80-20 RULE: TRANSFORM YOUR LIFE BY FOCUSING ON WHAT MATTERS
We do a lot of things in our day to day lives. Have you ever given a thought to how spending 30 minutes on social media every day can lead to wastage of 900 minutes every month, or 5 extra minutes of sleep every morning can lead to 1825 minutes of extra sleep a year? However, saying this, we cannot deny the importance of ME time. To prove the point, we have to understand the psychology behind Pareto’s law.
The history behind the law
Vilfredo Pareto came up with the Pareto’s law while strolling in his garden. He figured that a healthy pod was given by only 20 per cent of the peas. All the efforts he put into growing the other 80 per cent of peas were a waste of time. It also made him realize that most productive results came from only 20 per cent of his inputs. The result was what we know today as “The Pareto’s Law”.
PARETO’S LAW: THE STATEMENT
Pareto’s law states that “ 80% of the effect of something comes from 20% of the cause or, In other words, 20% of what we do produces 80% of the results.”
It tells us how small inputs can lead to significant changes. This was popularized by Joseph Juran around 1940 . This can be applied to achieve business and organizational goals and to accomplish financial and personal goals. Applying the law helps us narrow down the things, focus on where we should invest our time, and achieve the most fruitful results. Many large organizations like Microsoft have used Pareto’s law to benefit and be the frontrunners in their field.
Multitasking – a Yes or a No?
As much as we praise the art of multitasking, according to this law, multitasking can be disastrous. Imagine sailing in two boats at one time; you are bound to drown. Similarly, When you try to focus on many things simultaneously, you tend to become less productive, which contradicts the Pareto’s rule.
To bring this rule into practice , take a notepad and make a list of tasks to be done , chuck out the low priority tasks and focus on the major ones this will help you decide a purpose. This can be done daily, weekly or monthly to have a clear vision in your mind. This will help us to allocate our time and resources correctly. But to do this, we should have a clear idea of how much time we can invest and where we can invest it . The goal is to practice brilliant work, not hard work and still be the leader in the game.
I, Jayant Maini, use this rule to make everyone understand the importance of managing time for both leisure and work. This can be the key to being productive and leading a healthy lifestyle simultaneously.
