Don’t be perfect. Be good enough. The Pareto Principle or 80/20 rule (2024)

Don’t be perfect. Be good enough. The Pareto Principle or 80/20 rule (1)

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Tom Payani Don’t be perfect. Be good enough. The Pareto Principle or 80/20 rule (2)

Tom Payani

Co-Founder at Blend Interactive Content

Published Aug 2, 2022

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The third in our series of articles designed to cut through the noise and help you make an informed decision between Custom Content and Off-the-shelf eLearning for your next project, looks at the Pareto Principle.

The basic idea is 80% of effects come from 20% of causes.

So in theory if you focus 20% of resources correctly, you can get 80% of the results you need. You reach ‘good enough’ and can be much more cost-effective, instead of using 80% more resources stretching to a ‘perfect’ 100%.

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If you have defined your business needs, staying cost-effective is simply about focusing on reaching that ‘good enough’ 80%.

Don’t be perfect. Be good enough. The Pareto Principle or 80/20 rule (6)

For example -

You could provide on-boarding for your new team members with VR - they get to explore the office, meet the team and interact with them.Sounds great! But, if you can onboard them with just a 2D interactive office map showing locations, and team members, then why waste those extra resources.

The same goes for the content itself as much as the delivery method. If you can onboard them to a ‘good enough’ level with only 20% of the content, do it. They can always pick up the rest once they are up and running.

The 80/20 rule can be applied to everything and is all about asking, ‘is this critical?’ If not, lose it.

Now we are looking at everything with an ‘is this critical?’ eye, and in our next article we will dive into the different types of training.

If you’re interested in a chat, we’d be keen to show you more of the work we are doing and the results we are achieving for our clients. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

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Don’t be perfect. Be good enough. The Pareto Principle or 80/20 rule (2024)

FAQs

Don’t be perfect. Be good enough. The Pareto Principle or 80/20 rule? ›

The basic idea is 80% of effects come from 20% of causes. So in theory if you focus 20% of resources correctly, you can get 80% of the results you need. You reach 'good enough' and can be much more cost-effective, instead of using 80% more resources stretching to a 'perfect' 100%.

What is the 80-20 rule for perfection? ›

Generally it means roughly 80% of your outcomes come from 20% of your inputs. In the case of perfectionism, the last 20% will take 80% of your effort, such is the drain of perfectionism. Let's take the positive aspect of your perfectionism. Your 80% is actually better than most people's 100%.

Is the 80-20 rule the Pareto Principle? ›

What is the Pareto principle? The Pareto principle states that for many outcomes, roughly 80% of consequences come from 20% of causes. In other words, a small percentage of causes have an outsized effect.

What is the Pareto Principle of perfectionism? ›

Remember that: 80% of our results come from 20% of our efforts (The Pareto Principle) 80% of something is amazing and maybe 20% of it could be better, and. 80% of what we do will be done really well and 20% of it will just get done.

What is the purpose of the Pareto analysis or 80-20 rule? ›

The 80-20 rule, also known as the Pareto Principle, is a familiar saying that asserts that 80% of outcomes (or outputs) result from 20% of all causes (or inputs) for any given event. In business, a goal of the 80-20 rule is to identify inputs that are potentially the most productive and make them the priority.

What is the opposite of the 80-20 rule? ›

Notice that attention to detail works the opposite of the 80/20 rule. It says to focus on the last few percent, so I call it the 20/80 rule, or the 10/90 rule. I'm not saying to drop the 80/20 rule. I'm saying it applies in some situations.

What is the 80-20 rule for good enough? ›

The basic idea is 80% of effects come from 20% of causes. So in theory if you focus 20% of resources correctly, you can get 80% of the results you need. You reach 'good enough' and can be much more cost-effective, instead of using 80% more resources stretching to a 'perfect' 100%.

What are real examples of the 80/20 rule? ›

20% of customers account for 80% of the profits of many businesses. 20% of criminals account for 80% of criminal losses. 20% of motorists cause 80% of the accidents. 20% of those who marry represent 80% of the divorces (serial marriage failures)

What is the 80-20 rule in relationships cheating? ›

80% of your needs are being met by your partner, and you're figuring out the other 20% on your own. When the 80/20 rule is applied to infidelity, the theory is that when someone cheats, they're attracted to the 20% in someone else that they were missing from their partner.

What is the 80-20 rule in dating? ›

What is the 80/20 dating rule? The 80/20 rule states that if a relationship is great 80% of the time, the rest can be less than ideal. After all, it is impossible and unrealistic to find a person or a relationship that is perfect all the time.

What is the 80-20 rule in psychology? ›

The Pareto Principle is a concept that specifies that 80% of consequences come from 20% of the causes, asserting an unequal relationship between inputs and outputs. Named after economist Vilfredo Pareto, the Pareto Principle serves as a general reminder that the relationship between inputs and outputs is not balanced.

How to beat the 80/20 rule? ›

Prioritize, prioritize, and prioritize some more! Cutting 80% of your working time isn't automatically going to leave you with the most effective work. The 80/20 rule applies to tasks and to-dos, not time. The rule works only if you figure out which of the tasks are on the 80% side of the equation.

What is the 80-20 rule for procrastination? ›

What is the 80/20 Rule? The 80/20 rule is the concept that 80% of your revenue or success comes from only 20% of your efforts or customers. If you look at the activities you completed during the day, you will find that the top 20% of your daily activities will result in 80% of the results that you achieve.

How to apply 80/20 rule in life? ›

Steps to apply the 80/20 Rule
  1. Identify all your daily/weekly tasks.
  2. Identify key tasks.
  3. What are the tasks that give you more return?
  4. Brainstorm how you can reduce or transfer the tasks that give you less return.
  5. Create a plan to do more that brings you more value.
  6. Use 80/20 to prioritize any project you're working on.
Mar 29, 2020

What is the 80 20 mindset? ›

The 80/20 rule, also called the Pareto principle, is a statistical rule that states that 80% of outcomes result from 20% of causes. The 80/20 rule can help you determine how to best allocate time, money and resources.

What is a real life example of Pareto analysis? ›

Here are some real world examples of the Pareto Principle you might find interesting: A 2002 report from Microsoft found that “80 percent of the errors and crashes in Windows and Office are caused by 20 percent of the entire pool of bugs detected.” 20% of the world's population controls 82.7% of the world's income.

What is the 80-20 rule real examples? ›

80% of crimes are committed by 20% of criminals. 80% of sales are from 20% of clients. 80% of project value is achieved with the first 20% of effort. 80% of your knowledge is used 20% of the time.

What is the 80-20 principle the secret to success? ›

That 20 percent of our time accounts for 80 percent of the work we accomplish? The 80/20 Principle shows how we can achieve much more with much less effort, time, and resources, simply by identifying and focusing our efforts on the 20 percent that really counts.

What is the 80-20 principle in psychology? ›

The Pareto Principle is a concept that specifies that 80% of consequences come from 20% of the causes, asserting an unequal relationship between inputs and outputs. Named after economist Vilfredo Pareto, the Pareto Principle serves as a general reminder that the relationship between inputs and outputs is not balanced.

What is the 80-20 rule success list? ›

Prioritize the vital few: Identify the top 20% of tasks that yield 80% of the results. Focus on these tasks and allocate more time and resources to them. This approach allows you to concentrate on the most critical and impactful activities that drive your success.

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