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“The greatest transformation begins when we let go of comfortable inefficiencies and pursue what matters. It’s not about doing everything—it’s about doing the right things that move us forward in the right direction. “
One of the most challenging struggles in my life has been letting go of established patterns of behavior and methods for doing things that weren’t moving me toward my goals.
I struggled a great deal with emotional attachments, despite the negative impact they had on my personal growth and progress.
The nagging fear of missing out and the crushing weight of others’ expectations left me unable to break free from the chains of people-pleasing.
I was drifting aimlessly through an anxiety-inducing fog, wasting precious energy on meaningless tasks while leaving my values behind..
Then came a powerful awakening that lifted the fog that had clouded my path and kept me from moving forward at my pace.
The Big Idea
The Pareto Principle, named after Italian economist, sociologist, and philosopher Vilfredo Pareto, also known as the 80/20 rule, suggests that 80% of results in many areas come from 20% of our efforts.
The 80/20 helped me overcome analysis paralysis by offering a straightforward approach to prioritization: instead of attempting everything, I focus on the vital 20% of activities that generate 80% of my results.
When I feel overwhelmed, I ask myself,
“What action will make the biggest difference?”
Then I focus my energy on that.
Understanding the Core Concept
The Pareto Principle manifests in many aspects of our daily lives, in ways we often misinterpret that causes us to settle, or burnout.
Time Management
In knowledge work like writing, programming, or strategic planning, 20% of our time produces 80% of our meaningful results.
For creative or analytical projects, two hours of focused deliberate work yields more valuable output than six hours of fragmented attention.
Communication
80% of our vital messages and information come from 20% of our communications. This relates to both personal relationships and professional networks.
Decision Making
80% of our satisfaction comes from 20% of our choices. These are the deliberate decisions about career, relationships, health, and personal growth. It’s not only what we say yes to, but what we say no to.
Resource Allocation
In personal finance, 80% of our spending goes to 20% of our expense categories – typically housing, transportation, and food. Here too, it’s primarily about learning what not to spend your money on.
Problem Solving
When facing challenges, addressing the vital 20% of root causes will most often resolve 80% of the issues. This applies to both personal and professional problems.
The Pareto Principle truly excels, addressing the fundamental underlying causes that create the majority of issues or difficulties, rather than treating surface-level symptoms.
Understanding these common applications has helped me identify where to focus my energy and resources for maximum impact.
Before using the Pareto Principle for self-discovery, I first applied it to simplify my environment by decluttering my home, lifestyle, and daily habits.
Leveling up my life has mostly been about removing friction to create the mental space needed to focus on meaningful growth and self-improvement.
Lifestyle & Daily Habits
Wardrobe
80% of the clothes most of us wear daily come from 20% of our wardrobe.
This was a huge wake-up call for me. I realized how I was squandering money, space, and energy on unnecessary purchases.
For years, I had been buying excess clothing for temporary emotional satisfaction and to maintain appearances, believing that more possessions equaled greater happiness.
Applying the Pareto Principle, I discovered I used less than 20% of my wardrobe.
Instead of buying things to impress others, I now focus on items that serve my needs and bring genuine value to my daily life. This not only saves me money but also reduces stress and clutter in my life.
Today, I maintain a minimal wardrobe with a simple rule: for every new item I buy, one must go.
Reflection Exercise:
If you examine your wardrobe. Which 20% of your clothes do you wear 80% of the time?
What patterns do you notice about these frequently worn items in terms of comfort, style, and functionality?
Relationships
I hold 80% of my emotional support and meaningful connections from 20% of my relationships.
After years of maintaining countless shallow connections driven by self-interest and a need for validation, I finally questioned what I was doing and left the city behind.
Living in the forest for the past nine years has created a natural transition to solitude, where I’ve been thriving. This distraction-free environment is exactly how I want to live, and it has developed into a journey of learning to write nonfiction.
While solitude isn’t for everyone, I know one thing from coaching others: most of us avoid examining our relationships because we’re afraid.
