“It is not only possible to accomplish more by doing less, it is mandatory”:  -Timothy Ferriss

In the contemporary world, where everybody is getting busier with every coming day, time is becoming the new currency. Moreover, this is the currency that cannot be attained again. That is the only reason time management is becoming one of the most crucial needs of the modern world.

However, it does not matter whether you are a business owner, student, or employee, you need an effective time management plan in order to be most efficient in your field. Moreover, whenever we talk about time management, the mention of the Pareto Principle is compulsory because it is one of the most efficient techniques for managing time effeciently.

But first things first, what exactly is the Pareto Principle?

The Pareto Principle, also known as The 80/20 Rule is named after a prominent economist Vilfredo Pareto who proposed that 80% of your outcomes come from your 20% efforts in most of the cases. This principle effectively assists you in prioritizing your tasks in order to be more productive and more efficient. A detailed analysis of the Pareto Principle will further help you in applying it effectively to your life.

Simple wasn’t it? Now that we have a clear understanding of the Pareto Principle, the question arises how exactly can you use the Pareto Principle in order to manage your time efficiently? To know the answer, let us dive right into the blog without further ado.

5 Crucial Strategies To Use Pareto Principle in Time Management

1. Prioritize the most important tasks

A good place to start the effective process of time management is to effectively manage your task list first. This highlights the first and the most important thing that needs your attention is that you need to prioritize your most important tasks.

The Pareto Principle here applies that 20% of efforts on important tasks will derive 80% of the productive results. One of the most common ways to identify your priorities is by preparing your to-do list. This technique applies Kinlin’s Law stating, “If you can write the problem clearly, the problem is half solved”. To simplify, writing down all your tasks will allow you to identify what tasks need to be completed with the utmost priority and what tasks can be delayed. This will assist you in managing your time in a more efficient way.

To elaborate, prioritizing your tasks based on their importance will assist you in effectively managing the time and efficiency that needs to be invested in every task. Otherwise, there can be possibilities that you might end up investing more time in the wrong tasks. This will not only impact your overall efficiency in completing tasks but can also cause hindrance to your overall growth.

2. Eliminate the distractions

It is an undeniable fact that distractions are inevitable.  It does not matter whether you are at your office, school, or home, there will always be sources that will be enough to distract you from your task.

The Pareto Principle that applies here is that 80% of your distractions come from 20% of the sources. Moreover, it is agreeable that you cannot avoid distractions. However, in such cases, you can eliminate the sources of distractions.

For instance, if your phone pops a notification every five minutes and it is continuously disrupting your concentration, you can either put your phone on silent or turn off the unnecessary notifications. It will assist you to avoid unnecessary distractions.

Furthermore, as per a report, It takes approximately 23 minutes to again concentrate on a task after getting distracted once. Hence, eliminating the source of distractions will assist you in saving your time and managing it more efficiently.

3. Delegate tasks

If you are a manager, an employer, or a business leader there are many tasks in a day that need to be completed with the utmost attention. On the other hand, there are some tasks that can be done even without your presence. In these scenarios, the unimportant tasks are just another time-waster for you. In that scenario, you can effectively delegate the tasks to your trusted ones. The Pareto Principle that applies here is that 20% of your team will finish 80% of your tasks.

That being the case, you can possible do three things to get of these tasks

1. Outsource – There are very rare chances that you are the best at everything. In such scenarios, doing the tasks you are not efficient at will only waste your time. That being the case, you can outsource these tasks to a third party.
2. Delegate – Some of the tasks that are less important can be performed without your supervision, you can delegate those tasks to your colleagues, friends, or partners. This will assist you in investing your time in other significant tasks.
3. Automate – Technology has always been there to make our lives easier. Similarly, there are repetitive and mundane tasks that can be performed by using multiple automotive tools. This will assist you in saving time and effort which can be utilized further to enhance your overall productivity.

Taking assistance from all the above-given sources will assist you in saving your time by preventing you from performing tasks that you are not good at or are repetitive or mundane tasks. This will assist you in enhancing your efficiency and will contribute to your self-improvement.

4. Use the Time Block technique

The time block is one of the most useful techniques that can be used to employ the 80/20 rule in your personal or professional life. First, let’s get on the same page with the definition of the time blocking technique. To define, time blocking refers to planning out and assigning a particular estimated time that is required to complete a task.

Using the time block technique will assist you in planning out your to-do list and sticking to it will save your time and will assist you to manage your time efficiently. Other than this, below mentioned are some of the other benefits of the time blocking technique.

1. Prevents procrastination – When you know you have been assigned a particular time to complete every task, it will contribute to preventing you from procrastinating.
2. Enhances focus – Setting deadlines for completing every task will make you more focused and contracted which will contribute to your overall enhanced productivity.
3. Ensures the attainment of your goals – Completing all the tasks according to the assigned time block will assist in assuring that you are following the right path to achieve assigned goals.

When you combine the meticulously created to-do list along with the time blocking technique, it is just like adding a cherry on top of your favorite cake. This will also make you aware of how much time you take to complete a task and will highlight the key areas where you are taking more time than expected.

5. Stop Multitasking

People often believe that multitasking saves time but many researchers have found that multitasking not only affects your efficiency but also makes you prone to errors. To elaborate, when your brain constantly switches between multiple tasks, it impacts your concentration and eventually affects your productivity. In this, when you try to give more than required, it impacts your results negatively.

A recent article from Fast Company used Pareto Principle and quoted, “80% of your efforts only bring 20% results whereas, 20% of your efforts derive 80% of your results.”

Hence, you need to give all your attention and dedication to one work at a time. This will assist you in being more efficient and will make you less vulnerable to making mistakes. This will ultimately result in saving and managing your time more efficiently.

To encapsulate, time management is a tough task but using the right techniques and strategies will make you efficient in the most efficient way. So, let’s get started today and manage your time more efficiently using the Pareto Principle.