The 80/20 Principle Summary

The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch

​​​The 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Achieving More with Less

“The 80/20 Principle, like the truth, can make you free. You can work less. At the same time, you can earn more and enjoy more. The only price is that you need to do some serious 80/20 thinking.” ~ Richard Koch

1. 20% of efforts lead to 80% of results.

2. “A simple business is always better than a complex business.”

3. Do what’s easy for you!

4. “For both personal and professional relationships, fewer and deeper is better than more and less deep.”

5. When you read a book: Read the conclusion, then the introduction, then the conclusion again, then dip lightly into any interesting bits.

“80/20 thinking requires, and with practice enables, us to spot the few really important things that are happening and ignore the mass of unimportant things. It teaches us to see the wood for the trees.”

In 1897, Vilfredo Pareto who was an Italian economist, was studying wealth and income distribution in 19th Century England.

He found out that 20% of the population controlled 80% of the wealth and income.

In fact, this principle is applied for everything!

For example, 20% of efforts lead to 80% of results.

Remember that “The few things that work fantastically well should be identified, cultivated, nurtured, and multiplied.”

Take care of your “20%”!

How to Apply the Principle?

Koch says: “20% of what we do leads to 80% of the results; but 80% of what we do leads to only 20%. We are wasting 80% of our time on low-value outcomes.”

So, Koch advices us: “calm down, work less and target a limited number of very valuable goals where the 80/20 Principle will work for us.”

Just FOCUS your energy and efforts on these 20%, don’t waste your valuable time on the other 80%!

Got it?

“The 80/20 Principle suggests that your strategy is wrong. If you make most of your money out of a small part of your activity, you should turn your company upside down and concentrate your efforts on multiplying this small part.”

“Twenty percent of products usually account for about 80 percent of dollar sales value; so do 20 percent of customers. Twenty percent of products or customers usually also account for about 80 percent of an organizations profits.”

“It is almost certainly true that you make at least 80 percent of your profits and cash in 20 percent of your activity, and in 20 percent of your revenues. The trick is to work out which 20 percent.”

“Executives may suspect that some customers and some products are more profitable than others, but when the extent of the difference is proved, they are likely to be surprised and sometimes dumbfounded.”

And always remember that “A simple business is always better than a complex business.”

“Everything you want should be yours: the type of work you want; the relationships you need; the social, mental, and aesthetic stimulation that will make you happy and fulfilled; the money you require for the lifestyle that is appropriate to you; and any requirement that you may (or may not) have for achievement or service to others. If you don’t aim for it all, you’ll never get it all. To aim for it requires that you know what you want.”

Just start writing down what you really want… And see if you actually doing your best to get them… Then focus on the very few things (20%) that will get you there!

“It is important to focus on what you find easy. This is where most motivational writers go wrong. They assume you should try things that are difficult for you.”

In Authentic Happiness great book, Martin Seligman says: “I do not believe that you should devote overly much effort to correcting your weaknesses. Rather, I believe that the highest success in living and the deepest emotional satisfaction comes from building and using your signature strengths.”

Koch advises us to: “Pursue those few things where you are amazingly better than others and that you enjoy the most.”

So, answer these questions…

What are the things that you are amazingly better than others at doing?

And what do you enjoy the most?

Write them down and start focusing on them…

And remember what Koch says: “For the individual, too, it is better to know a few things well, or preferably one thing exceptionally well, than it is to know many things superficially.”

“Relationships help us to define who we are and what we can become. Most of us can trace our successes to pivotal relationships.”

The fact is that 20% of your friends/loved ones probably account for 80% of your enjoyment and satisfaction.

So, why wouldn’t you spend more time with them?

Koch says: “A surprising number of people spend a lot of time with people they don’t like. This is a complete and utter waste of time. It’s not enjoyable, it’s tiring.”

Try Koch’s exercise to apply the 80/20 principle in relationships…

First, write down the names of your Top 20 friends and loved ones—your most important relationships—ranked from most to least important.

Then, you have 100 points. Allocate them to the different people according to how much value they give you in your life relative to one another.

It’s more likely to find that around 4 of the people (20%) give you 80% of your joy.

Next step. You have another 100 units. Next to the enjoyment numbers, write down how much time you spend with each person such that the total time comes to 100.

Are you spending far less than 80% of your time with the 20% who give you so much joy?

Koch says: “The action implications should be plain. Go for quality rather than quantity. Spend your time and emotional energy reinforcing and deepening the relationships that are most important.”

And remember: “For both personal and professional relationships, fewer and deeper is better than more and less deep.”

Koch shares a story of his tutor at Oxford shared with him. First, he advised him not to attend lectures because: “Books can be read far faster… But never read a book from cover to cover, except for pleasure.

When you are working, find out what the book is saying much faster than you would by reading through. Read the conclusion, then the introduction, then the conclusion again, then dip lightly into any interesting bits.”

Brilliant idea!

A fact is that 80% of the valuable content can be found in 20% of the book

So, if you’re not reading a book for pleasure, read the conclusion then the introduction, then read the conclusion again and if you’re interested in a particular section, read it!

That’s it…

20% of your healthy eating habits account for 80% of your health gains.

Focus on the fundamentals:

Exercise, drink enough water, eat more fresh, organic fruits and vegetables, avoid refined foods and refined sugar…

And you’ll be surprised! 🙂

“Whenever you spot a 20 percent activity, run to it, surround yourself with it, immerse yourself in it, patent it, make yourself its expert, worshipper, high priest, partner, creator, propagandist, and indispensable ally. Make the most of it. If the most appears to be more than you can imagine, multiply your imagination.”

Koch also says: “Conventional wisdom is not to put all of your eggs in one basket. 80/20 wisdom is to choose a basket carefully, load all your eggs into it, and then watch it like a hawk.”

“So there you have it. Think 80/20 and act 80/20. Those who ignore the 80/20 Principle are doomed to average returns. Those who use it must bear the burden of exceptional achievement.”

And always focus on “What is the 20 percent of your time when you achieve 80 percent of your results? Do more of it! What is the 80 percent of your time when you achieve little? Do less of it!”

​Apply the 80/20 Principle and FLOURISH! 🙂

That was my QUICK The 80/20 Principle summary. If you’re interested, get your copy. There is a HUGE amount of wisdom and life-changing ideas in this book, and we’ve only touched on a tiny bit of it.

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