Here’s What Everyone Can Learn from the 80/20 Principle

Previously I wrote my thoughts about the book, “Essentialism” by Greg McKeown and now it is the time for us to understand and dive deeper. Being an essentialist is an art and we need to make this as a routine and this is possible when we tie our hobby to our cue. I did read another book called, “The 80/20 Principle” written by Richard Koch.

This principle also called as Pareto principle, this is because this technique was first discovered by Vilfredo Pareto. It simply states, a minority of causes, inputs or effort usually lead to a majority of the results.

Here are the key takeaways I have noted while reading the book, “The 80/20 Principle”

Chapters:

Only few things are responsible for the vast results we see around us
How the 80/20 principle can boost business profitability
How you can use the 80/20 principle to multiply sales
The 80/20 principle can help you achieve more in less time, here’s how
You can live the lifestyle of your dreams, really!
It’s hard to speak on success and "having it all", without talking about a career
Is the 80/20 principle worth it?
Highlights
Try this
Conclusion

It helps to pinpoint potential loop holes in business:

When things are not going good or to keep the company in good shape, most of the companies use this rule to stay in the competition of customer satisfaction.

Analyzing the product, its customers and the market for the product helps to tackle many challenges as you can notice the product or product line stats that show you the current trend of your business. Check the customers who are in the top 20% of the list and observe the revenue you are getting from them. It is not about 20% all the time it may vary.

Once you know the right customers to focus, improve the service quality to those numbers and it affects your overgrowth of 80%. Go deeper and note down the insights and later apply them to your business. Serving customers who are highly contributing to your success helps you grow business more than 80% of uncertain customers.

Also, it is better to study the competitors who are above you. What is making them stand out more than you? Just analyze and know their culture so that you can adapt to it with the 80/20 principle to gain more profits.

Inducing sales into your marketing strategy is a good idea. As research says according to the author that there is only 50% of sales are happening in an organization from the sales team. We can use it to maximize sales from the team by encouraging them to work well.

In my opinion, there is a point to lay off underperforming workers in order to maximize profits. This is a tough call for any of the higher person who is kind and humanity minded. We can give an opportunity for those workers as well to learn more from the best people in the team. Sales is an important factor in the growth of the company when we start trusting every team member well and help them feel safe about the company they work on.

The 80/20 principle can help you achieve more in less time, here’s how

Everything we do is defined by our own actions and will. This rule applies to your personal development and doesn’t blame others for your doings. Accept your greatest mistakes and learn from them. To apply this principle you need to know the fact that small changes make a huge difference in your life and it is not always 80/20. Sometimes it may differ.

Ask the most productive people, and they will tell you, they aren’t productive 24hours a day. There are specific times when each of us are highly productive.

To adopt this principle, try the exercise which I listed below in Try this section point 1.

Before doing the exercise I honestly suggest, don’t blame others. I started blaming others when I started to perform this exercise but later I found out that doesn’t make any sense at all. Change must happen in ourselves. We cannot change people or their opinions but we can change ourselves and decide how to digest the facts.

There are 2 things for you to understand here, a small change you make in your life makes a big difference. You can ignore the person instead of blaming them or you can take their words to improve yourself for better you. It is not possible to make those people agree with you but you can make yourself convinced to withstand their behaviours by understanding them, right?

You can live the lifestyle of your dreams, really!

There are 2 types of people who dunno how to live their life. One is all about procrastinating about life. Not liking the job, relationships and bank accounts are not satisfying. The second type is about not knowing anything that they are doing in life. These people even don’t know what happiness is.

I was one of those types before when I was just regretting the past, not moving on from sadness, had painful relationships, the bank account was zero and I had no hope toward what I might become. I followed my own rule of Journaling and listing down a few things I do in life. The task for you is simple, check the 2nd point in Try this section.

It’s hard to speak on success and "having it all", without talking about a career

When you seek to love the work you do professionally, consider that you are in good hands and to become more effective, you can change yourself on the tasks that you are doing. A small shift of being creative affects the whole cycle of work you do.