Deep down, we know we’re settling, but we’d rather stay in poor company than face solitude.
It takes courage to spend time alone, recalibrate, and focus on one’s values.
Those who embrace solitude discover they’ve not only deepened their relationship with themselves but also formed more meaningful connections with others—all while freeing themselves from the burden of maintaining superficial social obligations.
Reflection Exercise:
Take a moment to reflect on your relationships. Which 20% of your connections provide 80% of your emotional support and meaningful interactions?
What qualities make these relationships particularly valuable, and how can you invest more energy in nurturing these core connections while gracefully letting go of draining or superficial relationships?
Clutter
80% of my household clutter stemmed from 20% of my belongings
I learned this the hard way when I moved from my city apartment to a small cabin in the forest.
Looking at 50+ boxes of accumulated stuff, I realized my stress and disorder came from unused gadgets gathering dust, unread books piling up on shelves, and sentimental items I felt guilty getting rid of.
The emotional weight of keeping these things “just in case” is far greater than the practical value they provide.
Once I identified these key items that created household disorder and dealt with them mindfully, my living space—and mind—felt remarkably lighter.
Now I regularly assess my belongings through this lens, asking myself if each item will serve a purpose or if it’s part of that burdensome 20% that creates cognitive clutter.
Reflection Exercise:
Examine your living space. Which 20% of your belongings contribute to 80% of the clutter or disorganization?
What patterns do you notice in these items—their perceived usefulness, how you acquired them, or the emotional attachments they carry?
How might identifying these key sources of clutter change your approach to organizing and maintaining your space moving forward?
Cooking
80% of my regular meals came from just 20% of my go-to recipes and dining spots.
Despite owning dozens of cookbooks and having hundreds of recipes and restaurants to choose from, I returned to the same handful of familiar unhealthy—dishes and restaurants.
This realization helped me declutter my grocery list, kitchen, and donate unused cookbooks.
After I stopped relying on fast-food places for emotional comfort, I focused on the 20% of foods that nourished my body.
Today, rather than feeling deprived because I no longer eat at McDonald’s, I embrace a handful of nourishing, foundational dishes.
Reflection Exercise:
Examine your eating habits and meal choices. Which 20% of your recipes and food choices do you rely on for 80% of your meals?
What patterns do you notice in terms of nutrition, convenience, and emotional comfort?
How can understanding these patterns guide you to make more mindful choices about your meals and how you organize your kitchen?
Leisure
80% of my enjoyment comes from 20% of my recreational activities.
I discovered that while I engaged in different hobbies; I did it to stay entertained. The biggest part of my genuine joy came from four core activities.
Spreading myself too thin—saying yes to social events and activities—while not dedicating enough time to the ones that did was draining my energy and motivation.
After using the Pareto Principle to analyze my leisure time, I discovered that reading, writing, photography, and hiking consistently brought me the greatest sense of fulfillment, leaving me feeling inspired.
When I started focusing more time and energy on these activities, I’ve not only increased my overall enjoyment but also reduced the stress of maintaining too many hobbies and social commitments.
Reflection Exercise:
Reflect on your leisure activities from the past year. Which ones leave you energized, rather than leaving you drained?
What patterns emerge when you examine these activities—are they’re solitary or social, active or passive, creative or consumptive?
Which of these activities holds the most potential to enhance both your leisure time and your deeper sense of life satisfaction and growth?
Learning & Productivity
Learning
80% of my learning for the last twenty years has come from 20% of the information or practice.
When I began my journey of self-discovery, I felt overwhelmed by the volume of courses, videos, books, and PDF resources.
I felt compelled to consume everything I could get my hands on, fearing I miss pivotal information. This led to information overload and analysis paralysis.
Once again, my breakthrough came after analyzing my learning process through the Pareto Principle.
My progress came from mastering a few fundamental concepts and practicing them consistently. Practice being the key principle that changed everything.
Understanding and practicing the vital 20% that transformed my mindset and habits made it possible to lose 77 pounds and keep them off for the last fifteen years.
