The 80/20 Principle

An interesting philosophy called the 80/20 Principle, taken from Brian Johnson's zaadz.com. that I receive daily. What do you think about this?

"Well, experts on time management would suggest we take a closer look at some of our everyday behaviors. As Koch states: “20% of what we do leads to 80% of the results; but 80% of what we do leads to only 20%. We are wasting 80% of our time on low-value outcomes.”

His advice? Rather than pursuing every available opportunity, Koch suggests we “calm down, work less and target a limited number of very valuable goals where the 80/20 Principle will work for us.”
Enjoy!

“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 like a hawk.”~Richard Koch

Simple Real-Life Applications

Business: Do you know where your revenue comes from? Find out. Do you know where you spend your time? Find out. Here’s what the book would suggest: You make at least 80% of your profits in 20% of your activity, and in 20 percent of your revenues. The trick is to figure out which 20%!

Learning: How do you read a book? Do you go from cover to cover? Why? You’re wasting a lot of time. 80% of the valuable content can be found in 20% of the book...and, according to Koch, absorbed in 20% of the time it takes most people to read the entire book.
Tip: Unless you’re reading a book for pleasure, read the conclusion then the intro, check out the graphs and pictures and then the conclusion again and maybe some sections a little deeper if you find it particularly interesting. If you’re reading a novel or a book for pleasure, read at your leisure. If you are looking for the most efficient way to learn, think 80/20.
Another Tip: The same rules apply with your kids' studies!

Social: 20% of your friends account for 80% of your enjoyment and satisfaction.
Tip: Might sound harsh, but why wouldn’t you spend a lot more time with the group that gives you so much pleasure and a lot less time with the other?!?

Your Diet: My diet? Yes, your diet. My guess is that you spend a lot of time bouncing from one diet to another--never really receiving a whole lot of consistent energy as a result. The reality: 20% of your healthy eating habits account for 80% of your health gains.
Guess what? If you ignored the fad diets and just focused on the fundamentals, you’d see a lot of results. Consistently. Are you drinking enough water (at least 8 cups a day)? Eating breakfast? Eating a lot of fruits and vegetables? Avoiding sugar? And, avoiding saturated fat?
You do these things and you’re 80% there. And, you'll be surprised how quickly your energy will increase (not to mention how quickly the number of compliments from your spouse/significant other will increase!).
Tip: Focus on the 20%. Drink 8 cups of water every day this week.
Already doing that? Good. Eat breakfast every day this week. Got that down? Good. Eat a salad with lunch and dinner. etc. etc.

You can read the full article (and a lot more of ‘em I’ve written) at zaadz.com here."

A lot of "food" for thought there! The one that makes the least sense to me is the social application. It might stand to reason that you already naturally spend more time with the people who give you more pleasure, but that wouldn't mean I'd cut out the many others whom we only see once in awhile. They deserve their time share piece of the "80% pie" and offer us variety in our social lives.

If you want to receive this daily philosophy quote/opinion, go to www.zaadz.com They can be very interesting and a good way to spark the brain first thing in the morning.....besides coffee!