Ever feel like you’re drowning in tasks but barely making a dent in your to-do list?
What if you could solve most of your problems with a fraction of the work?
Welcome to the power of the Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule. Using this strategy, you can focus all your time and energy on 20% of your work and still achieve 80% of your results. This simple but transformative tool can revolutionize your time management, goal-setting, and decision-making skills across daily living tasks.
Join us as we dive into how this tool can help you work smarter, not harder.
What is the Pareto Principle?
The Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, was named after an Italian economist named Vilfredo Pareto. In the early 1900s, Pareto observed that about 80% of the land in Italy was owned or operated by 20% of the people.
He realized that he saw this same pattern in other areas of life as well. For example, some businesses noticed that 80% of sales were coming from 20% of customers. This idea helps people understand how a small part of what we do can have a big impact on the results that we see. Beyond economics, the Pareto Principle is also used to understand and improve different areas of human behavior, such as managing time, planning, and solving problems.
Science Behind the Pareto Principle
Underlying this principle is a mathematical formula called the Pareto distribution, which was used to calculate the unequal distribution of wealth in Italy. Differences in wealth are still compared using this model. However, this observation has been noted across disciplines and adapted to different circumstances. If we were to somehow convert our weekly productivity or time management to a math calculation, it’s not likely a perfect 80/20 split. The point is that most things in life are not distributed equally, including stressful tasks! We are looking for 20% of our actions that we can focus our energy and attention on, which will lead to the best outcomes.
Benefits of Using the Pareto Principle
Whether you are a learner, family of a neurodivergent individual, educator, or other professional, understanding the benefits of the Pareto Principle is crucial for those who want to boost their productivity.
In the work, school or home settings, this strategy can help us improve time management and helps us have a clearer focus on what truly needs to be completed in order to get through the day and feel accomplished.
- Improve Time Management – Time management is a key executive functioning skill that allows us to plan and organize our time efficiently, essential for achieving goals and maximizing productivity. The Pareto Principle enables people to focus their time and energy on the most critical tasks. Once we have focused on completing these crucial tasks, time will ideally be left over for the other, less important tasks. Without taking steps to manage our time, we might find ourselves falling behind on the steps we need to take to reach our goals, leaving very little time for doing fun activities or engaging in self-care.
- Increase Productivity (a.k.a. getting more stuff done in a set amount of time) – Increased productivity is an outcome of better task prioritization and time management. Spending your time on the most important 20% of tasks helps focus time and energy on what matters most, while waiting until those tasks are completed before starting less meaningful tasks. If we don’t learn strategies to increase our productivity, we can fall behind, feel rushed, increase stress, and ultimately feel defeated.
- Enhance Relationships – This strategy can also help us think differently about the effort we put into our relationships. We can maintain healthy relationships by focusing on the important actions that strengthen connections the most. For example, spending quality time with others and communicating openly may be among your top 20%, resulting in the most positive impact on your relationships. You can improve your relationships with others by focusing on these key actions rather than feeling others need constant effort and attention. If we don’t prioritize the most impactful actions in our relationships, it can lead to feelings of disconnection and overwhelm for both ourselves and others, as our efforts may not produce the desired outcomes. The interpersonal skill(s) you focus on will likely also depend on the other person’s preferences in the relationship.
- Better Health Practices – This strategy can be considered when implementing healthy living practices such as exercise, diet, and proper sleep. Focusing on a few healthy habits, such as drinking more water and getting enough sleep at night, can keep us feeling better and operating at our best. This also stops us from trying to prioritize all the smaller self-care tasks, which can lead to feeling overwhelmed and seeing inconsistent progress. Sometimes, when we try to take on too many tasks at once such as stretching, journaling, and starting a new skincare routine, we neglect essential health practices like sleeping and eating balanced meals! By concentrating on these important actions, you can improve your overall health without feeling overwhelmed by small, less meaningful actions.
