The last planner you'll ever need
Learn moreWe live in a world with sayings like “go big or go home,” “think big” and “too big to fail.” But what if bigger isn’t better? What if having a one-track mind isn’t a bad thing? The truth is that it’s not. And the 80-20 rule proves it.
One saying that is true comes from Tony Robbins himself, and that is, “Whatever you consistently think about and focus upon you move toward.” No one wants to spend their life being pulled in a hundred directions at once, feeling like they never have any time. And when you leverage the 80-20 rule, you don’t have to.
What is the 80-20 rule?
The 80-20 rule is the principle that 20% of what you do results in 80% of your outcomes. Put another way, 80% of your outcomes result from just 20% of your inputs. Also known as the Pareto principle, the 80-20 rule is a timeless maxim that’s all about focus. Because so much of your output is determined by a relatively small amount of what you do each day, focusing on the most productive tasks will result in greater output.
The Pareto principle comes from the mind of Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who first introduced it in 1906. But it is Joseph Juran, a business theorist, who is credited with popularizing the idea and relating it to business situations during the 1940s. This is why the 80-20 rule is usually used in business, but you can also apply it to your personal goals, like finances and spending or even learning a new skill.
The 80-20 rule requires you to throw out a few time-honored myths about productivity. First, the myth that everything matters equally – it doesn’t. Break down that wall and prioritize. Second, the: When you try to focus on everything at once, you end up not focusing on anything at all.
