Use The 80/20 Principle

The 80/20 is also known as “The Pareto Principle” or “The Law of the Vital Few” — referring to the vital few factors that contribute to the majority of the outcome.

So, what is the 80/20 Principle?

Imagine you are the CEO of a company and you have a salesforce. In a world where everything is equal, you will assume that everyone contributes to your sales proportionately — i.e., 20% of the employees contribute to 20% of the sales, 50% contribute to 50% of the sales, and 80% of the employees contribute to 80% of the sales. But what if instead of a 1-1 relationship, you find out that 80% of your sales are actually contributed by 20% of your staff?

What the 80-20 Principle is About

This is what the 80/20 rule is about — 80% of the effects in a situation come from 20% of the causes. This phenomenon was first discovered by Vilfredo Pareto, an Italian Economist who found that 20% of the people in Italy control 80% of the wealth and land. He first observed the principle when gardening and noticing that 20% of his peapods in his garden yielded 80% of the total harvested peas.

Examples of 80/20 in Action

Here are just some of many situations where the 80/20 rule can be observed:

• Population: 80% of the population in England (25.8 million out of 32.3 million) comes from 20% of its cities (53 out of 263 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 (which have far fewer than 20 percent of the world’s population).

…. and so on.

Applying 80/20 Principle in Our Life

The 80/20 rule tells us that a large proportion of effects is due to a small portion of causes.

• 20% of causes lead to 80% of results. These are what I call the 20% high-impact-tasks. High-value because they lead to high-impact results.
• On the other hand, 80% of causes lead to 20% of results. These are what I call the 80% low-impact-tasks.

It doesn’t have to be a literal 80-20 ratio — for example, 70% of the effects can be contributed by 15% of the causes, or 60% of effects can be contributed by 30% of the causes. The percentages of effects and causes don’t have to add up to 100% either — 80% refers to the effect while 20% refers to the cause, meaning they are not of the same denominator. It just happened that Pareto’s observation was 80-20 (rather than 70-20 or 60-10).

The point of the 80/20 rule is to know that (a) the relationship between cause and effect is often not 1:1, and (b) some causes have more weight than others.

Read more about the 80/20 rule by clicking on the link below.

Article by Celes. Source: The 80/20 Rule: How To Achieve More With Less In Life – Personal Excellence

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Oprah Winfrey’s secrets to success

Oprah Winfrey is royalty among the world of celebrities—highly-respected, the image of grace and class, and a true role model. As a TV host, CEO, author, actor, producer, and philanthropist, it seems she’s won every outstanding achievement award under the sun, and luckily, she’s also one of the most relatable and accessible billionaires out there, having shared so much of herself with the public over the years.

Beginning as a low-income woman of color, she’s had a tumultuous ride filled with hardships and breaking points. Check out the most valuable pieces of advice that have paved her path to success. 

When people show you who they are, believe them

Winfrey has said that this is her favorite piece of advice—a lesson she learned the hard way about a partner, with the help of Maya Angelou—that if someone shows you they are untrustworthy, selfish, etc, believe them the first time.

Be authentic

Winfrey is someone who constantly seeks self-improvement through a relentless examination of her own life, but it took her some time to first realize that people just wanted her as she is. “I had no idea that being your authentic self could make me as rich as I’ve become. If I had, I’d have done it a lot earlier.”

Fight prejudice with excellence

In a field of white male news anchors, a black woman who didn’t fit beauty standards was an easy target for prejudice. But she was the best at what she did, and made her talent impossible to deny: “Excellence is the best deterrent to racism or sexism.”

Find the good in the bad

Winfrey’s past is full of unimaginable struggle—she grew up poor, was sexually abused as a child, and had a son at the age of 14 who died in infancy—but she credits these events for giving her more capacity to relate to the pain of others. “Turn your wounds into wisdom,” as she says.

The “power of service”

For her commencement address at Smith College, she advised students to focus on how they can serve. She wants you to ask yourself, “How can I be used?”

There’s no such thing as failure

“Go ahead. Fall down. The world looks different from the ground.” Winfrey looks at what most people consider failure to be a chance at seeing things from a new perspective, learning a new lesson, or finding a new route. She told Harvard’s 2013 graduating class that “failure is just life trying to move us in another direction.”

Challenge the status quo

Obedience we learn in school is sometimes the antithesis to success in business, and Winfrey is a great example of that. At her first job as a news anchor, she didn’t read the news in a dry, objective tone as everyone else did, but rather delivered emotion and empathy. It was a risk, but producers and audiences loved it.

Believe in the “why”

If you don’t know why you’re doing your job, it will not give you fulfillment. Understanding the “why” behind the “doing” gives both you and the work meaning, which is why Winfrey advises you only do things in alignment with your truth.

Try, try again

Winfrey encourages everyone to run head-on towards the thing they’re scared they cannot do, and to keep trying after they fail. “Do the one thing you think you cannot do. Fail at it. Try again. Do better.”

Article by Stars Insider©