Put More Into Your 20%

The events unfolding on the world stage are like nothing any of us have seen in our lifetime. And for many of us, these events are having a direct, personal impact. Now, more than ever, it’s time to find ways to do more with less and maximize our resources. And yet I have found that this idea of “doing more with less” tends to be a vague sentiment that people agree with and don't necessarily know how to apply.

80/20
Years ago, in my work with engineers, I learned a piece of economic theory that can give us some answers. In the early 19th century, Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, in studying the economies of European nations, uncovered a consistent economic distribution trend: 20% of the population had 80% of the wealth. Since that discovery, this 80/20 ratio has moved beyond the realm of economics and can accurately describe many elements of common human experience:

• 20% of the clothes in your closet get 80% of the wear
  
• 20% of your waking time produces 80% of your achievements
  
• 20% of your customers bring you 80% of your revenue
  
• 20% of your marketing efforts generate 80% of your new business

When we really get our minds around this, the implications are staggering:

• What am I doing wasting all of that closet space on clothes I never wear? 
  
• Why aren’t I noticing the times of day and the conditions and the activities I’m engaged in when I’m achieving the most, and replicating those? 
  
• Why don’t I stop beating myself up over customers that don’t really like us and don’t do much business, and focus on the ones that do?
  
• Why don’t I stop putting marketing efforts into plans that don’t yield much, and put more effort into the ones that do?

Focus on the 20%
Smart living starts with smart thinking- a truly strategic approach that applies 80/20 thinking to every area of life, identifies the very effective 20% in those areas and capitalizes on it, giving it more focus, more resources, more effort.

Try This
Hold the 80/20 lens to your life, and see what you find out. You may decide to:

• Give away clothes you rarely wear, gaining space
  
• Stop buying groceries that often don’t get eaten, saving money
  
• Stop spending time with people who drag you down and make you angry, and more with people you like and respect who help you feel, think, and live better
• Stop funding marketing activities that don't yield much, and put resources into the ones that do, generating new business
• Shift focus off of your products that yield little revenue, and onto your high-revenue products, which can generate yet more products of this type, and more customers, and more revenue 

Enjoy your analysis, and let me know how it goes!