The 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Achieving More with Less

This is the only review I ever wrote for a book, but this is such an important book, that I had to do it. On the face of it the book is self evident in many ways, as the entire book is summarized in its title, the 80/20 Rule: 80% of the results comes from doing the 20% of the work that truly mattered. Yet this book helped me become successful far more than my 2 years MBA. I read about 30 books a year, and in the past 5 years I feel this has been the book that helped me the most in my work and in my life, as it opened my eyes: Do only the 20% that matters the most, and you will have achieved 80% of the results. He also gives other good advice, do what comes easy to you, and become a top expert in it, outsource everthing else. etc..I feel everybody should read this book, it will help them achieve so much more and at the same time, save so much time and effort. It is Priceless advice.

The principle is simple, but counter-intuitive: Nature creates imbalances. This is true for money (20% of people have 80% of the wealth), crime (20% of criminals commit 80% of crimes), energy usage (15% of population uses 85% of energy), competition (20% of suppliers have 80% of market share)and even carpet (20% gets 80% wear and tear). . . In a non-linear world: 1) Celebrate exceptional productivity . . .look for the short cut. . .be selective. . . only do what you do best. (pg 38)2) Keep it simple. Size often creates complexity - which in turn creates inefficiency. Pour your effort into the 20% that makes a difference. Sometimes it is better to lose unprofitable customers to competitors (pg 93)3) Hold on to your good customers and employees forever!4) The key to 80/20 is not time-mangement. Don't try to do more. Just do more of the right things.5) Do what you enjoy because enthusiasm and success is a complementary cycle.6) Three great lists:The top 10 low-value uses of time (pg 161)The top 10 highest value uses of time (pg 161)The ten golden rules for career success (pg 194)

I read this book about a year ago, and still regularly think of it and apply it's concepts in my life and business.I have worked in sales for years, so I am very familiar with the 80/20 concept as relates to business. Simply stated in my field of real estate it's a proven fact that in different markets of the country and over time 20% of the agents make 80% of the income. This is true in other types of sales as well. Of course the flipside of this is that the large 80% of the agents only make 20% of the income. Basically a small number of people make most of the money. Why this is has been debated, but it seems to be a consistent rule that holds.Koch points out how 80/20 is seen in other areas. For example 20% of taxpayers account for 80% of IRS revenue. What Koch does then is expand this rule to all aspects of life. He says that the 80/20 rule holds for all kinds of activities. He says that 20% of your work activity is responsible for 80% of your productivity on the job. And that 20% of your leisure time is responsible for 80% of your happiness. When I read this I just knew intuitively that it is true. So the next step is to figure out what the 20% activities are that are paying off the 80% returns in your work, or personal life, or anything. And then devote your energy into those activities and receive huge returns. He says that we're better off focusing on our strong suits where we're most effective rather than focusing our attention on the areas where we think "we need to improve". This idea alone is priceless.This is practical, useful material that you can put to use today in your business and personal life. Koch has some seemingly offbeat ideas about playing with time unconventionally, boosting happiness, productivity through being "intelligent and lazy", and more that I loved. It really opened my mind to a range of possibilities.Koch is a successful businessman who says he researched and could find no other books written on this subject.

The 80/20 principle is one of those books where the idea keeps turning over in your head for days after you read it. The 80/20 rule is one that I use quite often in assessing business situations. The book consists of three parts, an introduction to the rule, its application to business and its application to one's life. Koch does a good job in showing how to apply the 80/20 rule in business. The real kick from the book is how Koch applies the 80/20 rule to living one's life. If 20% of our efforts yield 80% of the results we can increase our productivity 100% by doubling our 20% activities and eliminating the 80% activities. This would leave you with 60% of your time to do other things, more time with family and friends, hobbies, talking a walk.