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%.

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

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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 perfectionism? ›

The 80/20 rule states that 80% of results can be achieved through 20% of our efforts. There's a simple idea behind this: prioritize tasks and let go of perfectionism. This way you can achieve more in less time.

What is the 80 20 rule of Pareto Principle? ›

What's the 80-20 Rule? The 80-20 rule is a principle that states 80% of all outcomes are derived from 20% of causes. It's used to determine the factors (typically, in a business situation) that are most responsible for success and then focus on them to improve results.

What is the best explanation of the 80 20 rule? ›

Simply put, the 80/20 rule states that the relationship between input and output is rarely, if ever, balanced. When applied to work, it means that approximately 20 percent of your efforts produce 80 percent of the results.

What is the 80 20 rule real examples? ›

80% of your weekly tasks affect 20% of your future. 80% of grief is caused by 20% of people in your life. 80% of alarms will be set off by 20% of potential causes. 80% of the energy in a combustion engine produces 20% output.

What are the 3 measures of perfectionism? ›

The Big Three Perfectionism Scale (BTPS; Smith, Saklofske, et al., 2016) contains 45 items and 10 facets to measure the three primary perfectionism factors (i.e., rigid perfection- ism, self-critical perfectionism, and narcissistic perfectionism).

What is the 80 20 perfect enough rule? ›

The 80/20 rule states that 80% of outcomes are driven by 20% of causes. It was discovered in 1906 by Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto. Pareto observed that 80% of Italy's land belonged to just 20% of the population. He also found 80% of the peas in his garden came from 20% of the pea pods.

What is Pareto 80-20 rule quotes? ›

The quote "Simplicity, clarity, and focus are the hallmarks of efficiency and effectiveness" perfectly encapsulates the essence of the 80/20 principle. This principle, also known as the Pareto Principle, suggests that 80% of the results are derived from 20% of the causes.

What's the 80/20 rule in relationships? ›

The 80/20 relationship theory states that you can only get about 80% of your wants and needs from a healthy relationship, while the remaining 20% you need to provide for yourself. Sounds like the perfect excuse to treat yourself to a spa day. This idea of an 80/20 time split is nothing new.

What is the 80-20 rule in leadership? ›

Juran's observation of the “vital few and trivial many,” the principle that 80 percent of the effects come from 20 percent of the causes, became known as Pareto's Principle or the 80–20 Rule.

How to apply the 80/20 rule to your 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 are the flaws of the 80-20 rule? ›

Another downside of the 80/20 rule is that sometimes team members can get too focused and lose sight on other tasks. If you only focus on the important tasks and put aside the less important tasks, like email and other correspondence, things can get lost.

What is the 80 20 principle to optimize your life? ›

The 80-20 rule is the principle that 20% of what you do results in 80% of your outcomes. Put another way, 80% of your outcomes result from just 20% of your inputs. Also known as the Pareto principle, the 80-20 rule is a timeless maxim that's all about focus.

What is the Pareto rule 80 20? ›

The 80-20 rule, also known as the Pareto Principle, used mostly in business and economics, states that 80% of outcomes results from 20% of causes. Pareto analysis states that 80% of a project's results are due to 20% of the work, or conversely, 80% of problems can be traced to 20% of the causes.

What is the 80/20 rule in working out? ›

In order to see results at the gym, lose weight or even maintain overall health, we're told that it's an 80/20 balance. Meaning 80% of your results comes from the food you eat, and only 20% of your results come from your workouts.

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 70 rule of perfectionism? ›

He discussed an idea called the 70% rule, which is exactly what it sounds like. Kill perfectionism by only striving to get something to 70% perfection. This does not mean get something 70% to completion, then your hard drives would be heavy with a little over half-baked ideas.

Is perfectionism a form of ADHD? ›

Though it may seem contradictory, perfectionist traits may stem from ADHD — an overcompensation for past errors or for feeling “not good enough.” Letting go of perfectionism does not mean eliminating worries around mistakes, failure, and judgment, but rather accepting that they are part of life — and one that can help ...

What is the perfectionism rule? ›

There are lots of ways to look at the 80/20 rule. Essentially, each one is just a different way to think about how much effort we're putting into something. We're going to look at it in three ways: 80% of our results come from 20% of our efforts. 80% of something is amazing and maybe 20% of it could be better, and.

What is the 80/20 rule 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.

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