The 80:20 route

SUCCESS SCRIPTS

Everyone would like to get more with less. More money with less work. More results with less use of time and energy. More returns on less investment.

But most of us instinctively believe that this may be like asking for the moon. Who would want to give you more money if you work less? How can you achieve more in life by doing less?

The answer lies in embracing a counter-intuitive principle called the 80:20 rule, an idea originally propounded by Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto.

Pareto, who studied wealth distribution in many types of countries around the turn of the 1900s, found that in almost all societies, 80 per cent of the wealth was owned or controlled by a minority - usually about 20 per cent of the people.

Pareto's idea has since been expanded to a general principle, which says that most of the results (in one's own life or at work) come from a small bunch of efforts. It's equally true of problems: a small list of causes may account for the bulk of your problems.

The proportions may not be 80:20 always (they could be 70:30 or even 60:40), but the point is the majority of outcomes are the result of a small minority of causes or effort.

Look closely at your own situation: Has 20 per cent of your shareholding given you 80 per cent of your capital gains (or losses, for that matter)? Does 20 per cent of your work bring you maximum reward in terms of peer recognition or promotions?

You may find that there is little correlation between the amount of work you do and what you actually achieve.

This leads to a simple conclusion: Work smarter, not harder. Work harder at only those bits that bring you maximum results. A smart worker devotes more time to tasks that will help him meet his objectives. He will not waste time on tasks that do not bring results.

As management guru Peter Drucker says, "There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all."

To maximise your personal productivity, you should apply Pareto's insight to every important thing you do and realise that you may be spending 80 per cent of your time in doing trivial things that won't get you anything.

If you are a manager, you may find that 80 per cent of the demands on your time are made by the same 20 per cent of people. To reduce this draft on your time, you need to find out why these people keep coming to you and how this can be reduced permanently.

Michael Angier, editor and publisher of Success Strategies as well as Success Digest (he also runs a website called SuccessNet.org), recommends The Rule Of Three as one of the best ways to zero in on the vital few.

The rule - which is another way of saying that focusing on a few things yields better rewards than trying to do much - suggests that a person should limit his or her attention to three tasks or goals.

Make a list of your three most important goals. If you have many more, you may succeed less. The United States Marine Corp believes strongly in this rule. It found that focusing on even four objectives reduced their overall effectiveness.

Angier also recommends that we maintain a list of tolerations. Write down all the things that don't work, don't look good, that you don't like using, looking at, or having around.

As you get rid of things, you're using the principle of vacuum - making room for what you want by getting rid of what you don't. If 80 per cent of your cupboard is taken up by things you don't need, get rid of them. If not, you will not have space for the 20 per cent of things you really value.

FURTHER READING: The 80/20 Principle, The secret of achieving more with less, by Richard Koch.