Achieve More With Less In Life Using 80/20 Principle Conventional wisdom is not to put all of your eggs

in one basket. 80/20 wisdom is to choose a basket carefully, load all your eggs into it, and then watch it lik e a hawk. Richard Koch, The 80/20 Principle Today, I am going to share with you the power of applying the 80/20 principle to your life. Even though I initially applied it at work, I have come to witness i ts presence in virtually all aspects of life (relationships, goal achievement, e motions, time management, etc) and how much value it can bring to all of us thro ugh itsapplication. So, what is the 80/20 Principle? Imagine you are the CEO of a company and you have a sales force of 100 people. I n a world where everything is equal and the same, you will naturally assume that each person contributes to your sales proportionately; i.e. 20% of the employee s contribute to 20% ofthe sales, 50% contribute to 50% sales, and so on. However, what if instead of a 1-1 relationship, you found out 80% of your sales is actually contributed by 20% of your staff ? What the 80-20 Principle Is About This is what the 80/20 rule is about itsays that 80% of the effects in situation s are from 20% of the causes . This was first discovered by Pareto, an Italian E conomist who foundthat 20% of people in Italy controls 80% of the wealth and lan d. 80/20 is also known as the Pareto Principle or Principle of Least Effort . Examples of 80/20 Principle in Action Below are just a few of the tens of thousands of examples where 80/20 principle can be observed: *. Population: 80% (25.8 million out of32.3 million) of the population in Englan d is contributed by 20% (53 out of 263) of its cities *. Resource Consumption: 70% of the world s energy, 75% of its metals, and 85% of its timber are consumed by 20% of the world s countries (with far fewer than 20 pe rcent of the world s population) *. Natural Resources: 80% of Earth s mineral wealth is produced by far less than 2 0% of the Earth s surface *. Wealth: 85% of the total global assets is accounted for by 10% of adults ( So urce: Guardian ) *. Crimes: 80% of crimes is committed by 20% of the criminals *. Books: 80% of the value in a book can be gleaned from 20% of its content *. Accidents: Majority of road accidentsis by 20% of the motorists *. Clothes: Majority of the times you wear 20% of the clothes in your wardrobe *. Divorces: Majority of the divorces is by 20% of married individuals *. Weather: 80% of the rain is by fewer than 20% of clouds *. Consumption: Majority of the world s consumption is on a small portion of the p roducts (think Coca Cola, Microsoft, Ipod, etc) *. Daily Life: Majority of the times you eat out, you dine at the same 20% of th e restaurants you know *. Smoking: Majority of the cigarette consumption is by 20% of the smokers (are you one of them?) *. Relationships: 80% of the value you get from relationships is from 20% of the people you know *. Goal achievement: 80% of the effects and value you get in goal pursuit will b e from 20% of the things you did (the key pillars of success) .And the list goes on. Applying 80/20 Principle into Our Life However, people have quickly found the ubiquity of this law to practically all a spects of our life. Today, the rule has come to represent that a large majority of effects are due to a small portion of causes , rather than specific emphasis on 80/20 equation. 80/20 is really synonymous with two themes, which Richard Koc h shared in Living the 80/20 Way as well: 1. Focus: Understanding that Less is More 80/20 is about being able to see the big picture, identifying the 20% activities that truly matters and focusing on them . Focusing on the 20% activities that a

re most important lets you achieve more out of your life, rather than focusing y our energy on everything thus, Less is More . This is the same as being effective which I shared in Become the Master of Your Time . Some aspects of Less is More include: How can you remove the tasks that donot cont ribute as much to the situation? How can you reduce your energy in activities th at do not bring you as much value? How can you focusyour attention instead to cu ltivate and expand upon activities which make you happier, better off, more abun dant (not just in financial terms)? 2. Progress: Achieving More with Less The current mentality of our society is a More with More mindset. Everyday, we str addle ourselves across multiple responsibilities, thinking that it is all for th e better good. We stretch ourselves to fit all the demands that come in from all sides of our life. But are we really getting more results by putting inmore eff ort? Or is it the same or even less results? At the end of the day, we end up be coming more hagged, more jaded, more disillusioned. Our health wanes, our social life suffers, and all additional money we earn goes into more bills and loans. For the investmentof energy we are putting in, we do notseem to be quite well re ceiving the equivalent level of fulfillment in return. 80/20 allows you to get the most outof living . When you scale back on theactivi ties that are not important, you end up getting more energy which youcan invest back in what s important. When you cut away tasks that are zapping your time with no seeming return, you have more time for what matters to you. In the end, 80/20 allows you to achieve more results, with less energy . It give s you extraordinary results with little action . With 80/20, we can achieve more with less. In the next part, we will discuss the 6 common misconceptions people have on the 80/20 principle and why why you should not resist the principle.