Living The 80/20 Way: Work Less, Worry Less, Succeed More, Enjoy More

The 80/20 principle applies not only to groups of people and their behavior, but to virtually every aspect of life. There are always a small minority of very powerful forces and a great mass of unimportant ones. For instance:

• 20 percent of countries , containing far fewer than 20 percent of the worlds population, consume 70 percent of its energy, 75 percent of its metals, and 85 percent of its timber.

• Far less than 20 percent of the Earths surface produces 80 percent of its mineral wealth.

• Fewer than 20 percent of species cause more than 80 percent of ecological degradation. Its estimated that just one species, out of the 30 million on earth thats 0.00000003 percent causes 40 percent of the harm. No prize for guessing the species.

• A very small percentage of meteorites falling to earth produce more than 80 percent of the damage.

• Far fewer than 20 percent of wars produce more than 80 percent of casualties.

• The overwhelming majority of baby seals in Alaska die young; 80 percent of the survivors come from 20 percent of the mothers.

• Wherever you go, fewer than 20 percent of clouds will produce 80 percent of rain.

• Less than 20 percent of all recorded music is played more than 80 percent of the time. If you go to a concert, whether rock or classical, the old familiar pieces a tiny portion of the total repertoire available will be churned out time and again.

• Fewer than 20 percent of the treasures in most art museums inventories are on display more than 80 percent of the time.

• Of investments made by a successful venture capitalist, 5 percent of them provide 55 percent of cash, 10 percent produce 73 percent, and 15 percent yield a total of 82 percent.

• Fewer than 20 percent of inventions have more than 80 percent of impact on our lives. In the twentieth century, nuclear power and the computer probably had greater influence than the hundreds of thousands of other inventions and new technologies.

• More than 80 percent of food comes from far less than 20 percent of land. Also, fruit typically accounts for much less than 20 percent of the mass or weight of a tree or vine. And meat is a reduction of vast amounts of digested grain or grass.

• Drinks are also an extreme demonstration of the 80/20 principle. What makes Coca-Cola so much more valuable than any other soft drink on the planet? The sacred formula for tiny amounts of concentrate that, mixed with large volumes of water, produces Coke. Or what produces beer and makes different beer brands distinctive ? Minute proportions of hops and other flavorings.

• In fact, the whole process of life, from acorn to giant oak, from grain of wheat to a bread-bowl region, is the perfect expression of the 80/20 principle, taken to its fullest extent. Diminutive causes, massive results.

• Finally, evolution presents a stunning example of selectivity. One percent of species that have ever lived on earth, biologist Richard Dawkins estimates, constitute 100 percent of the species now living.

The 80/20 principle works everywhere in life. Its surprising and amazing. Its not what we expect. There is a big imbalance between causes and results.

Most causes have little result,

a few

transform life.

Many people believe that the 80/20 principle, with its emphasis on the top 20 percent, is inherently elitist. But this is wrong. It is a fallacy that there is any restriction on who uses the 80/20 principle or that it is a zero-sum gain. It is not true that because I benefit from the principle, somebody else must lose.

To object to improvement on the grounds that it is elitist is wrong- headed: progress is desirable and helps everyone. Perfection and equality are equally impossible , and in my opinion equally undesirable. The 80/20 principle is no more elitist than, for example, money, private property, or vaccines against disease. Refusing to use any of these because they are elitist is silly. They are all tools that improve life for everybody.

Anybody can improve their life by using the 80/20 Way: the application of the 80/20 principle to our daily lives, with the objective of decreasing effort and worry and increasing happiness and the results we want. We use the 80/20 Way to go with the grain of the universe, producing better results more easily. When we do, other people benefit as well.

What would happen if everybody used the 80/20 Way? Everybody would be better off. Would there still be a top 20 percent and a bottom 80 percent of everything? Certainly. Unless there was, no further improvement would be possible. Only if we reached utopia or nirvana a perfect world would the 80/20 principle stop working.

Fortunately, that is not going to happen: we will always have something to improve.

As I know from my own experience, and as hundreds of thousands of people have discovered , using the 80/20 principle can have an enormous influence not just on our economy and society, but also on our personal lives. It can make us happy, fulfilled, and relaxed . We start by creating more with less