Don’t be perfect. Be good enough. The Pareto Principle or 80/20 rule (2024)

Don’t be perfect. Be good enough. The Pareto Principle or 80/20 rule (1)

Tom Payani Don’t be perfect. Be good enough. The Pareto Principle or 80/20 rule (2)

Tom Payani

Co-Founder at Blend Interactive Content

Published Aug 2, 2022

The third in our series of articles designed to cut through the noise and help you make an informed decision between Custom Content and Off-the-shelf eLearning for your next project, looks at the Pareto Principle.

The basic idea is 80% of effects come from 20% of causes.

So in theory if you focus 20% of resources correctly, you can get 80% of the results you need. You reach ‘good enough’ and can be much more cost-effective, instead of using 80% more resources stretching to a ‘perfect’ 100%.

If you have defined your business needs, staying cost-effective is simply about focusing on reaching that ‘good enough’ 80%.

Don’t be perfect. Be good enough. The Pareto Principle or 80/20 rule (3)

For example -

You could provide on-boarding for your new team members with VR - they get to explore the office, meet the team and interact with them.Sounds great! But, if you can onboard them with just a 2D interactive office map showing locations, and team members, then why waste those extra resources.

The same goes for the content itself as much as the delivery method. If you can onboard them to a ‘good enough’ level with only 20% of the content, do it. They can always pick up the rest once they are up and running.

The 80/20 rule can be applied to everything and is all about asking, ‘is this critical?’ If not, lose it.

Now we are looking at everything with an ‘is this critical?’ eye, and in our next article we will dive into the different types of training.

If you’re interested in a chat, we’d be keen to show you more of the work we are doing and the results we are achieving for our clients. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

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Don’t be perfect. Be good enough. The Pareto Principle or 80/20 rule (2024)

FAQs

Don’t be perfect. Be good enough. The Pareto Principle or 80/20 rule? ›

The basic idea is 80% of effects come from 20% of causes. So in theory if you focus 20% of resources correctly, you can get 80% of the results you need. You reach 'good enough' and can be much more cost-effective, instead of using 80% more resources stretching to a 'perfect' 100%.

What is the 80/20 rule for perfectionism? ›

The 80/20 rule states that 80% of results can be achieved through 20% of our efforts. There's a simple idea behind this: prioritize tasks and let go of perfectionism. This way you can achieve more in less time.

What is the 80 20 rule of Pareto Principle? ›

What's the 80-20 Rule? The 80-20 rule is a principle that states 80% of all outcomes are derived from 20% of causes. It's used to determine the factors (typically, in a business situation) that are most responsible for success and then focus on them to improve results.

What is the best explanation of the 80 20 rule? ›

Simply put, the 80/20 rule states that the relationship between input and output is rarely, if ever, balanced. When applied to work, it means that approximately 20 percent of your efforts produce 80 percent of the results.

What is the 80 20 rule real examples? ›

80% of crimes are committed by 20% of criminals. 80% of sales are from 20% of clients. 80% of project value is achieved with the first 20% of effort. 80% of your knowledge is used 20% of the time.

What are the 3 measures of perfectionism? ›

These factors are self-critical perfectionism, rigid perfectionism, and narcissistic perfectionism. The first global factor, self- critical perfectionism, has four facets called concern over mistakes, doubts about actions, socially prescribed perfectionism, and self-criticism (Smith et al., 2016).

Why is perfectionism toxic? ›

What makes extreme perfectionism so toxic is that while those in its grip desire success, they are most focused on avoiding failure, resulting in a negative orientation. They don't believe in unconditional love, expecting others' affection and approval to be dependent on a flawless performance.

What is Pareto 80-20 rule quotes? ›

The 80/20 Principle focuses on effectiveness rather than efficiency. The quote by the 80/20 principle, "Efficiency is doing things right, but effectiveness is doing the right things," highlights the distinction between two important aspects of productivity.

What's the 80/20 rule in relationships? ›

The 80/20 relationship theory states that you can only get about 80% of your wants and needs from a healthy relationship, while the remaining 20% you need to provide for yourself. Sounds like the perfect excuse to treat yourself to a spa day. This idea of an 80/20 time split is nothing new.

What are the problems with the 80-20 rule? ›

Simplistic Assumption: While the 80/20 rule provides a useful heuristic for prioritization, it is based on a simplistic assumption that may not always hold true in complex real-world scenarios. In some cases, the distribution of causes and effects may not follow the 80/20 ratio, leading to inaccurate prioritization.

What is the 80-20 rule in leadership? ›

As a result, Dr. Juran's observation of the “vital few and trivial many,” the principle that 80 percent of the effects come from 20 percent of the causes, became known as Pareto's Principle or the 80–20 Rule.

How do you live by the 80-20 rule? ›

Steps to apply the 80/20 Rule
  1. Identify all your daily/weekly tasks.
  2. Identify key tasks.
  3. What are the tasks that give you more return?
  4. Brainstorm how you can reduce or transfer the tasks that give you less return.
  5. Create a plan to do more that brings you more value.
  6. Use 80/20 to prioritize any project you're working on.
Mar 29, 2020

What is the opposite of the 80-20 rule? ›

Notice that attention to detail works the opposite of the 80/20 rule. It says to focus on the last few percent, so I call it the 20/80 rule, or the 10/90 rule.

What is the 80 20 principle in life? ›

What is the Pareto principle? The Pareto principle states that for many outcomes, roughly 80% of consequences come from 20% of causes. In other words, a small percentage of causes have an outsized effect.

What is the 80/20 rule in Pareto chart? ›

80/20 Rule – The Pareto Principle. The 80/20 Rule (also known as the Pareto principle or the law of the vital few & trivial many) states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.

What is the 80/20 rule in working out? ›

In order to see results at the gym, lose weight or even maintain overall health, we're told that it's an 80/20 balance. Meaning 80% of your results comes from the food you eat, and only 20% of your results come from your workouts.

What is the 70 rule of perfectionism? ›

He discussed an idea called the 70% rule, which is exactly what it sounds like. Kill perfectionism by only striving to get something to 70% perfection. This does not mean get something 70% to completion, then your hard drives would be heavy with a little over half-baked ideas. You'd publish nothing.

Is perfectionism a form of ADHD? ›

Though it may seem contradictory, perfectionist traits may stem from ADHD — an overcompensation for past errors or for feeling “not good enough.” Letting go of perfectionism does not mean eliminating worries around mistakes, failure, and judgment, but rather accepting that they are part of life — and one that can help ...

What is the perfectionism rule? ›

Some rules commonly held by. perfectionists include: ◊ Fear of failure (e.g., “I must do. things perfectly”, or “If I try, then I will only fail”). ◊ Shoulds & musts.

What is the 80/20 rule procrastination? ›

What is the 80/20 Rule? The 80/20 rule is the concept that 80% of your revenue or success comes from only 20% of your efforts or customers. If you look at the activities you completed during the day, you will find that the top 20% of your daily activities will result in 80% of the results that you achieve.

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