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20% of your efforts produce 80% of the result.
20% of your customers produce 80% of the profits.
20% of your clothes get 80% of the use.
20% of your friends make up 80% of your lepak time.
20% of your education get 80% of the implementation.
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As you can see, a minority of things make up the majority of the result.
The 80/20 rule (aka Pareto Principle) is a guide to understanding that.
It's a not a hard and fast 20%, it could be 30%, 10% or even 1%.
The point of it all is a small minority creates a disproportionate amount of the result.
How to use this in everyday life?
Ask - out of all things I could do, what are the “2-3 main things” that
makes the most amount of money / makes my relationships stronger together / creates the biggest impact on my health.
Money
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Realize a small part of your daily roles generates most of the cash flow.
As a writer, only a few things matter - writing and promoting.
As an online marketer, only a few things matter - getting conversions.
As a business owner, only a few things matter - getting sales.
You can do a lot of work like admin work, customer service, etc...
But only a few key activities actually bring in the money / hit your KPI.
Relationships
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Realize that only a few activities you do with your partner moves the relationship forward / makes the experience memorable.
For my relationship, it would be watching movies together, deep conversation, exploring unknown places together.
Cooking together and eating out - not so much.
Realize only a small group of your friends and family help create most of the happiness in your life.
Health
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Realize that just a few small changes is all you need to live healthily.
- Eating healthy (make sure you have only healthy food around you)
- Exercise (sweat)
- Practice gratitude and meditate (for the mind)
The 80/20 rule is great guide to identify the key crucial things you need to do that actually produces results.
Here’s what you can do today:
- List down your to-do list
- Rank the tasks by importance and urgency
- Think - if I could only do one thing today that would make the rest of the day much easier, what would it be?
- Pick that one thing
- And do that
Cause often times, we try to do the 9 others (because they are easier) and have the No.1 thing nag in our minds for days and even weeks.
Not cool, homie. Not cool.