The Italian Philosopher, Vifredo Pareto peered at his pea plants one day and realized that it was 20% of the plants that garnered 80% of the healthy pea pods.
Delving further he discovered that 20% of Italy’s population owned 80% of the country’s land.
Suddenly this mystical ratio kept appearing and thus the Pareto Principle was born.
So what does that mean for us today?
Basically we need to trim the fat, the secret is using the Pareto principle to your benefit and knowing how to identify the successful 20% away from the wasted 80%. So if 20% of employees contribute 80% of results, they should be rewarded accordingly, or if you own a small business and realise 20% of customers contribute 80% of your revenue, focus on those customers.
Whilst all things aren’t distributed equally, the point to remember is you should focus your effort on the 20% that makes a difference.
Good luck discovering how to trim the fat!