This document discusses applying the Pareto principle or 80/20 rule to optimize one's life. It explains that 80% of results often come from 20% of causes. The document provides examples of how this applies, such as 20% of clients providing 80% of profits. It then discusses using a personal Pareto analysis to identify the 20% of one's time and actions that resulted in 80% of happiness and achievements in order to focus on maximizing those high-value activities. The document provides prompts to help the reader identify their personal happiness/achievement islands as well as unhappiness/stagnation islands to better focus their efforts and goals.

1. Avi Solomon
@avisolo
How
to
apply
the
Pareto
80/20
heuris5c
to
hack
your
life
in
an
age
of
distrac5on

2. Why?
• Doing
the
right
thing
(at
any
level
of
skill)
is
be7er
than
doing
the
wrong
thing
well.
• But
how
do
you
know
you
are
doing
the
right
thing
for
you?
• The
Pareto
80/20
“principle”
is
a
heurisGc
rule
of
thumb
that
can
help
ID
the
“right”
thing
for
you
to
do.

3. Pareto
Principle
80%
(or
more)
of
the
results
come
from
20%
(or
less)
of
the
causes
• Vital
Few
vs.
Trivial/Useful
Many
• InnovaGon
(Science)
vs.
ExecuGon
(Art)
• Both
are
necessary,
but
we
have
a
tendency
to
overvalue
the
urgent
over
the
important.
• Fractality
of
the
principle.

4. Examples
• 20%
of
clients
provide
80%
of
the
profit
(cherish
them
–
geVng
new
clients
is
hard)
• 20%
of
clients
make
80%
of
the
trouble
(these
are
usually
not
the
profitable
20%
-­‐
fire
them!)
• 20%
of
soluGons
provide
80%
of
the
results
• 20%
of
product
features/apps
get
used
80%
of
the
Gme
• 20%
of
your
Gme
supplies
80%
of
your
producGvity

5. Personal
Pareto
Analysis
via
Richard
Koch
80%
of
your
Happiness
happened
in
20%
of
your
Time
80%
of
your
Achievements
came
from
20%
of
your
Ac5ons

6. Personal
Pareto
Analysis
via
Richard
Koch
• Capture
your
Happiness
&
Achievement
Islands
(and
also
your
desert
islands
when
you
were
unhappy
&
stagnant)
• Find
emergent
paDerns
and
themes
among
the
posi5ve
islands
and
focus
on
crea5ng
more
experiences
like
them
• Eliminate,
Reduce
or
Outsource
the
negaGve
desert
islands
and
associated
themes

7. My
Happiness/Achievement
Islands
Happiness
Person/Activity/Place
Achievement
Person/Activity/Place

8. My
UnHappiness/StagnaGon
Islands
Unhappiness
Person/Activity/Place
Stagnation
Person/Activity/Place

9. Tips
• Have
a
maximum
of
five
diverse
80/20
goals
as
your
personal
lighthouse
• Periodic
Focus:
Is
this
helping
me
achieve
my
core
5
goals?
If
not
drop
it
or
outsource
• Remember
fractality
of
the
80/20
principle:
works
at
every
level