Leveraging your time: never forget the 80/20 principle.
LEVERAGE: Adapting our Business to the Reality of Pareto & Parkinson’s Laws
Being busy is a form of laziness–lazy thinking and indiscriminate action. -Timothy Ferriss, The 4-Hour Workweek, p. 73 ff
Pareto’s Law–the 80/20 principle (Vilfredo Pareto, 1848-1923)
80% of Pareto’s garden peas were produced by 20% of the peapods he planted
80% of the wealth was in the hands of 20% of the people
80% of the outputs result from 20% of the inputs
80% of the consequences flow from 20% of the causes
80% of the results come from 20% of the effort and time
80% of company profits come from 20% of the products and customers
80% of all stock market gins are realized by 20% of the investors and
The list is infinitely long and diverse, and the ratio is often skewed even more severely: 90/10, 95/5, and 99/1 re not uncommon, but the minimum ratio to seek is 80/20
Parkinson’s Law dictates that a task will swell in (perceived) importance and complexity in relation to the time allotted for its completion. It is the magic of imminent deadline.
There are thus two synergistic approaches for increasing productivity that is inversions of each other:
1. Limit tasks to the important to shorten work time (Pareto’s Law, 80/20)
2. Shorten work time to limit tasks to the important (Parkinson’s Law)
The best solution is to use both together: Identify the few critical tasks that contribute most to income and schedule them with very short and clear deadlines. If you haven’t identified the mission-critical tasks and set aggressive start and stop times for their completion, the unimportant becomes the important.
The key to having more time is doing less:
(1) Define a short to-do list and (2) define a not-to-do list.
-If you had a heart attack and had to work two hours a day, what would you do? (from The 4-Hour Workweek, 78-81 of )
-If you had a second heart attack and had to work two hours a week, what would you do?
-If you had a gun to your head and had to stop doing 4/5 of different time-consuming activities, what would you remove?
-What are the top three activities I use to fill time to feel I as though I’ve been productive?
-Learn to ask, “If this is the only thing I accomplish today, will I be satisfied with my day?”
-Ask yourself three times a day, “Are you inventing things to do to avoid the important?”
-Use Parkinson’s Law on a Macro and Micro level.
