The Pareto Principle Appears Again

Most all of us have heard of the Pareto Principle or the "Law of the Vital Few." According to Wikipedia it is the principle that 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. The principle is touted in business as "80% of your sales come from 20% of your customers." Research again and again shows the truth of this principle-and I saw another one last week that confirmed it once again.

According to the authors of the book, Empowered, research shows that in online social media (blogs, review sites, discussions, networking, etc.) 16% of users generate 80% of the content. The small impact the many.

Bring this proven principle to your day. What if you frequently reviewed your schedule and tasks and identified the 20% of tasks that accomplish 80% or so of your purpose? You would probably work harder to protect those items and insure their completion. They would take the highest priority in your day or week and you would build the rest of your schedule around them-instead of hoping you got time to work on them. You would also work to be more efficient with the other 80% of what you do so you could be more effective with the 20% that makes the largest impact.

Try the Pareto Principle today. You might just find that the few tasks you really focus on can make the biggest difference.