The Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, is the idea that 80% of results often come from just 20% of the effort or input.

It's named after Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who noticed that 80% of Italy’s land was owned by 20% of the population. The concept has since been applied to many areas — like business, health, and productivity — where a small portion of actions tends to create most of the impact.

A more relatable way to think of this is to imagine your workday like a toolbox. You might have lots of tasks, messages, and meetings, but likely only a few of them (about 20%) actually drive most of your results (around 80%).

The Pareto Principle is a reminder to focus on the key tasks — like deep work or client communication — instead of getting lost in low-impact stuff like endless emails or status updates.

In this post, we'll explore more specific ways to apply this “rule” to our daily lives and strategies to overcome some common challenges.

Before we dig in, ask yourself:

🤩 What are the 20% of activities I do each day that bring me 80% of my progress, joy, or success?

🗑️ Where am I spending time or energy that gives little return? How can I reduce or eliminate those tasks?

🫂 Which relationships or connections provide the most support, motivation, or value in my life? How can I nurture these?

How do I know what 20% to focus on?

If 80% of the results we get come from 20% of the actions we take, you might be asking yourself… how do I know what 20% creates the most impact?

This can be one of the biggest challenges when trying to apply this rule to your daily life.

Perhaps you have felt this frustration in one way or another when planning your daily goals, taking on a big project with lots of moving parts, or even simply knowing how to spend your free time. This is normal and what we, at focused space, are committed to supporting you with!

Along with our daily suggestion of narrowing down your goals for the day, we suggest figuring out which daily habits or tasks truly bring the biggest benefits — whether it’s more productivity, better health, or greater happiness.

Being clear on these will not only help you focus on that 20% but will also help you create a schedule that aligns more with your energy levels throughout the day. For example, you may want to save the most impactful 20% of your actions for when you tend to have higher energy levels.

3 Prioritization Strategies

🤩 Identify what consistently makes a positive difference: Which tasks or habits create the most value or joy?

✅ Track your activities for a few days: Note what you do and how it impacts your day or mood.

🧘🏾 Focus on the patterns you notice and adjust as you learn more about what works best for you.

Sticking to the 80/20 rule

Knowing which vital few activities fall into your 20% won’t help if distractions and low-priority tasks pull your attention away!

This is where our Wake-Up Calls have the power to make a difference. Narrowing your goals down to 3 or less as a part of your morning routine can help you focus on what matters. In a sense, we are asking you to apply the Pareto Principle every morning when it comes time to set our goals in our sessions!

At focused space, we also encourage time-blocking. When you block a set amount of time in the day to important tasks, you are giving the 20% the attention it needs.

This is also why our Community Sessions tend to be so effective! We create time blocks through our community session schedule and then give folks the opportunity to eliminate distractions and dive into that important 20%.

Lastly, accountability is what really ties this all together.

When we enlist the support of resources outside ourselves, we are more likely to stick to the plan we want to follow!

Strategies for sticking to your 20%

✅ Create a “top 3” priority list every morning: Pick the three most important things to focus on that day. An easy way to do this is to attend our daily wake up calls!

📆 Use time blocks and remove distractions: Set dedicated periods for those tasks and minimize interruptions (phone on silent, close tabs).We also give you time to set this up in our wake up calls and time to carry this out during our community sessions.

👩🏽‍💻 Get accountability: Share your top priorities with someone who can check in on your progress.One way to do this is to attend our daily refocus sessions. You can also share your top priorities with a trusted friend who can hold you accountable!

Flexibility with the 80/20 rule

We’ll wrap up with an important reminder: flexibility is key!

While the 80/20 rule allows for a solid framework for how to approach your day and your work, applying the Pareto Principle too rigidly — like expecting exact 80/20 splits everywhere — can lead to frustration or misapplication in your life.

To mitigate this, our invitation to you is to treat the 80/20 rule as a helpful guideline, rather than strict law.

Some days or areas might be more 70/30 or 90/10 — flexibility is key. It’s useful to look for patterns over time, rather than stressing exact numbers.

When thinking about your most impactful activities, try to develop a general sense of your valuable activities and know that some activities may even oscillate between more impact and less impact.

In short, adjust your course of action based on what feels effective and is aligned with your personal priorities, rather than trying to fit everything into the rule.

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We hope our theme this week helped you find new ways to incorporate the 80/20 rule into your life.

P.S. If you could use help accomplishing your goals this month and getting support from our amazing community, please join us at one of our live guided work sessions, or morning planning sessions!

Take care,

— Rachell, focused space host