The Pareto Principle Time Management Rule You NEED In Life
If you haven’t already read this post where I go through a breakdown of the meaning of the Pareto Principle 80/20 rule and how to apply it to life, you can read it here.
Typically, the Pareto Principle focusses on cause and effect but in this post, you will find out how it can be used to manage your time.
You will see the Pareto Principle time management rule applied to the following areas of life, as well as EXACTLY what you can do to make the most out of your time with the least effort.
- Time Management
- Life admin
- Self care
- Personal development
- Education
- Health
- Goals/ Aspirations
- Finances
- Relationships
How to apply the Pareto Principle Time Management 80/20 rule in life
Time Management
If you find it difficult to stay organised/ manage your time well, try this simple activity.
Throughout the day, jot down every single thing you do in a day and the time it took for you to do it.
An example would be:
8am – 9am: Had coffee and tidied the kitchen
9am – 10:30am: Scrolled on social media
10:30am – 11:30am: Went grocery shopping etc.
You may find that the top 20% things you do during the day (such as scrolling on the phone, watching T.V.) takes up 80% of your time.
Identify the key things that you do that waste your time and try to cut them down or remove them completely.
Then, when creating your new schedule, add the things you actually want to do.
Talking about schedule – this might also be another thing that helps you with your time management skills.
Here are some posts on how to plan your day efficiently, and achieve the things you’ve always wanted to do rather than only dreaming about them:
Growth Mindset vs Fixed Mindset: How To Constantly Be in a State of Growth
Living Your Best Life: A Guide To Help You Level Up
How To Be A Disciplined Person & ACE LIFE!!
Find Your Life Purpose & Unleash Endless Amounts Of Potential
Motivation Is The Key To Success (Why You’re Not Achieving Your Goals)
Tips for Work Life Balance To Make the Most Out of Your Twenties
I’ve also written a post with some time management tips that will help you stop wasting time and spend it wisely. Have a look here.
Life admin
Instead of waiting until the end of the week to tidy the house properly and deal with your laundry, use 20% effort and spend 10 minutes a day tidying each part of your house.
This means you spend less time in the weekend sorting everything out (and then wasting your precious free time away from work) and ensures that the house stays somewhat clean every single day.
Similarly, rather than dealing with all your bills on one day, pay them off as they come. If there’s something wrong with the bill, call up the company immediately and sort it out there and then.
Letting it pile up will only make it more confusing and feel more burdensome as you have to pay a large chunk off all in one go.
Self-care
How much of your time do you actually spend on you?
On doing things you like, trying things you’re interested in and giving yourself a break?
From the simple time management activity above, calculate how much time you actually spend on yourself.
If most of your ‘me-time’ is spent on watching television, ask yourself if that really serves you.
Sure, everyone loves to watch television.
But, are there other things you’d like to do that you haven’t been able to do yet?
Is watching hours of television more a habit now rather than a self-care activity?
Maybe you’d like to pick up your childhood hobby of painting once again, or try crocheting or getting into sports? Or maybe, you just want to spend more time taking care of your physical health – your diet, exercise, skin care and more.
By adding self-care into the top 20% things you do in a day, the effects on your mental health and wellbeing will be tremendous.
Here’s some things you can do to help you with your self care:
How To Do a Life Audit with the Wellness Wheel (Activity Q.s Included)
Best Study Habits To Work On Your Passion Projects
Tips for Self Care To Create the Perfect Evening
Creative Hobbies For Adults That Will Take You Back To Your Childhood!
SELF CARE IDEA (Part 1) – Find One That Suits Your Personality Type
Personal Development
Talking about your interests, how much of your time do you spend on your personal development?
Personal development encompasses a wide variety of things, from physical and mental health to goals, dreams and aspirations.
Replace time-wasting activities with activities that serve you and make you a more self-aware, kinder and smarter person.
Education
Whether you’re still in school or not, learning is a life-long process. This not only includes learning new information, facts and skills but also includes life skills like learning not to be judgemental or just learning how to cook so you don’t need to spend so much money on take out!
Educating yourself should be included in the top 20% of your time with the result being that you are bettering yourself.
Maybe you’ve been wanting to re-learn a language so that you can be confident when speaking to family members who only speak that language.
