How to Use 80/20 Rule in Time Management for Maximum Productivity

When it comes to time management, you often hear it’s necessary to find balance, a “sweet spot”, where you have just enough time to complete everything you want in a day. But the 80/20 rule in time management says otherwise 一 let’s find the perfect imbalance and use it to your advantage.

Here’s what I mean.

This principle states that approximately 20 percent of your efforts produce 80 percent of the results.

If you want to adopt the 80/20 way of thinking, you need to do two things:

In this article, we’ll explain everything there is to know about the Pareto principle in time management and how it can make a huge difference in your view of time, tasks, and work in general.

Let’s get started.

What is the Pareto principle (80/20 rule)?

The Pareto principle, or the 80/20 rule, was “discovered” by an Italian economist, Vilfredo Pareto, in 1906 when he observed that 80 percent of the land in Italy was owned by 20 percent of the population. Joseph M. Juran dubbed it the Pareto principle in the 1940s.

A century later, the Pareto principle can be applied to all aspects of personal and professional life. For instance, in relation to management and human resources, the principle suggests that the efforts of 20% of staff could drive 80% of the company's profits.

Similarly, if you imagine you have ten tasks on your to-do list, the rule states that only two will account for and contribute to 80 percent of the results’ total value. This means that completing a handful of high-impact tasks matters the most for reaching your goals. And vice versa, 80 percent of tasks can lead to only 20 percent of the results, which is what you should be trying to avoid.

The 80/20 rule can also be applied in finding work/life balance by learning how to manage time. In terms of time management, 80% of your output should come from only 20% of your time at work.

80/20 rule: time management examples

Here are some work examples that relate to time management:

• 80% of work can be completed by only 20% of your team, meaning there is a massive gap between top-performing team members and the rest.
• 20% of your clients generate 80% of revenue, meaning you should prioritize time and resources for the key clients to have impactful business outcomes and maintain client satisfaction.
• 20% of minor issues cause 80% percent of serious problems, meaning you should address the critical issues first to improve overall workflow.

How to apply the 80/20 rule?

The 80/20 work rule isn’t that hard to apply if you have a clear vision (by defining SMART goals) of what you wish to achieve. The overall goal is to achieve more in less time by focusing on the most impactful tasks and minimizing low-value activities.

Here are the steps to applying the Pareto principle to maximize your productivity.

#1 Start your day with high-priority tasks

If 20% of your efforts lead to 80% of results, starting your workday with high-priority tasks makes sense.

Most definitely.

But prioritization is based on deadlines and pressure, often relying on time constraints. Here’s how you can identify high-importance tasks:

• At the end of each workday, write down the six most important tasks you must complete tomorrow.
• Arrange the tasks from high-impact to low-impact.
• The following day, start working on the high-priority tasks first.
• Move on to the second task only after the first has been completed.
• If there are any unfinished tasks, move them to tomorrow's to-do list.

To ensure you stay on top of high-priority tasks, I suggest you:

• Don't value tasks based on their appeal 一 so that the most appealing ones can be completed first. If you push back on high-priority work, it will take you longer to complete urgent tasks, and you'll probably work late at night to meet the deadlines.
• Stop trying to be busy and make your goal to have more free time. According to the 80/20 rule in time management, if you are always busy, it means you are not managing time correctly.
• Timebox your time. Timeboxing means entering a block of time in your calendar to spend on a particular task in the future; it's like scheduling a meeting in your calendar, but instead of a meeting, you are "scheduling" a task.
• Timeboxed time should not be rescheduled, and there should be no distractions during it.

#2 Don’t succumb to distractions

It is impossible to prevent distractions.

What is possible is recognizing and mitigating them. According to the Pareto principle, 20% of all your distractions lead to 80% of your unproductive time, which is why you need to work on them. 🙂

It's a constant battle to maintain focus, even when you understand the importance of not succumbing to distractions.

Here are some tips that will help you view distractions in a different light:

1. Consider the appeal of tasks. The more unappealing a task is, the more appealing distractions become. When we talk about "appeal", we're referring to how closely tasks align with your goals. So, remember this: even if you have a task that isn't aligned with your objectives, giving in to distractions will only take you further from what you're trying to achieve.
2. Distractions can wait, literally. No matter how much you want to check your phone during work, a simple "No" to yourself can take you a long way. Every time you sense the urge, say to yourself a decisive, hard "No," and you'll see 一 the urge will subside.
3. Find what’s distracting you the most. One of the quotes from Art of War is “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles”, meaning you have to know your enemy. A quick way to discover what your distractions are is by tracking time over the course of a month. After that month goes by, you’ll be able to pinpoint your distractions and find ways to eliminate them.

#3 Make a new to-do list

Knowing how the 80/20 rule in time management works, you can create a new to-do list with the rule and your SMART goals in mind.

Here’s how you can do so:

#4 Monitor your progress

The Pareto principle in time management is not that difficult to apply. As with everything in life, the more you do it, the better you get at it.

To implement the 80/20 work rule properly, monitor how much time you spend on different tasks and what results those tasks bring. You can use Memtime to track your time on tasks and monitor the results in project management software.

#5 Apply the Pareto principle in other aspects of your life

The 80/20 rule works in all aspects of your life.

If you read the article on top productivity skills, you know that one of them is self-preservation. Self-preservation is taking care of yourself and finding balance in life so you can reduce stress.

The 80/20 rule can be applied if you want to eliminate all the nasty habits that don’t contribute to your overall health. For example, you can identify which 20% of habits boost your health and fulfillment by 80%. By doing so, you’ll improve motivation and have a more open attitude toward work.

Wrapping it up

Introducing the 80/20 rule for productivity should be a fun experiment to do.

The best way to apply the Pareto principle is to ask yourself, “What do I want to do with my time at work”?

This question will help you set goals and figure out which 20% you should focus on. It will also help you:

• Prioritize the most critical tasks to achieve your goals.
• Focus on tasks that matter.
• Minimize distractions.
• Allocate time correctly by placing all your attention on high-value tasks.
• Optimize productivity and performance by prioritizing the efforts to achieve the highest return.

And once you are aligned with your goals, there will be a few dead giveaways showing that you are leaning towards 20 percent in your time management:

• You feel good about yourself.
• You have no problem completing tasks you don’t like, as you understand they are matching with your goals.
• Distractions don’t seem that unsettling.
• You have a more positive attitude toward work.