Why was Pareto an excellent time manager?

It would surprise most people to know that the Pareto Principle has applications that go far beyond time management.  In fact Vilfredo Pareto, for whom the principle is named, merely described the income distribution of Italy; he observed that 80% of the total wealth of this country is held by only 20% of its total population.

It is the great business management legend (yes, he is still alive today) Joseph M. Juran, who actually proposed this principle.  He discovered that the 80-20 rule held true for many other things apart from business management. 

Among the interesting applications of this principle are the following:  we wear 20% of our clothes 80% of the time; 80% of a business’ sales come from only 20% of the customers; 80% of quality control issues originate from 20% of the causes; only 20% of a computer’s applications typically uses 80% of the computer’s resources; and so on and so forth. 

In fact, this principle was so useful that it was used by the Japanese Industries to conquer a large part of the American consumer market during the 70s.

Pareto Principle and Time Management
The Pareto principle is also the backbone of effective time management.  Basically, Pareto Principle in the area of time management states that 80% of the results come from 20% of the activities.  This principle is sometimes called the “law of the vital few and the trivial many” for this reason.

This means that around 80% of things that we do aren’t actually that important in the final reckoning of things.  This also means that if we are able to identify “the vital 20%” of our activities then devote most of our time to accomplishing them, we will boost our productivity by around 80%.

For example, one of your business objectives for this year is to increase sales by 30% through an increase in the number of new customers.  This means that you have to increase your advertising and marketing expenditures.  By concentrating 80% of your marketing dollars and time to the top 20% of your advertising/marketing methods – those that would convert the greatest number of customers – you are sure to achieve your goal of increased sales. 

This 80-20 approach would be more effective than equally allocating your time, money and effort on different marketing media.

Likewise, if you are a team leader in charge of the productivity of a group of people, you will notice that 80% of what your team produces comes from only 20% of the activities that you do as a leader. 

For instance, the more time you and your team devote to preparing for the project, anticipating problems and developing project monitoring systems, the less time and energy you and your team will have to spend on the actual project execution.

Using the Pareto Principle
First, you have to identify the vital few activities in your business.  Effective use of the Pareto Principle necessitates that you list down all of your goals and all the activities that are required to attain these goals. 

Next, rank the activities according to their potential impact to your goals.  After that, apply the Pareto Principle by concentrating most of your time on the top 20% of the activities.  By so doing, you ensure achieving at least 80% of your target result.