I first heard about the Pareto Principle, or the 80/20 Rule while reading The 4-Hour Work Week, but it is an idea that has been getting a lot of attention in the past few years.  Basically it states that 80% of your returns come from 20% of your efforts.  The 80/20 Principle has been used on everything from setting goals to information security to relationships.

Once you start thinking about it you may realize (I certainly did) how true this principle can be across many parts of your life.  What would it look like if you used this principle to cut out the 80% of your life that wasn’t productive, fulfilling, or fruitful? What if you used the 80/20 principle to take a fresh look at:

• The number of RSS subscriptions you actually read and find worthwhile
• The number of email newsletters you receive
• The websites that you visit every day
• The fluff or small talk in your conversations and emails
• The tv shows that you watch
• The unfocused energy that make chores drag on and on
• The work of your employees
• When you do your best work
• Your business’ advertising
• The amount of time you spend daydreaming instead of creating goals
• How you conduct meetings
• How you are exercising

Creating Groups in Social Networking to Get More Time

One way that I’m using the 80/20 principle to get more time is by applying it to my social networks.  Most of the time when checking in on our favorite networks there are a few people – the 20% – that we really want to find out about, whereas we don’t necessarily want to hear everything the other 80% say all day.

I’ve started creating groups that include that 20%.  (You can easily create group in the upper left of the screen in Facebook, with Twitter you’ll have to use a 3rd party app like TweetDeck.)  Then, when I log on I can quickly check in on one group to see just what they have posted.  If I have more time I may open up and read more about what everyone is thinking.  But if I don’t I’ve hit the highlights and can move on.

Give it a shot and let me know – how can using the 80/20 Rule free up more of your time?

Or, read one of these:

1. Guard Your Time