Skip to main content

6 Common Misconceptions about the 80/20 Rule

Since I specialize in teaching the 80/20 Principle to Corporates, I find that there are some common misconceptions, that people carry in their head. I thought I would share some personal thoughts on it.
  1. Myth # 1 : 80/20 means eliminating all unimportant tasks. Not true. Some tasks are low value but need to be done. For example, washing laundry, paying the bills. Not doing them will create a negative downside. The 80/20 rule is about spending more time on the important tasks, spending less time on the unimportant (by delegating, batching) and eliminating the tasks with almost no value (not doing them will not make a difference.
  2. Myth #2 :  It must be precisely 80/20. Not necessarily. As I mentioned in part 1, it just happened that Pareto’s observation was 80-20 (rather than 70-20). So let's say you have 10 tasks on your to-do list. It doesn't mean that there must be precisely 2 tasks (20%) with high value. Maybe you have 3 tasks that contribute to 80% of the value. Maybe 4 of the tasks contribute to 90% of the final impact. The point is that a small %age of inputs lead to a large %age of results.
  3. Myth #3 : 80 must add with 20 to be 100. 80% represents the effects while 20% represents the causes. When Pareto made the connection, it was regarding the distribution of wealth in Italy, where 20% of people owned 80% of wealth. The reality is that it can be 70/20, 90/30, etc. The %age of causes don't have to add up with the %age of effects to be 100. 
  4. Myth #4 : 80/20 is about being lazy. No. 80/20 is about being effective. When you use the 80/20, you think about the areas where you can make the most impact so that you can focus on them. It's about using your limited energy to create the maximum impact, rather than being haphazard and unstrategic in the way you do things. 
  5. Myth #5 : It only applies to business. While 80/20 gained popularity in the business world, it can be found in almost everything in life. It can be found in sports, science, software, medicine, and more. It can be found in our relationships, beliefs, goals, habits (20% of habits will make the biggest difference), and health (20% of actions will make biggest difference to our health). It's really a way of life. 
  6. Myth #6 : 80/20 is about being mercenary. Some people may resist the 80/20 because they don't want to choose. They are uncomfortable about saying no. They want to do everything. But when you don't apply the 80/20, you are already choosing — you're  choosing against the high-impact tasks that could benefit enormously from your attention, focus. 80/20 is about choosing to make the most impact with your limited time.
We can work together on this, if you like.

About the Author 
Dr. Sunil Pevekar is a PGDM from IIMA and  a PhD from USA. He is an expert on  10X Business Growth and Non–Traditional Marketing Tools & Techniques. He can be contacted on marketing@drsunilpevekar.com or +91 7983826309.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Compelling Value Proposition

Value is defined as the worth of something for which something else can be exchanged.  This exchange is by free will. This exchange, in marketing, is with the money that the customer is willing to pay. Many marketing professionals confuse the value proposition, with the value statements that they make from from time to time. One of them - the (dreaded) elevator pitch. 😠 Dreaded elevator pitch makes the other guy in the elevator, press the "emergency" button to get off the next floor, even of he was not intending to get off there. 😠 😠  Even some experienced marketing professionals believe that a value proposition is merely a single statement or a sentence. It is not so. It a comprehensive way to define value, especially from the point of the customer. Thus, an elevator pitch, a Unique Selling Proposition(USP), a Unique Value Proposition (UVP), a Minimum Value Proposition (MVP) are just parts of the value proposition. You can call them the subsets of ...
5 comments
Read more

Being a Responsive Manager

These days, I hear a lot of people talking about making responsive websites. I started wondering whether there was some way we could also have responsive managers !! Do they teach this in the MBA Colleges ? Or even in the Corporate World ? What would being responsive mean ? Is there a way a manager can learn to become responsive ? Many such questions !! I thought I would share my thoughts here. U nresponsive people drive me crazy - sending an eMail to someone and then waiting days to hear anything back, is at the top of my list. I have to admit that this happens to me also. Yet, I replay withing 4 - 5 days, even in such situations. What is horribly sickening is not hearing anything at all. A simple question I ask, in job interviews, is “Do you consider yourself a responsive person ?” For me, this is a must-have-attribute . Naturally, everyone says, “yes.” But the way they answer, the speed and the conviction, is obviously the answer to my question. This makes realize...
5 comments
Read more

4 Disciplines That Will Make You Win In Business

Have you had the nagging feeling, while running a business, that we are caught up in a perpetual whirlwind of unending phone calls, unexpected and urgent meetings or appointments, ‘urgent’ stuff piling up from last week, just to name a few. The list is almost endless. Urgent matters have become the rule of the day. More and more things are becoming Urgent and Important . We and our entire team is also caught up in the same web. To come out will require huge doses of commitment and motivation, with full heart and mind. Changing behaviour is an uphill task at all times. The following 4 Disciplines of Execution can, rest assured, make a big difference. When all are moving in the same direction, it is easier to tear through those urgent matters, towards achieving goals critical for Success. Discipline #1 – Focus on Wildly Important Goals (WIGs) As a Business Manager, you know – The more you try to do, the less you will accomplish . That’s why your WIG is not in this year’s ...
2 comments
Read more