Who Is Pareto And Why You Should Be Interested

Have you heard of the Pareto Law aka the 80/20 law?

Back in the days, Wilfredo Pareto (economist?) conducted a study of the population of wealthy people in Italy. His study revealed that 20% of Italy’s population has 80% of Italy’s money.

Similar researches were conducted after that and they all reaffirmed the 80/20 relationship, as:

• 20% of your customers bring in 80% of your revenue
• 20% of your activities are responsible for 80% of your success
• 20% of your employees do 80% of the whole work in your company
• you wear 20% of your clothes in your wardrobe 80% of the time
• you spend 80% of your time with 20% of the people you know
• and so on… you get the idea…

So I got introduced to this principle back when I was in college. I’ve read several books on this topic. Most of them are written by Richard Koch, who dedicated a lot of time and thought into the process of spreading the word on the Pareto Law.

Not until recently though that this principle started dominating my thoughts. I started to look at the ways I could apply the 80/20 to all major areas of my life. Turns out, the 80/20 law could be applied to nearly everything.

Two areas where I see the application of the 80/20 works best for me (but it can be applied to almost EVERYTHING) are work and fitness.

In work, there are just so many ways you could get ahead by applying the principles of 80/20. More on that in Richard Koch’s The 80/20 Manager book.

And when it comes to fitness I like it short but right to the point. I just don’t understand the point of spending 2–3 hours on any given day inside a gym. Instead, using the Pareto principle I focus on 20% exercises which give me 80% of results. There’s a book I read called The 80/20 Fitness (I can’t remember the author). And unlike many people, I don’t think that the more time you spend in the gym the more fit and the stronger you get. No. What I do is focus on the right exercises (few compound exercises that work all body parts) and get out of there in less than an hour getting not MORE but BETTER work done. Remember, not just in fitness, in anything, more doesn’t mean better. Less is more.

This is fascinating. If you start to realize the power and effectiveness of this principle then you can prosper in almost all aspects of your life: work, business, hobbies, relationships, fitness, finances, etc.

For me, the most critical part is to identify the right kind of 20% that give you 80% of results. To do that I ask myself:

• which particular exercises result in 80% of my results
• which particular activities account for 80% of my success
• which particular clients bring in 80% of the revenue
• which particular clients are responsible for 80% of my expenses
• which particular people I should spend time with to be 80% better

You may become fascinated with the 80/20 and want to incorporate this into your life as well. Just look for the right kind of things which will bring the majority of the rewards. It is easy to focus on the wrong kind of stuff and think that maybe that is the correct 20% you are doing which will bring 80% of success. Always ask and after you find the methods or way, double-check with other sources and see if there are multiple agreeing opinions on that.

As for myself, I am fascinated with how this Pareto law works and I will keep on mastering this “secret” until it starts coming naturally to me in everyday decision-making and my lifestyle as well. If you want to learn more about this subject there are tons of quality resources on the Internet — be my guest. Even one helpful idea might change your life for the better — forever.

Time is limited. Time is scarce. Spend it wisely. Value your time more than money. Money can be compensated. Time cannot.