Living the 80/20 Way

Working all day, every day makes you less productive. To achieve more, you need to do less.

Some 50 years ago, computers could do little in terms of processing, yet were massive machines. But today we carry incredibly powerful computers around in our pockets!

The story of how computers evolved matches a wider trend in human activity: doing more with less. And in fact, the history of agriculture followed a similar path.

More than 300 years ago, close to 98 percent of the labor force worked in the fields, harvesting food. Due to technological advances, today in developed countries only 2 to 3 percent of the working population is involved with agriculture. And yet we grow and harvest more food than ever!

This is the driving force behind the 80/20 principle: the best 20 percent of our efforts produce 80 percent of the results. And by applying this principle everywhere, we can transform our lives.

We tend to believe that if we spend as much time as possible working, we’ll be the most productive. Yet if you apply the 80/20 principle, you would realize that the best way to achieve more is to work less!

Say you’re a freelancer and you need to get a project done in a week. If you give yourself all week to do it, you’ll procrastinate, spending your time fiddling around and not working on what matters.

But if you give yourself only 20 percent of the week to complete the project (just one day), then you’ll work diligently and efficiently. The end results will be better, and you’ll have more time to spend on other things.

Interested in how the 80/20 way can work for you? Next we’ll show you exactly how to apply this principle to the most important areas of your life.