The Pareto Principle: The 80-20 Rule

21 نوفمبر 2025

One of the habits that high achievers have is the ability to focus on tasks that will give them the greatest benefits. By being able to do the right tasks, you will avoid wasting time on things that do not interest you.

Note: This article is based on Thanh Pham, founder of the blog "Asian Efficiency," in which he tells us about his experience applying the 80/20 rule.

As logical as this may sound, most of us are not consciously aware of it; The Pareto Principle, otherwise known as the 80/20 rule, will make you more aware of how you spend your time.

The Pareto Principle

Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto discovered that 80% of the wealth of his time was achieved by 20% of the people. He notes that about 80% of the land in Italy is owned by 20% of the population.

Vilfredo realized something profound: It's the little things that make up the most results. The rule states that 20% of the effort will account for 80% of the results. The ratio of 80/20 is just to indicate the idea, but it is normal for it to deviate towards 90/10 or 95/5; In other words, 90% of the results come from 10% of the actions, or 95% of the results come from 5% of the actions.

Key findings of the 80/20 rule

1. Improve focus and productivity

I used to be the director of a subsidiary company, and one of my tasks was to make sure that the subsidiaries would generate good revenue for the company. These companies primarily acted as sales representatives on a larger scale for the company; when I had to work with dozens of affiliates, I realized that I couldn't treat every affiliate with the same priority. I didn't have enough time, resources and energy to work with every affiliate with the same focus.

After one day of analyzing affiliate sales numbers, it turned out that the 80/20 rule was in effect, too. In fact, it was more like 95/5; That is, 5% of all affiliates will generate 95% of the affiliate's sales. Guess which affiliate I will be spending most of my time with? Yes, the 5%.

2. Leverage your strengths

The 80/20 rule applies to every part of your life. This is from the idea that you should always focus on your strengths rather than trying to cover up your weaknesses. The Pareto principle is another way of looking at this. By focusing on your strengths 20%, you can achieve your important results 80%. Anything that does not fall within the 20% or within your productive strengths, you should consider having someone else do it for you.

3. Example: The 80/20 Rule for Bloggers

For example, suppose you are a blogger. How do you apply the Pareto Principle to blogs? For most bloggers, writing is their primary skill that will get you the most results, and having great content is the foundation of a good blog

When you apply the 80/20 idea to blogging, it's all about the content of the blog. Anything besides writing great content is 80% that will only give you 20%. Things like setting up your blog, maintaining its graphics, editing comments, etc.

Writing content is the 20% that will give you 80% of the desired results, whether that be more comments, or follower readings. You can easily outsource 80% of the actions so that you can focus on 20% of your activities.

The law of vital fewness

To use the Pareto Principle effectively, you must be able to identify the little things that give you the most results. So, you need to do an honest analysis of your projects and tasks. This may be more difficult than you think, especially if you are overwhelmed with information and things to do. But fortunately, there are always solutions.

You can find out the vital 20% through the following:

Enjoy what you do.
Identify the things that bring you the greatest revenue, happiness, or desired outcome.
Delegate things you know others can do better or at a lower cost.
Have a long-term vision, so you're willing to do things that aren't fun but that you know will work in the long run.
Have a better quality of life.

If you can limit 20% of your activities, now you know what to really focus on and how to spend your time.

How do I get rid of the unnecessary 80%?

Another way to manage your time better is to cut out the 80%. You have to remove all the things that are causing you to be less productive. Here are some tips to determine the 80% of the activities that you want to get rid of as much as possible:

Don't do things that won't bring you any value, and don't do them just because someone told you to do them.
Don't perform actions against your will.
Don't do anything you're not good at.
Don't always race against time to accomplish certain things.
Don't think that what you're doing is just a waste of time.

You can also get rid of 80% by delegating it to someone else who can do it.

Now that you're able to see how the 80/20 rule works, you'll want to start applying it right away in your own life.

Using the 80/20 Rule in Personal Life

You can apply the 80/20 rule to your own life. Everyone wants to be happy, but not everyone follows the same path to happiness and fulfillment. The easiest way to start implementing the Pareto principle is to ask yourself these two questions:

Which 20% of the reasons give me 80% of my unhappiness?
Which 20% of the reasons give me 80% of my happiness?

Answer these questions if you can; it's not as easy as it might seem.

