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80 20 Principle
The Secret of Achieving More with Less

"The 80 20 principle", by Richard Koch.

What if we could all achieve a lot more by doing a lot less? Is this just wishful thinking, or is it possible that we could be missing something in the busyness of our lives? Well this is Richard Koch’s argument in his book “The 80/20 principle”.

Often, only a small part of what we actually do in any week really contributes to results that matter. If this is the case then a big chunk of our time/energy/resources/life is often wasted in any week/month/year.

We recommend the 80 20 Principle to help you take a radically different look at what you do. It's well worth taking the time to read this thought provoking book. Read it, think about it, question it. You might just find opportunities to transform your life.

Koch argues “If you are working 60 to 70 hours a week in order to cope, if you feel that you are always behind, if you are struggling to keep up with work’s requirements” then you need to find out the 20% of what you do which produces the 80% of your achievements."

Although it's been around for some time, the 80 20 principle, seems to be a secret well-kept by highly effective people and their organisations. Think for a moment. Often 20% of your customers provide 80% of your profits; or 20% of your time produces 80% of your productivity; or 80% of your people problems are generated by 20% of your people.

Richard Koch asks you to look for the imbalances in work and life - to seek those relatively small inputs that actually generate the most significant outcomes.

Koch's discussion of time is by itself worth the price of this book! He argues:"It is not that we are short of time.... It is the way that we treat time, even the way that we think about it. A time revolution... is the fastest way to make a giant leap in both happiness and effectiveness."

And what is that time revolution?

“There is no shortage of time. In fact, we are positively awash with it. We only make good use of 20 per cent of our time…. The 80/20 principle says that if we doubled our time on the top 20% of activities, we could work a two-day week and achieve 60 per cent more than now.”

“It is not shortage of time that should worry us, but the tendency for the majority of time to be spent in low-quality ways.”

Some Suggestions to Get the Most From This Book

There are some great articles on this site which refer to the 80 20 Principle. Take a look at these Happy Manager articles which have used the wisdom of Richard Koch's excellent book:

What is Time Management - Take a Radical View of Time

A great set of questions at the end of this article help you to think through some of the 80 20 principles which apply to our use of time.

Nothing Great was ever Achieved without Enthusiasm

The enthusiasm model in this article is based on the 80 20 Principle.

Interested in Other Books on Leadership and Management?

Then click here for Books on Happiness and Management: the Happy Manager Bookshop. You'll find many of the books on offer, with up to 30% discount off list price.

One final thought. Good-value management or self development doesn't need to cost a fortune. If you want a new copy of our recommended books, just follow the links to Amazon and look for a bargain. Of course many charity shops also stock books like “In Search of Excellence”, so you may find an even better bargain there. Why not build up your professional library whilst contributing to some worthy causes?