Pareto law: the balance of effort and results

You never thought about why you do not seem to apply any superhuman efforts to realize one dream, but everything is executed quickly and exactly the way you wanted it, and to fulfill another desire you need to fight your head long and tediouslyabout the wall, to approach at least one step?

A very clever uncle - an Italian sociologist and economist - understood this pattern as far back as the end of the nineteenth century, and was named after him: Pareto law .

Today we will talk about him.

Where did the Pareto law come from?

At the end of the 19th century, there lived a well-known economist and sociologist in Italy, whose name was Wilfredo Pareto.

Preparing material for the next work on the economy, he thought about how different countries distribute wealth among different layers of the population.

Pareto first began to analyze his native Italy.

What was his surprise when it was discovered that only 20% of all Italians own 80% of the total wealth of the state.

As it turned out in the course of further research, similar results were demonstrated by other countries.

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Wilfredo wrote his work, somewhere, probably, with him made, colleagues probably pohali-poahali, students applauded.

On that all could and end: who would remember, except specialists, so ancient economic works.

But there it was.

Already in the middle of the twentieth century, the researcher Joseph Juran came across the book of an Italian scientist, and it seemed to him not a coincidence that the ratio of numbers: 80/20.

So he brought Pareto law, although this discovery appeared in 1951, half a century after the appearance of Wilfredo's labor.

As you can see, the law itself appeared much later than the 80/20 formula, derived by Pareto, but it successfully continues to be used in many areas and up to now.

What is the Pareto Act?

As you probably already understood from the information about the history of the origin of this term, the Pareto law is an empirical rule based on the ratio of 80% to 20%.

There is no clear indication of this law, as it is used for various fields of activity.

But, in general terms, we can formulate it approximately like this: 20% of our efforts give 80% of the desired result and vice versa: 80% of the efforts turn into only the realization of 20% of desires.

That is, in order not to knock on the closed door, you need to choose the most important goals, which can be realized with minimal costs.

Looking deeper, Pareto's law is a proportional relationship between actions( causes) and results, that is - consequences.

Of course, we can not say that the ratio of 20 to 80 is universal and applicable everywhere, the proportions may be slightly different.

But, since no one will conduct a detailed analysis each time, it is considered that the proportional ratio derived by Wilfredo is the most optimal one.

The basic rules of the Pareto law:

, most of our daily actions are ineffective and simply steal our time;
important factors that shape success, not so much;
what we see is not always the case in reality, it is necessary to take into account the nuances;
you need at the initial stage to be able to see if your idea works or not, if not, then think about what you can change;
no matter how hard we tried, most of these efforts are ineffective.

Where can the Pareto law be used?

The Pareto law can be applied anywhere, for example:

In the sphere of trade: 20% of buyers give the store 80% of revenue, and the remaining 80% - only 20% of revenue.
In the economy: 80% of the working people of our country provide 80% of retirees and vice versa - the remaining 80% receive or is negligible, or the salary in an envelope, so only the remaining 20% of pensioners are able to provide.
In the educational system: 20% of talented children use 80% of knowledge, which gives them a school, and the remaining 80% - only 20%.
In the relationship: 20% of your acquaintances provide you with 80% of emotional pleasure( that is, they give love, friendship, a sense of warmth, security, etc.), and the remaining 80% - only 20%.

The question is: why the hell are you holding around 80% of useless individuals, if you can manage 20% of friends and relatives?
In some household items: we argue that 80% of the time you wear only 20% of clothes, which is clogged up in your closet, and the remaining 80% of the clothes were worn at best, a couple of times( just about 20% and it will), somaybe it's enough to spend money on useless rags?

Most often this remarkable law is used by economists, managers and political scientists, but, as you saw on the examples, the Pareto law is perfectly applied in various spheres, including in psychology.

For example, for time management, self-improvement, self-education, relationships with people, etc.

I think you understood the principle: the main thing is to find those 20%( actions, books, people, actions, etc.), which will lead to the realization of 80% of the result.

What can be achieved with the Pareto law?

Wilfredo Pareto could not even imagine that the formula he deduced would be applied not only in the economy, but also in other areas.

In everyday life, the 80/20 ratio can also be easily used.

For example, using the Pareto law, you can:

Focus on what you do best without wasting time learning skills that you never and never will use.
Maximum effective schedule every day.

For example, a week you characterize your usual actions( which of them quickly bear fruit, and which ones do not end with anything useful) and plan an ideal day.
Identify the main sources of income and focus on making more money.
Identify the most productive hours for you in the day, during which you can execute 80% of all planned cases.
Get rid of the trash that you still do not wear and do not use, but which clutters up the space of your home.
Find literature and videos that bring you 80% of the benefits.
Throw out of your life random people with whom you still do not connect anything.

Here it is he Pareto law : simple, but very useful.