The 80/20 Rule
The Pareto principle (also known as the 80/20 rule) states that, in many cases, 80% of the effects comes from 20% of the causes. The Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto observed that 80% of the income in Italy was received by 20% of the Italian population. The assumption is that most of the results in any situation are determined by a small number of causes.
Take some time this week to see if this holds true for you. In the activities that you do, does the minority (around 20 percent) account for the majority (around 80 percent) of your outputs.
I see this all the time in my life.
I often find myself teaching the Sunday school lesson at our church along with 4 or 5 other guys. Week after week the same group of guys step up to teach the class because out of around 30+ people they are the only ones to volunteer.
I remember as a kid playing soccer one of my coaches said that in a 90 minute soccer game the combined amount of time that you will actually touch the ball is less than 2 minutes… “so don’t screw it up son”.
Even at work, I’m willing to bet that my best work would make up a small chunk of time, say an hour, maybe two. It’s not to say that the other six hours are wasted, but they are spent in less productive ways.
This blog is no exception. This blog, like any other blog I’m sure, receives the majority of its comments from a select few. These precious few take the time to comment on most of the posts that we spend hours creating. And so today we thank them!
Thank you to ALL who have taken the time to comment. It means the world to us. We hope that you will continue to do so.
And an extra special thanks to our top 5 commenters – THANK YOU!
September 14th, 2007 at 8:13 am
Awww.. You are welcome, Mark. I am here to stay. 🙂
September 14th, 2007 at 8:32 am
Thanks Jelena, your comments really do mean the world to us. I know that Paul and Sara put in a lot of time and it’s nice to know that people are stopping by and getting something out of it.
So THANK YOU!
mark
September 14th, 2007 at 9:18 pm
TIP: The Pareto Principle or how I learned origins of the 80/20 rule….
I’ve often heard and given reference to the 80/20 rule. It was only today after reading an post on Search-This that I discovered that the 80/20 rule was actually a principal or more specifically “The Pareto principal”. Apparently Jose…
September 15th, 2007 at 9:19 am
I’ve heard of the 80/20 rule but never the derivation. Great article! I did a quick wikipedia search and it looks like Joseph M. Juran coined the term and named it after Vilfredo Pareto.
September 15th, 2007 at 9:37 pm
Cool, thanks Ian for the info.
September 16th, 2007 at 4:02 am
I should be thanking you for the quality posts Mark. I still remember when Search-This was in its infancy and I would read about it on your personal blog (whatasavage.com). This blog, the articles, your writing, and your team has come such a long way amigo – keep up the great work!
September 17th, 2007 at 8:14 am
Thanks Tomas 🙂
September 17th, 2007 at 10:19 am
This is one of the few blogs, that I wait to read every post.
Thanks for a wonderful content. And yes, it is a very nice gesture to thank your readers.
Keep blogging! I would say
September 17th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
Thanks rAm 🙂
September 17th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
Thank you too for linking to me 🙂 I also enjoy reading this blog a lot, and I find it a courtesy to add a comment.
September 20th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
Golgotha,
Search-This is an excellent blog. Between your entries, and Sara’s podcasting – I have plenty of excellent content to study.
Thank you 🙂
September 20th, 2007 at 3:51 pm
Thanks Paul – that really does mean a lot to all of us. We all put in long hours — too many hours my wife says — but it’s fun!
Without commentors though, we couldn’t do it.
September 20th, 2007 at 3:55 pm
Thank you too Michal – we love you all… well maybe not all of you, but probably 20% of you 🙂