Instead of addressing every aspect of my life simultaneously, I focused on a few core skills and habits.
Reflection Exercise:
Reflecting on your own learning journey, what 20% of your learning activities or practices have consistently produced 80% of your meaningful growth and progress?
How might identifying and focusing on these core learning methods change your approach to acquiring new skills or knowledge?”
Work
80% of my daily tasks are completed in 20% of my time spent working.
If you take away one thing from this article, remember this life-changing truth:
Knowing what NOT to do, is just as crucial—if not more important—than knowing what to do.
How I’ve learned to leverage the 20% principle
Peak Productivity Windows
I identified my peak productivity windows – those golden hours where I complete highly important work.
For me, it’s from five in the morning to twelve o’clock noon, marking when my mind is fresh and distractions are minimal.
Reflection Exercise:
How might identifying and protecting your own peak productivity windows transform not just your work output, but also your relationship with time?
What specific changes would you need to make to your current schedule to honor these optimal hours?
Strategic Focus
Instead of fighting against natural energy dips or being productive throughout the day, I learned to concentrate on relevant tasks during my peak 20% time hours.
I deliberately dodge scheduling anything, checking emails, check my phone, or engaging in low-priority tasks during these precious hours.
Reflection Exercise:
How might restructuring your calendar to protect your peak productivity hours transform not just your work output, but also your sense of control and satisfaction with each day?
What specific low-priority activities could you deliberately move outside these hours to create more space for deep, focused work?”
Embrace Natural Rhythms
The real breakthrough came when I stopped feeling guilty about the other 80% of the time.
I’ve stopped forcing myself to be productive when I am not (it’s not realistic), and now I use that time for easier work and much-needed mental and physical breaks.
As I type these words, it’s 5.15 AM. My wife is sleeping and I will keep writing for five hours.
After that, I will take a long walk in the forest while listening to a nonfiction audiobook, and finish with a sauna before starting my shift as a nurse.
Most work, except for physical labor or production line tasks, depends more on cognitive energy and focus than on time to achieve results.
The key is to learn what activities to eliminate or delegate, rather than optimizing every minute of the day.
Reflection Exercise:
How might your perspective on productivity shift if you focused on aligning your most challenging work with your natural energy peaks, rather than trying to maintain consistent output throughout the day?
What possibilities would this open up for both your work quality and personal wellbeing?”
Errors
80% of my mistakes and setbacks stem from 20% of my behavioral patterns and choices.
This is a harsh truth I learned during my twenties and thirties and when coaching others.
Being the emotionally driven creatures we are, our personal and relationship struggles stem from a handful of recurring negative thought patterns, limiting beliefs, and self-destructive habits.
My tendency to avoid difficult conversations in the past caused my relationship conflicts, which I handled with even more avoidant behavior. This is problematic, because it creates a perpetual cycle, since I carry these patterns with me wherever I go.
Without developing emotional intelligence and focusing on personal growth, my life cannot improve, regardless of external changes..
In my case, avoiding discomfort led to costly mistakes and missed opportunities—it was demotivating and wasted years of my life.
When we talk about wasted potential, we’re really describing uncorrected errors piling up over time—both in our personal lives and at work.
Once I identified and took responsibility for my personal issues—yes, it’s not about others, it’s about me—I was free to focus my energy on my fear of vulnerability, which resolved multiple surface-level problems across both my personal and professional life.
Reflection Exercise:
Think about a recurring challenge in your life that keeps appearing in different situations.
What underlying pattern or belief might be connecting these seemingly separate incidents, and how would addressing this core pattern, rather than just the surface-level problems, transform your approach to similar challenges in the future?
Health & Fitness
Fitness
80% of my health and fitness transformation comes from just 20% of my efforts.
These aren’t any efforts – they are my foundational movements, non-negotiable habits, and small daily victories.
In my case, only 15%. More on that in the section about how to eliminate distractions, identify peak moments and use habit stacking.
Most fitness results come from consistently executing a few key compound exercises, maintaining a reliable workout schedule, and following simple, sustainable dietary principles that become as natural as breathing.
