People tend to expect the world to be balanced.īut in fact, balance is not the natural state of the world – imbalance is.įor example, consider linguistics: Sir Isaac Pitman discovered that about 700 common words make up two thirds of everyday conversation. For example, a 1997 study demonstrated that of 300 movies, just four (1.3 percent) generated 80 percent of ticket sales.Īs you can see, manifestations of the 80/20 principle can be found in a variety of settings and as you will find out, this is valuable knowledge. Of course, the numbers may not always add up to a hundred either. It should be noted, however, that the 80/20 principle is a simplification, and in reality the ratio tends to differ – for example, it could be 70/30 or 99.9/0.01. In fact, causes can be roughly divided into two categories: a minority that has a great impact on results and a majority that has only a small impact.
Why is this ratio not more balanced? Because not every cause has the same impact on results. This phenomenon is better known as the 80/20 principle: roughly 80 percent of work results – or output – are produced by 20 percent of the work effort, or input. Most motorists drive carefully, while a small minority is careless and causes the majority of accidents. Similarly, 20 percent of motorists cause 80 percent of accidents. In fact, similar imbalances between effort and reward can be observed in a variety of different settings.įor example, many businesses have found that 20 percent of their product range actually accounts for 80 percent of their profits. Have you ever looked back on a project you worked on and found that most of your work was done right before the final deadline? Perhaps in the few days when you were almost out of time you achieved more than in all the previous weeks put together.
You simply need to adopt the right 80/20 mindset and these book summary will show you how. What’s more, the principle is proven to help companies succeed by counterintuitive means: not by doing more, but by doing less.įinally, you can even apply the principle to your personal life to increase your happiness and satisfaction in your relationships with others. This seemingly universal imbalance between effort and reward will help you use your time at work more efficiently. That’s why it is crucial to understand the deceptively simple, but immensely powerful 80/20 Principle. In this chaotic environment, it is more important than ever to know what is truly essential. Similarly, companies find themselves inundated with complexity, trying to serve several markets with immense multitudes of different products, juggling all of them like a clown at a circus. We may arrive at work determined to finish the first task on the list quickly, only to find that two new tasks have appeared in the meantime. In today’s hectically paced world, many of us have to tackle impossibly long to-do lists each day.
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