Use the 80/20 rule for maximum impact

- Imagine you're a marine biologist and your boss tells you to test the bacteria levels in the Pacific Ocean. Would you collect all of the water in the Pacific Ocean and then test the bacteria levels or would it be easier to get a spoonful of ocean water and just test that small amount of water? This is an example of boiling the ocean which is a phrase often used to describe trying to do too much at once rather than focusing on the more achievable goals or tasks and the best way to avoid boiling the ocean is to use the 80/20 rule. The 80/20 rule also called the Pareto Principle suggests that it's more effective to focus on the 20% of tasks or projects that will produce 80% of the desired results rather than trying to tackle everything at once. The exact proportions may vary but this rule is a useful way to maximize impact with the least amount of work saving yourself and your team from wasted time and effort. Let's look at a few examples. In business, a pizza company might realize that 80% of its sales come from just selling cheese and pepperoni thus focusing efforts on selling those 20% of pizza types. In personal productivity, a college student named Stacy struggles to finish her to-do list so she realized that 20% of her homework tasks result in 80% of outcome focusing on the highest impact tasks to achieve an A. An account manager in sales is struggling to get to their quarterly quota. After some analysis, they realize that 80% of sales come from only 20% of customers thus deciding to better serve that subset of customers. In cooking, a chef might identify that 20% of ingredients are the most essential for most meals thus focusing their shopping and cooking efforts on building recipes around those fewer ingredients. And in freelancing or entrepreneurship, you continue to seek shiny new opportunities but come to realize that the 20% of your current opportunities on the table will result in the highest chance of your startup to succeed thus using the 80/20 rule to help shift your focus and double down on what's most important. You can use the 80/20 rule in almost any situation ranging from business, personal productivity, decision making and more. To start using the 80/20 rule, first, analyze your current situation. This might involve analyzing data, gathering opinions and feedback and deep thinking so that you can identify the most important factors. Second, prioritize efforts. This will include focusing on the tasks that have the greatest impact with the lowest effort. Third, evaluate and adjust. As you start applying the 80/20 rule, you should monitor progress and adjust your prioritized efforts accordingly as initiatives have the highest chance to change impact. This rule is not about reducing your workload. Rather, it helps you focus on the highest impact, lowest effort tasks on your to-do list. So what 20% of your work drives 80% of your outcomes?