Reflection Exercise:
Looking at your current fitness level, which foundational movements and habits have become as natural as breathing, and which ones still require conscious effort?”
Health Issues
80% of my health problems in the past resulted from 20% of my poor lifestyle choices and habits.
Neglecting the few, but fundamental pillars of health—like quality sleep, nutritious foods, and movement—I was sailing a ship with no rudder and tattered sails.
I stayed afloat, but I never experienced the exhilarating journey of optimal health.
Now I focus only on mastering my emotional intelligence to avoid numbing myself, along with maintaining good sleep, exercise, and nourishment.
These vital few choices ripple through every aspect of my physical and emotional wellbeing.
Reflection Exercise:
“If you were to identify one foundational health habit that, when neglected, tends to trigger a cascade of other poor health choices, what would it be and how could you better safeguard this cornerstone habit?”
Self-Improvement and Growth Through the 80/20 Rule
While Pareto’s work has influenced many fields, I’ve found its greatest value in personal development and self-improvement.
Here are the key areas where I’ve applied this principle to transform my life:
Peace of Mind
80% of my peace of mind comes from 20% of my daily habits—mindfulness, building harmonious relationships through clear communication and empathy, reading non-fiction, writing, and hiking in nature.
Reflection Exercise:
Think of your mind as a garden for cultivation. What seeds are you planting?
Memories
80% of my most cherished memories come from 20% of my life experiences—spending one month each winter with my wife, hiking and exploring new countries to escape the harsh Swedish winter.
Reflection Exercise:
Ask yourself: What were the 2-3 most transformative experiences in your life each year for the past decade, and how much have these key moments shaped your current values and decisions?
Personal Growth
80% of my deepest personal growth emerged from 20% of the hardest challenges—those raw, vulnerable moments that seemed to break me down, rebuilt and shaped who I am today.
Reflection Exercise:
Think about a difficult moment in your life that initially felt like it was breaking you down. – how did that experience ultimately reshape your character and worldview?
What specific strengths or insights emerged from that challenge?
Daily Joy
80% of my daily joy comes from the 20% of my daily routine I mentioned earlier.
Reflection Exercise:
Reflecting on your own daily routines, what 20% of your daily activities contribute to 80% of your daily joy and energy?
How will restructuring your life around these activities transform the quality of your days, months, and years?
Sense of Purpose
80% of my sense of meaning and direction comes from 20% of my contributions that makes a difference in others’ lives.
Reflection Exercise:
Looking at your sense of purpose and meaning, what specific contributions or activities in your life currently create the most meaningful impact?
5 Steps to Live Better Using the Pareto Principle
While the Pareto Principle isn’t a miracle solution, it’s a useful mental model to avoid wasting energy on activities that don’t bring me closer to my goals.
1. List Behaviors and Habits
Writing helps me think. I brainstorm and write everything that will influence my decisions or contribute to my problems.
I write my intentions for the next day each evening.
Writing my intentions helps me identify and focus on the vital 20% of activities that will produce 80% of the next day’s results.
It helps me evaluate behaviors and habits on a weekly basis.
By planning ahead in the evening, I prioritize the most impactful behaviors and habits and ensure I focus my energy on the activities that add value, rather than getting caught up in others’ agendas.
Each Sunday, I review the past week’s focus and identify what needs improvement in the week ahead.
Weekly check-in helps me track, measure, and evaluate patterns affecting my decisions and address potential energy vampires before they consume my goals.
Using the speech-to-text function in the Notion app speeds up the process while keeping notes comprehensive and searchable for later review.
Reflection Exercise:
Looking at your daily routines and habits, what activities consistently drain your energy without moving you closer to your goals?
What becomes possible if you eliminated or drastically reduced these activities for the next 30 days?
2. Analyze Impact
After three months of journaling behaviors and habits and evaluating them weekly, I have enough feedback to assess each behavior’s impact on my desired outcome.
I use a simple ranking system (high, medium, low) and a numerical scale (1-10) to measure impact.
