Send the following Big Idea to a friend:

#139 Eggs & Baskets

“Conventional wisdom is not to put all of your eggs in one basket. 80/20 wisdom is to choose a basket carefully, load all your eggs into it, and then watch it like a hawk.”

~Richard Koch

Richard Koch wrote the brilliant book, “The 80/20 Principle.” I highly recommend it.

The basic idea (I dedicated a whole Big Idea on this already): 80% of your benefits in life come from 20% of your activities. So, why are you wasting 80% of your activities?!?

Find the 20% of the stuff that you’re doing that’s really working and do more of it!! Very simply.

Some Real-Life Applications

Business

Do you know where your revenue comes from? Find out. Do you know where you spend your time? Find out. Here’s what the book would suggest: You make at least 80% of your profits in 20% of your activity, and in 20 percent of your revenues. The trick is to figure out which 20%!

Learning

How do you read a book? Do you go from cover to cover? Why? You’re wasting a lot of time. 80% of the valuable content can be found in 20% of the book...and, according to Koch, absorbed in 20% of the time it takes most people to read the entire book.

Tip: Unless you’re reading a book for pleasure, read the conclusion then the intro, check out the graphs and pictures and then the conclusion again and maybe some sections a little deeper if you find it particularly interesting. If you’re reading a novel or a book for pleasure, read at your leisure. If you are looking for the most efficient way to learn, think 80/20.

Another Tip: The same rules apply with your kids' studies!

Social

20% of your friends account for 80% of your enjoyment and satisfaction.

Tip: Might sound harsh, but why wouldn’t you spend a lot more time with the group that gives you so much pleasure and a lot less time with the other?!?

Your Diet

My diet? Yes, your diet. My guess is that you spend a lot of time bouncing from one diet to another--never really receiving a whole lot of consistent energy as a result. The reality: 20% of your healthy eating habits account for 80% of your health gains.

Guess what? If you ignored the fad diets and just focused on the fundamentals, you’d see a lot of results. Consistently.

Are you drinking enough water (at least 8 cups a day)? Eating breakfast? Eating a lot of fruits and vegetables? Avoiding sugar? And, avoiding saturated fat?

You do these things and you’re 80% there. And, you'll be surprised how quickly your energy will increase (not to mention how quickly the number of compliments from your spouse/significant other will increase!).

Tip: Focus on the 20%. Drink 8 cups of water every day this week.

Already doing that? Good. Eat breakfast every day this week. Got that down? Good. Eat a salad with lunch and dinner. etc. etc.

…

More Wisdom:

"The few things that work fantastically well should be identified, cultivated, nurtured, and multiplied."

“The 80/20 Principle, like the truth, can make you free. You can work less. At the same time, you can earn more and enjoy more. The only price is that you need to do some serious 80/20 thinking.”

So, get to work! Figure out where you can focus your efforts and get more for your precious time and energy.

Will 20% of the people who read this account for 80% of the results achieved by applying the principle in their lives…hmmmmm…Not these thinkers!

Remember: Less Effort, More Results = Good.

Find your 20%’s and multiply your results.