Why Add the Pareto Principle to Your Toolbox?
The Pareto Principle can help with time management, planning, and problem-solving–all key executive functioning skills! This skill can also be used in social relationships to help recognize how to maintain friendships. By focusing on the most important 20% of our tasks or efforts, we can achieve most of our goals and improve efficiency.
When we think about the Executive Functioning Ripple Effect, we know that struggles with executive skills can affect many other behaviors. These skills are like building blocks that help learners achieve bigger goals. When individuals learn tips for organizing tasks and managing time, it boosts motivation and builds confidence to tackle more complex tasks. Successfully using the Pareto Principle can also show us where there may be challenges with other skills, such as cognitive flexibility or task initiation, which we can then work on supporting.
​​If you’d like to explore how to implement the Pareto Principle into your day, below is a step-by-step plan to get started.
How to Implement the Pareto Principle
Before implementing this productivity tool, you’re encouraged to complete a self-assessment of your current strengths and challenges. Skills in planning, time management, prioritization, and problem-solving can vary greatly, and this tool will help you better understand each area. You can do this by completing our free Executive Functioning Assessment.
Step 1: Find a Focus and Create a List of Tasks
Identify if this strategy is something you will be using to help with school (e.g., homework), work (e.g., meeting deadlines, projects), or daily living tasks (e.g., self-care, cooking, etc.). Once you have found your target setting, brain-dump all the tasks you have yet to do on paper. List all the tasks and activities you have to do daily or weekly to prepare for the next step.
Step 2: Prioritize Your Tasks
Identify which tasks have the most significant impact on your desired outcome. For example, if you have ten tasks at work to complete, find the top three tasks. To prioritize, consider the importance and urgency of the task. These few tasks will make up your 20%.
The Eisenhower Matrix is an excellent tool to use with the Pareto Principle to walk through the prioritization process. This tool will help you determine when tasks are urgent and/or important and how to determine if tasks can be deleted or delegated. Some additional tips and trips for prioritization can be found here if you need some support creating your to-do list.
Step 3: Allocate Time to Each Task
Determine how much time each task will take. Book specific time blocks in your schedule to ensure they are completed first. This process ensures you remember which tasks you identified as high-impact.
Some learners find time management challenging. You can monitor your time estimation accuracy by timing how long it takes you to complete the task. Once you are finished, compare the time you budgeted to the time it actually took you to complete the task. Use this information to estimate time for future tasks better.
Step 4: Review Remaining Tasks
Look at the remaining tasks on your to-do list. Determine if some tasks can be crossed off the list or delegated elsewhere. The more time you can free up, the more time you have for the most important tasks! It’s important to review each task after you have completed the first 20%. Some tasks can just be removed because they will overlap with other tasks on your list. It still feels good to cross them off!
Step 5: Monitor and Adjust
Regularly review your progress to determine if you are on track to meeting your goals. Digging deeper into what’s going well and what needs improvement can help you focus on the right tasks to meet your desired outcome. Check in on how you’re progressing as often as you need it. For some, that will be daily; others are comfortable checking in weekly. When you review your progress, ask yourself some of the following self-reflection questions:
- How did it feel to prioritize my 20%?
- Did this tool make me feel more productive during the week?
- How well did I manage my time?
- Did I accomplish everything on my to-do list?
- Was I able to delegate tasks elsewhere? Or cross them off completely?
- What do I need to do differently next time to feel more successful?
Additional Tips for Success with the Pareto Principle
Remember to regularly assess your areas of strength, challenge, and areas for improvement when using the Pareto Principle. When you regularly self-reflect, you will be able to accurately identify high-impact tasks. Your learner might find the best success implementing the Pareto Principle along with other tools, such as chunking or visual reminders.
Some learners may get the most benefit from this tool with time management and problem-solving when combined with other tools and strategies. Visit our Executive Functioning 101 Resource Hub to learn more about skills that can help with each area of executive functioning. For example, some learners may benefit from having visual schedules available that promote independence, organization, and successful task completion.
Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them When Using the Pareto Principle
As you begin using this strategy, it’s common to encounter a few hiccups along the way. Common mistakes include focusing on the wrong priorities, taking the tool’s name literally, and multitasking, which can make it harder to achieve your goals effectively.
- Prioritization Difficulties–You may find yourself choosing the wrong priorities when applying the Pareto Principle. In order for this strategy to work well, the top 20% of tasks must be those that have the most impact on your overall success. If you find yourself choosing other tasks, re-evaluate the criteria you use to select priorities. You can also seek feedback from trusted supervisors, teachers, or friends to gain another perspective.
- Taking the 80/20 Split Literally–The Pareto Principle is an observation, not a law. Most situations will not be a perfect 80/20 split, and some situations beyond those described in this article may not apply in the same way. This principle is meant to show us that we can focus on a few big-picture items to have the best outcome rather than focusing on all 100% of our tasks.
- Task Switching–It’s important to avoid switching between tasks when using Pareto’s Principle. Focusing on one task at a time will help you complete tasks more efficiently and with better quality. If you start task switching, it will reduce your efficiency, making it harder to see the impact of the Pareto Principle on your productivity.
Conclusion
The Pareto Principle can help you boost productivity, time management, and problem-solving skills as you juggle your daily responsibilities. This approach enables you to manage your time and mental energy effectively by focusing on and prioritizing fewer tasks that are most important. Remember, this method highlights the importance of tackling tasks that have the most significant impact on your goals, and you can save or delegate less critical tasks for later. When used in combination with strategies like the Eisenhower Matrix or visual schedules, you can feel empowered and successful in the process.
TL;DR – (Too Long, Didn’t Read)
The Pareto Principle, or the 80/20 rule, is a strategy that can improve time management, productivity, and decision-making in school, work, or daily life. The main idea of this strategy is that we can achieve most of our desired outcomes by focusing on the most important pieces of our work. If we can prioritize the 20% of tasks that need to be done, 80% of our outcome will follow. Other tasks of less priority can be a focus after the high-impact tasks are done. It’s important not to oversimplify the strategy or multitask. These challenges can undermine how the strategy supports productivity. The steps to implementing this tool include:
- Create a list of the tasks you need to complete.
- Prioritize your tasks.
- Estimate the time to complete the tasks and block them from your schedule.
- Review your remaining tasks that were rated as less priority.
- Monitor and adjust your use of the Pareto Principle regularly.
The Pareto Principle can be supplemented with other strategies to support executive functioning, such as time management and problem-solving. Visual schedules and the Eisenhower Matrix are two such tools that work well in combination with the Pareto Principle. Learners are encouraged to learn more about their executive functioning skills using the free Executive Functioning Skills assessment. These results are helpful in learning more about your unique EF needs and identifying more specific tools that can be used to support implementing Pareto’s Principle.
Further Reading
- Dunford (2014:) The Pareto Principle
- Evidence-Based Education (2023): The Multitasking Myth
- Simply Psychology (2023): Pareto Principle (The 80/20 Rule): Examples and More
- Life Skills Advocate: Customizing Visual Schedules for Every Learner
- Life Skills Advocate: Executive Functioning Assessment
- Life Skills Advocate: Executive Functioning Skills 101: Flexibility
- Life Skills Advocate: Executive Functioning 101 Resource Hub
- Life Skills Advocate: Executive Functioning Skills 101: The Basics of Task Initiation
- Life Skills Advocate: Executive Functioning Skills 101: The Basics of Time Management
- Life Skills Advocate: How to Use the Eisenhower Matrix to Help Your Teen Plan Their Day
- Life Skills Advocate: Understanding the Executive Functioning Ripple Effect
- Life Skills Advocate: 16 Strategies For Teaching the Art of Prioritization