If you are loving your job, consider the 80/20 principle as well to change your thinking. Remember that work is also an important thing in your journey.

Learn the topic that is in your interest alongside your current job. Keep learning the skill until you start earning from it and before quitting the job, save money for rainy days as well.

Is it 80/20 principle worth it?

Absolutely, it is. To look at life’s topmost 20% of priorities than the bottom 80 doesn’t mean you are neglecting the rest 80%. That 80% is the top 20 of others this induces a balance between us and helps us to work on the things that matter to us the most.

In the business example, while I was reading the book I thought the author might be wrong in suggesting laying off people from sales if their work is undermined. But it has got its own purpose as well. It is a Win -Win situation for both the company and the worker. If you unhire the person and make him understand that this job is not exactly fit for him, he will change his mind and start working on the things that he is comfortable with and he starts to push his limits to make himself better. Your 80 will become his 20. It changes his life. Nobody in this world found their perfect job before they were imperfect. On the other side, your company will start earning more when the right people are in the right departments.

If you want to apply 80/20 to your life, the first place to begin is 80/20 thinking. Begin to closely examine your life. Think deeply about your business/profession and your personal life. Are you satisfied with your current level, or will you take the opportunity to grow if it comes? If you answer positively to the last question, then, what do you need to do? What are the top 20 percent you need to concentrate upon?

Highlights:

Vilfredo Pareto - An economist amd forst discovered the 80/20 phenomenon.
More than him, other people understood his discovery after adopting this in their lives.
In simple words, it states that, “a minority of causes, inputs or effort usually lead to a majority of the results.
A minority of causes, inputs or effort usually lead to a majority of the results. ~ Robert Koch
Sales is like the twin brother of marketing. One can’t really function without the other.
Don't be afraid to lay off underperforming workers. This is business, and your goal is to maximize profit using elite resources.
You can't even explain it to a coach perfectly such that he knows exactly what's going on with you. Hence, 80/20 thinking is important
It's true that approximately 80 % of our results come from 20 % of the time put in.
If you don't want something, you should do it if you have to — for survival sake — but don't forget to have an escape plan
It's important that you balance your work life and your life outside work. You should be happy on all fronts. If you're not, it shows that something is missing, and you may need to apply 80/20 thinking to bring balance to your life.
The 80/20 principle advocates focusing on the top 20 percent that brings the most results, while neglecting — or paying less attention to — the bottom 80.

Try this:

The author recommends you have two blank sheets of paper and label them: happiness and achievement islands respectively. On the first piece labeled, “happiness island”, identify the things you did that made you happy on such occasions. Do the same for the “ achievement island”. This may prove to be a mental tasking activity, as you may have to do some deep thinking. But it’s all okay because you will find gems that will become your secret productivity tools.
To live the life of your dreams, you need to know exactly what it looks like. Pick a pen and paper, or use a digital notepad to write down all the things you want out of your life. Make the list as exhaustive as possible. Next, who do you know that is living such a lifestyle? What did they do to get there, and what are they doing that you're not? Success always has a blueprint.

Conclusion:

The 80/20 principle advocates focusing on the top 20 percent that brings the most results, while neglecting — or paying less attention to — the bottom 80. Doing this will not in any way cause the bottom 80 to be entirely neglected; the 80/20 principle is nature's way of balancing itself. What you neglect as the bottom 80 is the top 20 for other people. So, you neglecting it means giving someone else the opportunity to maximize their life and business. This is balance.

Let’s see an example. If you’re a business owner and you focus on investing more on the few workers that bring in the majority of the profits, you might eventually lay off some workers who aren’t productive in your company. This isn’t wrong; in fact, it will profit the both of you, because those laid-off workers might later realize that they aren’t made for the role they took in your company, which may lead them to self-discovery. Of course, this isn’t always the case, but many great men and women would never have been great if someone didn’t push them out of where they aren’t meant to be.