80-20 Rule

One for the mouse, one for the crow, one to rot, and one to grow.

This old adage was once a commonly-cited phrase in the agrarian days of yore. The typical life of a farmer can be understood in just this one saying.  Even in years past, the issue of efforts made and labor lost has been noted as a significant economical factor.

It was only in 1906 that someone began to operationalize this aspect of Murphy’s Law. Vilfredo Pareto, an Italian economist, noticed that twenty percent of the Italian people owned eighty percent of the country’s entire per capita wealth. This developed into the 80-20 Rule.

Pareto’s principle can be applied to many different types of situations. For instance, in the workforce, when determining which elements of a program to axe in order to reduce costs, you must keep in mind that a certain twenty percent of resources are taking up more profit than they generate. This principle can even be used to maximize your own personal productivity; you must realize that 80% of your personal time is spent idling time away while only 20% of your time is spent doing meaningful, time-worthy activities.