Putting effort into this skill therefore benefits you by broadening your skills but also strengthening your family ties.
Health
Do you have any health concerns, whether that be mental or physical?
Chances are multiple health concerns will come from the same source.
For example, maybe you get headaches, and hand pain often. You also lose energy quickly and find it hard to stay concentrated.
As you note down the causes of these concerns, you realise that scrolling on social media for hours is giving you headaches and hand pain. Your dependency on the phone means you barely move and get tired easily. The instant gratification you get from the short form content on social media makes it hard for you to concentrate on longer tasks in real life.
As a result, you now know that you need to cut down on scrolling on social media.
Of course, I understand that health concerns may not just be environmental but hereditary. But, by eliminating environmental factors you will still feel more ease than having to deal with it.
Goals/ Aspirations
If you’ve wanted to achieve something for so long but haven’t done it yet, question why that’s the case.
Don’t put yourself down by saying it’s because you’re not good enough or that you’re not capable.
Everyone is capable of doing anything if they have the correct mindset and dedication to strive for it.
For instance, you might have been trying to write a book for years but you still haven’t finished a first draft.
Is this because you spend too much time on writing ‘perfectly?’ Do you go down rabbit holes during your research that make you waste time?
Note down all the things you need to do to write this book and identify the top things that will actually bring you closer to completing it.
Create a plan and then stick to that routine.
Finances
Just like you looked through your day to see how much time you spend on different activities, look at your bank statement last month and note down all the things you spent under different categories.
This could be things like groceries, entertainment, savings etc.
Chances are that the top 20% of your spendings are mostly coming from one specific category.
Assess if you can reduce your spending in that category, and use the money for something else that will benefit you like savings or investments.
What’s more, the Pareto Principle rule can also be applied to the actual things that you spend money on.
Let’s say you love to buy skin care. There’s so many things you can buy – toners, serums, moisturisers, face masks, face oils and more.
But, skin care is expensive and a lot of your money is spent on it. On top of that, most of the skin care you buy doesn’t really do anything.
Out of all the skin care you have, the ones you depend on and that actually work on you are very few (the 20%).
So, instead of buying loads of skin care only for most of it to stay in the cupboard and collect dust, just buy the ones that work on you.
And if you genuinely do love to shop for skin care products, maybe you could do some research next time before you buy a product. You could check things like sensitivity, if it works on all skin types, reviews etc.
This will help you save your money but it also means you can still have fun with skin care.
Likewise, buying clothes is another spending habit where the Pareto Principle rule can be applied.
Despite having a full wardrobe, do you tend to wear the same outfits over and over because they’re easy and comfortable?
This is the 20% of your clothes that benefits you 80% of the time.
In this case, you could buy more clothes like it or start a bullet wardrobe so that you have staple pieces you can mix and match and wear over and over again without it looking like a repeat outfit.
Overall, you can save both time and money by spending on what actually serves you.
Relationships
Finally, you can even use the Pareto Principle time management rule in your relationships with others.
You could have loads of friends but only a select few of them are going to be friends you truly trust.
If you feel like you’re a judgemental person, think about all the people you hang out and see if they have this quality too. If they do, speak to them about it so that you can change together.
If they’re not willing to change, you might decide to spend less time with them and more with people who encourage you to be better.
The saying that you are the average of the five people you hang out with the most is very true. So, surround yourself with good people who want the best for themselves and for you.
KEY POINTS – The Pareto Principle Time Management Rule You NEED In Life
- You may find that the top 20% things you do during the day (such as scrolling on the phone, watching T.V.) takes up 80% of your time. Identify the key things that you do that waste your time and try to cut them down or remove them completely.
- Instead of waiting until the end of the week to tidy the house properly and deal with your laundry, use 20% effort and spend 10 minutes a day tidying each part of your house.
- By adding self-care into the top 20% things you do in a day, the effects on your mental health and wellbeing will be tremendous.
- Replace time-wasting activities with activities that serve you and make you a more self-aware, kinder and smarter person.
- Educating yourself should be included in the top 20% of your time with the result being that you are bettering yourself.
- The saying that you are the average of the five people you hang out with the most is very true. So, surround yourself with good people who want the best for themselves and for you.
