Pareto’s Principle of Priorities – Pt 1

In my coaching practice, I love using the Pareto Principle to teach my clients how to prioritize. Often referred to as the 80/20 rule, it is a powerful concept helping us understand and optimize our life and work. Numerous fields apply the Pareto Principle, from economics and business to personal productivity and even software development. In this challenge, we will use it in our self-leadership development and peer into how my son, Private First Class Kolehmainen (US Marine Corps – USMC recruit) has harnessed it for himself over the years.

Quick History

In the late 19th century, Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto observed that approximately 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population. This led to the 80/20 rule – roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of causes, an inherent imbalance in many systems, namely that a small number of inputs or actions often yield a disproportionately large share of the results. The “vital few” (20%) are contrasted with the “trivial many” (80%), emphasizing the importance of focusing efforts on the most impactful factors.

Applications Across Disciplines

The versatility of the Pareto Principle is evident in its widespread application across various disciplines. In business, it’s used to identify the most profitable products or customers and therefore optimize marketing efforts. For example, an Amazon seller might find that 20% of their products generate 80% of their revenue, allowing them to focus on those top performers. In time management, which is how we will use it in this challenge, the principle encourages individuals to identify and prioritize the 20% of tasks that yield 80% of the results, leading to increased productivity. In software development, it can be applied to bug fixing, where addressing the top 20% of reported bugs can resolve 80% of related errors and crashes.

The principle’s adaptability makes it a valuable tool for decision-making and resource allocation in diverse contexts. At this point in the challenge, we are focusing on your desired results. As an example, my two main focuses in this season are:

• to be a stellar wife and
• to grow my practice/ministry. Note that those are pretty general goals, and I will hone them in the next few weeks.

The hard work comes in determining which “vital few” practices will contribute to that and which “trivial many” I can start to let go of. I’ll tell you right now that keeping an immaculate house falls under the “trivial many” for both of my focuses. It would thus be senseless to spend hours a day cleaning house. That would be 80% effort going to 20% results, if that.

CTA:

1. Start to list options of priorities you value. Don’t evaluate them too hard for now. Think of 10 and get them out of your head and onto paper. Tomorrow, we will narrow them down.
2. Many recruits at boot (bootcamp) don’t get letters the whole time they are there. If you would like to write a letter of support to a recruit, write that in the comments and I’ll connect you with one.
3. 3.2.1:

• Share this post with 3 people. My goal is to focus the interactions on my blogsite instead of regular social media. Feel free to write comments here. That saves me time so I’m not hopping onto FB or elsewhere.
• What 2 ways do you think James harnessed his efforts to get where he is today?
• Write in the comments whether you were familiar with Pareto’s Principle. Share one way that the principle resonates with you.

Well done on all your efforts in the last 2 weeks. I’ll be away ministering out of town this weekend. Review the last 2 weeks of the challenge and note how you are growing as Holy Spirit trains us together in community. Get good rest on Sunday. Have a fabulous weekend and see you on Monday for part II. Semper Fi!