Learn, Share, Grow – The 80/20 Rule

Below is a lesson from Forbes on the 80/20 rule and how it can be used to enhance your productivity, as well as our key learning.

The Blue Courage team is dedicated to continual learning and growth.  We have adopted a concept from Simon Sinek’s Start With Why team called “Learn, Share, Grow”.  We are constantly finding great articles, videos, and readings that have so much learning.  As we learn new and great things, this new knowledge should be shared for everyone to then grow from.

The 80/20 Rule And How It Can Change Your Life

By Kevin Kruse

• 80% of results will come from just 20% of the action.
• Are you trying to grow your current business? Would an 80/20 mindset help you to stay focused on your strategic plan and spend less time chasing endless new opportunities?

What is the 80/20 Rule and could it actually make 80% of your work disappear?

If you’ve studied business or economics, you’re well familiar with the power of the Pareto Principle.

The Man Behind The Concept

Vilfredo Federico Damaso Pareto was born in Italy in 1848. He would go on to become an important philosopher and economist. Legend has it that one day he noticed that 20% of the pea plants in his garden generated 80% of the healthy pea pods. This observation caused him to think about uneven distribution. He thought about wealth and discovered that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by just 20% of the population. He investigated different industries and found that 80% of production typically came from just 20% of the companies. The generalization became:

80% of results will come from just 20% of the action.

Continue reading here.

Key Learnings:

• 80% of production typically came from just 20% of the companies

• Handling every task that gets thrown their way—or even every task that they would like to handle—is impossible. They use Pareto to help them determine what is of vital importance. Then, they delegate the rest, or simply let it go.

• A Pareto approach is to truly understand which projects are most important. What are the most important goals of your organization, or boss, and which specific tasks do you need to focus on to align with those goals. Delegate or drop the rest.

• Identify your best (and highest-paying) clients

• Too much diversification will quickly lead to burnout.

• The temptation always exists to try the new and exciting. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but it boils down to your goals.

• Would an 80/20 mindset help you to stay focused on your strategic plan and spend less time chasing endless new opportunities?

• What 20% of your work drives 80% of your outcomes?