for the quickie approach rather than pristine. Happy enough with the results.
Appropriately I think I probably only scanned 20% of this article too!
Uh-oh… I think you’re going to make me into a lazy man…
Actually, great concept. Much appreciated.
A very nice article, thanks for the info - saves me time deciding for change my life.
Thanks.
Hello Yaro
I would like to think the 80/20 rule was correct, but for some reason I seem to be putting in 80% of the work and only getting 20% back, I guess I must be doing something wrong, but on your assumption that its more like 99% to 1% I would certainly go for that as I calculate that approx 1 in a hundred of the population are millionaires
Nice thinking, regards David
Yaro
I heard the term 80/20 rule last night and decided to search for an explanantion this morning. Your blog was the first thing that came up and I am so glad it. Your explanation was good and your examples of doing what truly satisfies you and are passionate about hit home with me. I now feel energized and I am going to do whatever it takes to do what I am truly passionate about.
Thank you so much….
Jorge
I thought this quote was very powerful…”Most people can live off part time work but choose to work more because they want more things.”
I enjoyed reading your blog, and it reminds me very much of what Tim Ferris wrote about in his book: The Four Hour Work Week.
-Eliminate the static and focus on the 20%. Great practical advice that I’ve personally have seen solid results from!
Thank you for the wonderful insight.
Baker
http://beyondsuccess.wordpress.com/wp-admin/
I guess you should cut down on the length of your posts. 80% of the time I read only 20% of the content of each post! LOL.
I guess you should write 80% of the message in 20% size of the post.
I only comment 20% of the 80% of posts I read
The BEST reading I’ve come across Internet today, except for one website on “Good Music.” Have never read so lucid an explanation on the 80-20 rule.
Thanks from the heart of the African mainland.
I only read 20% of this post.
I think you might have just won the award for longest blog post in history.
That was a good post, I enjoyed it. I am gradually learning the 20/80 rule, where I fall down is testing - I haven’t really got my head round it yet. Anything a bit technical takes a while for me.
Just wanted to say thank you really.
Best wishes,
Ruth
Wow, I lasted through that whole post in the groggy morning. I see you wrote this a couple of years ago, but it’s a timeless subject.
I’ve run into the 80/20 rule many times, but have never thought about it on a personal level. I’m motivated to try and use this to make my life more rewarding and enjoyable. Thanks!
@kynamdoan on twitter
Great advice Yaro… I have come to enjoy a similar philosophy in life as well but never assigned a name to it as you have.
Jon
http://WoodMarvels.com - Create Unique Memories
Great post, it’s all about focus and following your own interests, spending time on it enough to become an an expert. Money follows anyway. The guidance about part-time job is great too. Find web resources and articles for personal development at http://www.hasnainzaheer.com
The difference between Inputs and Outputs made me realize why I felt so unhappy when I didn’t ‘create’ to give back. Whether its for business or just giving away for free, ‘creation’ is where we feel true happiness. Thanks Yaro.
Thanks for the valuable tips.
Hi Yaro,
Great Blog Post, re-affirming the need to be focused and clear on your outcomes. I think part of that 80/20 rule happens automatically when you are very clear on your outcomes, as you quickly assess If something is in line with what you are doing,
All the same, it is extremely easy to get off track (especially online, when one click, can you take you on a surf that robs you of 20-30mins or more of your time, if you are not always vigilant! :). .
So thanks for clarity of the post and making the important point of IGNORING EVERYTHING ELSE, once you have decided what you are going to learn and from whom!
Congrats also for jumping up 58 places to No. 3 on the winning the web - Internet Marketing Top Blogs!
Happy New Year!
Derrick
Blog Newbie
http://www.TheNetExperiment.com
What a great article. After reading many books on finding your passion and not finding the help I was looking for, your explanation of inputs vs outputs gave me several ah ha moments. Finally an explanation that helped me to understand the importance of creativity and the output of that creativity. A big step in helping me narrow down my blog topic and why I have hesitated in choosing a topic in the past.
Thanks Yaro!
Great insight to help finding my passion to write on. I am always a consumer and is never happy with a daily job for paying off my business debt. I am a floral designer and love what I do. Can this be turned into a creative output benefitting others? Excellent article, Yaro.
Great article the hard part is finding the 20 percent of things that you do that make you successful be careful to not miss the most important things that you are doing
Yaro, I have been struggling with the exact same thoughts. I try to pursue my passion but in the same time I try to still be able to sustain/support my family.
Another great article thank you Yaro. Again I have stumbled upon this articles at the exact right time in my journey. Early on in the year I have resolved to spend some time thinking about my long term goals. I have decided to get some good solid goals in place so that I have a good solid target to aim for. What you have said here makes a huge amount of sense and has guided my thoughts in the right direction.
Excellent article Yaro. A good source of information for budding entrepreneur like me. I plan to come back your blog for more information on internet marketing.
Sudipta
http://www.deals2save.com.au
I was looking for something to read today and that book by Richard Koch looks like it might be worth a look.
Thanks for a great article, Yaro. The book that did this for me when I was a teenager growing up was actually recommended to me by the inventor of virtual reality himself: Jaron Lanier, at a conference at the University of Toronto. The book he said inspired him to create the technology was Finite and Infinite Games by NYU theologian James P. Carse. It discusses the difference between a finite game which is played for the sake of ending the play and determining a victor, vs. an infinite game - played like a relay race and can have no end. I won’t give any more away, but it is not just a great book for a business person (which is not its demographic necessarily) it is a spiritual treatise that will irrevocably change your perspective on the world in which we live and how we live it.
This is very true the 80/20 rule applies to everyone. I have been noticing the 80/20 rule every since i was exposed to it a few years ago. Thanks for the great article it is very informative and should expose more people to this truth.
I was looking for something to read today and that book by Richard Koch looks like it might be worth a look.
Hi Yaro, may I say as a newbie (setting up via your tutorials etc), this read was powerful. I have been living this ratio as far back as I can remember but never knew it. People thought I was too laid back and easy going but bringing in the £s came naturally yet never my driving force. I’m fortunate to have found two careers in my life time that I love and good at and combine both skill sets. What you explained was simply put and I love the way you are able to do this time and time again. Keep it up Yaro, you have a new fan in myself and sister, who happens to live in Brisbane too. Carry on the great work with passion and love.
What a great philosophy and very well explain by Yaro. I really enjoyed it while reading it.
So how do I learn to apply the 80/20 rule to my life and business? Find someone who has applied it successfully and ask them. You are the “them”. Thanks for your insight!
Well Pareto is pretty much a genius for stating a very simple concept. Yes, the 80/20 rule applies to many aspects in life. I too communicate with only a handful of the contacts on my phone, I regularly communicate with only a handful of my friends on facebook.. etc the list goes on and on.
-Randy