The 80-20 Rule: How to Use It to Your Advantage
The 80-20 rule can be applied to every aspect of your life, yet it is widely forgotten by many.
This is an old principle which says that from 20% of the causes you get 80% of the results.
For example, you wear 20% of your clothes 80% of your time, you go out 80% of your time with 20% of your friends, you get 80% of income from 20% of the income generating sources…
The 80-20 rule can be applied everywhere, no matter what subject you pick.
For example, there are around 20% of people that cause 80% of your frustration; There are 20% of activities that give you 80% of pleasure.
This 80/20 ratio is just a general guideline, it is not always exact. Sometimes 90/10 or even 99/1 can be found. It could be that 1% of your business actions cause 99% of your income. Another example could be that 5% of your daily activities cause 95% of your happiness.
When you really get this law you can make your life so much easier. With such knowledge you can ruthlessly go through all your daily activities, eliminate most inefficient ones and leave only value producing activities.
When I went through my daily activities, here’s what I found:
90% of the time I listened to 10% of my music albums; 20% of my business activities produced 80% of results; 90% of the time I would run 10% of the programs in my laptop; 95% of the time I would go to 5% of Cafés in my area (a bit extreme, but hey…).
Similar results will apply to every person in this world.
Now you may ask why the 80-20 rule exists. This is because we are habitual beings. We get into the habit of certain activities, go to certain places and see certain people. Other activities or things fall off as a result.
But this may not explain the financial situation of the world. Why around 90% of all world’s money rests in 10% of the super rich hands? Could this be explained as habitual? I would certainly think so. Let me explain how I see this.
As the masses have old habits so the world’s wealthiest people are uncommon thinkers. Both are habits. The masses are driven by the habits formed in past generations, whereas the wealthy form new habits (except when they are born into rich families that had those habits before). So the masses are poor because of their poor habits and the wealthy are well-off because of their good habits.
I hope you understood my philosophy behind the 80-20 rule:)
So now, as you have some knowledge of this law, I hope that you will use it wisely. Especially apply it to get rid of the things that bother you.
Honestly ask yourself these questions:
Which 20% of causes result in 80% of my unhappiness?
Which 20% of daily activities consume 80% of my time?
Which 20% of people cause 80% of my frustration?
When you identify 20% of causes to 80% of your unhappiness, eliminate them as soon as you can. Also, if you find that some activities are unproductive, yet you waste most of your time on them, eliminate them too.
The result? Less clustered, happier and more productive life.
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My name is Simona Rich and I help people improve themselves through the articles and products of this website. Although I have found my life's purpose and now I spend my time traveling throughout India and sharing my knowledge, my life used to be completely different. 
