The Pareto Principle: Work Smarter, Not Harder

Understanding the 80/20 Rule in Your Studies

You might have thought that doing well means doing loads of extra work – this is a mistake lots of students make! Actually just spending tons more time studying is not the most useful way for you to do well, and the reason can be explained by looking at the work of a 19^th century economist. You might have heard of the Pareto principle before – if you haven’t, you’ve been missing out!

Vilfredo Pareto was an economist who noted that 80% of the land was owned by only 20% of the people; this important 20 % were the vital few who held much sway in society. Joseph M. Juran was a management consultant who took this one step further and suggested that in much of human life 20% of our actions determine 80% of the results. This is true in business, and much of nature shows this phenomenon too. Think about your work…does this apply to you?

One day you sit down to work on a subject that is important to you. At the end of your work, you look at the clock. Five hours has passed and you feel happy that you have done so much work. But looking at how much you actually have done you start to feel sad. Five hours and you’ve only really produced a small amount of work. How did this happen? Well, you might have got a little bit distracted, checked facebook, twitter, Instagram, snapchat, email, WhatsApp, Tumblr and so on. Maybe you had to go grab some food halfway through – totally normal! Plus you might have helped your brother with his homework or your mum with some quick chores. In reality how much of your study time was spent studying? Maybe 20%?

And it isn’t just distractions that cause a problem. Think about all the times you’ve studied before – I bet you used loads of different methods. Whether it’s sitting down learning words from the textbook, or watching TED talks, researching on Wikipedia or doing past paper exams, there are all sorts of ways of studying. But all studying isn’t equal. Some studying is really efficient, like work through actual questions. Other studying, like spending an hour on Wikipedia looking at ‘related’ articles isn’t that great. In fact, if you look at what you do when you’re studying I bet you’ll notice a pattern. About 80% of your work is pretty pointless, whether it’s reading stuff you already know, or watching things you don’t need to. In fact, for most students, 20% of the work produces 80% of the results – just as the Pareto principle predicts!

Applying the Pareto Principle to Your Study Habits

So what can you do about it? Well here’s the winning technique:

1. Make a to-do list
2. Order it starting with the most important
3. Block off a chunk of your day every day (maybe 2 hours?) to work on your most important thing
4. Be specific about your tasks and always keep focused on your most important task

Example Application

Step 1: Create a To-Do List

• Math homework
• Prepare for a French test
• Write a Coursework Essay (on the Roman Empire)

Step 2: Prioritize Your Tasks

Reorder it:

• Write a Coursework Essay (on the Roman Empire)
• Prepare for a French test
• Math homework

Step 3: Block Off Dedicated Study Time

Note to self: 1600 – 1800 work on coursework each day until done.

Step 4: Focus on the Vital Few

Choose the most important task within the whole piece of work and always make sure you’re working on that because that task is the vital 20 percent.

Now you know how to be efficient, go and choose one task – the most important task – and get started!