Here is an example of using the same rating system for evaluating behaviors and habits:
Example: Morning Routine Habits
- Early Wake-up: High Impact (9/10) – Sets the tone for the entire day. It’s blocked time in my calendar without distractions that I don’t trade for entertainment or anything else.
- Writing articles like this one: High Impact (8/10) – I learn new skills by researching the topic, improve my writing skills while creating it, and add value to others when publishing it.
- Social Media, News and Email Checking: Low Impact (2/10) – Since I don’t use social media and never check email or my phone in the morning, I’ve eliminated the distractions and cognitive fatigue these activities once caused. However, this is where most of us waste years of our lives.
Reflection Exercise:
Looking at your own life and habits, what percentage of your daily activities are truly moving you towards your most important goals?
How would you rate their impact on a scale of 1-10, similar to the morning routine example?
3.Eliminate Distractions, Identify Peak Moments and Use Habit Stacking
I identify the things that move me in the desired direction. In my case, these are mental and physical health and writing, which yield the highest impact.
For me, happiness comes from eliminating distractions and toxic relationships, and protecting my peak productivity hours to focus on activities that produce meaningful results—rather than trying to do everything.
My fulfillment in life comes from solving problems, engaging in the creative process, and achieving goals—not from passive consumption.
I always look for ways to combine multiple small habits or actions into a single routine, where each habit triggers the next.
Example: Daily Exercise:
- Morning Exercise: High long term Impact (9/10) – Ten minutes of light cardio when I sit down to write creates momentum for the entire day and improves mental clarity.
Writing triggers brief breaks to do some light exercise.
- Breaks Exercise: High long term Impact (9/10)
I write from 5:00-10:30 AM, and set a timer for 45 minutes and take breaks to do 3 sets of 20 pushups. This adds up to more than 43,800 pushups in a year.
Breaks triggers exercise.
- Work Exercise: High long term Impact (9/10)
In the locker room at work, I do ten pushups when I change into my nursing clothes and when getting off my shift.
Working approximately 20 days per month for 10 months each year, this amounts to 4,000 pushups.
Getting changed for work and getting off my shift triggers pushups.
I always take the stairs to the 4th floor at least 10 times every workday—this adds up to roughly 50 kilometers of vertical distance per year, simply by avoiding the elevator.
Instead of sitting when I write in my patient’s journal, I use a standing desk for 2 hours daily. This burns 20,000-40,000 extra calories per year and reduces the risks associated with prolonged sitting, such as poor posture and back pain.
It strengthens my legs and core muscles while improving blood circulation and reducing cardiovascular risks.
Leaving the office to visit patients triggers taking the stairs.
You don’t need the gym to stay fit—you need to STOP feeling guilty about not doing everything and focus on the vital 20%.
Reflection Exercise:
What are the small, seemingly insignificant daily activities that are covertly draining your energy and preventing you from focusing on what matters to you?
How would eliminating just one of these activities impact your progress towards your most important goals?
4. Set Boundaries
I create and implement solutions focused on three key lifestyle choices. This is where I concentrate my resources and decide in advance on the non-negotiables.
I then establish clear boundaries around my time, energy, and commitments to protect priorities and maintain a focus on what matters most to me and my wife.
Finally, I communicate these boundaries clearly and specifically.
Reflection Exercise:
What specific activities or commitments do you need to say “no” to in order to protect your most important priorities?
5. Review Regularly
I periodically reassess my list and analyze the impact of each factor. This helps ensure I maintain focus on what matters most and confirms my values haven’t shifted. If they have changed, I have time to course correct before it’s too late.
Reflection Exercise:
How often do you review your goals and priorities to ensure they still align with your values?
What signals indicate it is time for a course correction in your life’s direction?
Closing Thoughts
My wife, blessed with an interior designer’s spirit, loves to redecorate regularly.
While I admire her creativity, her frequent rearranging means I spend 80% of my time searching for 20% of basic household items.
Life is inherently messy and unpredictable. