By working hard, are we laying the foundation for future success? Not necessary. What matters is what we are working on.
Good luck does not come to those who work hard, but to those who save their strength. The formula for success is simple: by giving only 20%, we get 80% of the result. Therefore, it makes no sense to keep up with as much as possible – it is much more efficient to take on only the most promising tasks.
More than a hundred years ago, the Italian economist and sociologist Vilfredo Pareto came up with his formula for success. According to his observations, only 20% of efforts provide 80% of the result. The biggest part of the effort, 80%, brings only 20% of the result. And this rule, known as the Pareto principle, seems to work in any field. For example, most entrepreneurs agree that one-fifth of their customers bring in four-fifths of the company’s profits. In any enterprise, only about one-fifth of the most highly effective employees provide most (up to 4/5) of all achievements. The rest jointly produce only a fifth of the output (of any kind).
This means:
- Most efforts (individual or group) are a waste of time. Instead of endlessly pushing yourself and overexerting yourself, you should, on the contrary, reduce your efforts, abandoning almost fruitless ones.
- Having figured out which areas are the most promising for us, it is worth trying to achieve success in them, rather than trying to improve performance in all areas at once.
- It is important to make the most of the few good moments when we are able to show the highest results.
Read more:
- Presenteeism: when work becomes harmful
Using the Pareto principle allows you to revise many time management statements. We waste time irrationally because we have too much of it. The most productive period in any job is the last 20% of the time (before it is handed over). Thus, the productivity of work on any undertaking can be increased simply by reducing the time allocated for its implementation. Otherwise, another principle begins to work, known as the ironic Parkinson’s law: “Any work, regardless of its volume, can fill all the time allotted for it.”
You can read more about this in the book by American coach Richard Koch “The 80/20 Principle”