Before you can answer these questions, you need to look at your activity inventory through the Pareto rule filter. The easiest way to start is to break it down by the major areas of responsibility in your life. For most people, it is health, wealth, and relationships.

If you've read the “Systematic Thinking” article, you can view your happiness as a system in which health, wealth, and relationships are interdependent parts and influence each other. The important thing is to know within this system whether the 20% that will give you 80% of your happiness is the 20% that will cause 80% of your unhappiness. Let's see how that applies to the health, wealth, and relationships in your life.

What is essential and vital to your health?

While everyone wants to live a healthy life, not many people give it the same importance. Most people want to lose a few extra pounds, but the scope of responsibility here is much greater. You can break it down into exercise, nutrition, and lifestyle. Each contributes to your overall happiness, and for each activity, you can search for the 20% shortcut that gives you 80% of your results.

Ask yourself, “What are the little things that would do me the best?” For health, author Tim Ferriss has dedicated a book on how to use the 80/20 rule for your health called Four Hour Body. We recommend reading it if you want to apply the 80/20 rule to your health.

Here are some tips:

Exercise at least three times a week.
Do some mental exercises to keep your mind fresh, like reading or problem solving.
Stop eating all junk food and eat as much raw and organic food as possible.

What is essential and vital to your wealth?

Pareto found that most of the nation's wealth is owned by 20% of the people, and this is still true today. Building your wealth can be analyzed in the same way, whether it is for your personal life or for your business.

How do you apply the 80/20 rule to wealth?

1. Business management

If you are a business owner, you should start crunching the numbers now. Determine your highest sources of revenue. Without a doubt, you will find that only a few sources—or clients—will generate most of your profits.

2. Achieving personal wealth

You can also look at wealth creation differently. In easy terms, building wealth can be divided into three parts:

Increase income.
Reduce expenses.
Position the difference in various estimated assets, such as stocks, bonds, real estate, commodities, etc.

To maximize your wealth creation, you can apply the 80/20 rule to every part. What is the 20% that could give you 80% of your income? Focus on that, and see how you can increase it. And what 20% of your expenses can you cut back on? And what is the 20% of estimated assets that gives you 80% of your earnings? Focus on the 20% in all three steps.

Since most people's income comes from their jobs, you need to make sure that you are working in a job that you enjoy. The old adage “love what you do” applies here a lot. It is unfortunate to see that most people are not completely happy with their jobs and that they do not realize that their job is the cause of 80% of their unhappiness. Enjoy what you do for a living; you will spend most of your life at work, and this is a very influential factor in your happiness. So be careful what you do.

What is vital and necessary for your relationships?

When it comes to relationships, the people you spend your time with influence your happiness the most. This does not mean that you should exclude your friends who are in the 80% who don't all contribute as much. What we're saying is that you want to spend most of your time with 20% of your friends, and that gives you a lot of fun, enjoyment, and positive vibes.

The same rule can apply to your love life if you are single. Whether you are female or male, as a single person, you probably have a group of people in your contact list who would like to go out with you.

But there will also be people you seek out who are reluctant to go out with you. You will notice that whenever you call or text, some of them are really slow to respond or show little enthusiasm for meeting you. You should apply the 80/20 rule here as well.

Focus on the people who want to go with you right away, and nurture those relationships. That is, choose the 20% who want to accompany you, and do not spend too much time on the other 80% who do not want to meet with you immediately.

Project management using the Pareto principle

You may not be the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, but you can benefit from his principles. Remember, before you start anything, keep the 80/20 rule in mind. Determine the 20% that will give you 80% of your results.

1. Track your time

Now that you know your 20%, try to be aware of how you spend your time. This is why we always invite people to track their time in a single day, so that they can see the real data generated by what they do in a single day. After a week of tracking your time, ask yourself if most of it relates to the 20% of important activities.

2. Double your personal productivity

If you could spend most of your focus on the important 20%, your life would never be the same. Doing so will save you a lot of time, and you will reach your goals and dreams quickly. Moreover, if you make 20% of your activities your most important task, your life will be on the fast track to success. When you apply the Pareto Principle, you will be happy, productive, and prosperous.

The same goes for leaders. By properly assigning responsibilities to the team, you can maximize the effectiveness of your team or organization.

3. Start with the 80/20 rule

Identify the 20% of your areas of responsibility that will give you 80% of the results you want.
Promote your 20% and regulate your 80%.
Track your time and spend it on the important 20%.