Using the The 80 / 20 Principle to Materialize Your Goals

Many of you may have heard of the "80/20" rule, less commonly known as the Pareto Principle. What is the 80/20 rule and how does it apply to materializing your goals?

The Pareto Principle states that 80% of your results will come from 20% of your efforts. What this should tell us is that, 20% of your results come from the other 80% of your efforts. Is it possible, I mean really possible that 80% of our efforts are essentially wasted? Many of us tend to focus on doing the little things, the unimportant things such as reading an email right away that has no obvious bearing on the task at hand. Often this is just a distraction from focusing on what we really want to achieve. In other words "procrastination". What this really yields us is slow results and a feeling of being overwhelmed with "things" to get done.

Let's look at how to apply the 80/20 principle to materializing your goals. If you spend 20% of your focused energy, time and effort into working towards your goals, you'll see massive results in a short period of time. That's focus. Suppose your goal is to lose some weight. You've made a commitment to eat healthier and exercise regularly. Using the 80/20 principle, you would exercise in the morning, before you start your day. You've just taken massive action towards your goals before you get bogged down in your daily routine and responsibilities. You feel powerful because you've kept your commitment, and it sets your mood for the entire day. Not only do you feel healthy but you've created more energy and mental clarity to get you through your day. Excellent!

Here's another example: You've set a goal to write that best-selling book. You know what time of day you create your best material so you schedule that as sacred "writing time". You spend a couple hours (or one or two) writing without interruption - consistently and persistently. Before you know it, you've completed your manuscript. By taking the time every day to work towards your goal, you're building confidence that you CAN materialize your goal. That begins to take on a life of it's own.

We all have "to do" lists; many of us have ones that never end, some of us have a list of lists to get done. There will always be "things" that needs to get done. Our email inboxes are always full, we just want to watch that one TV show, perhaps getting organized is all we need to do before we begin…all diversion tactics. Take some time every day, consistently and persistently, to do something that moves you closer to your goal. Before you know it, you've materialized your goal and all it really took was focused action.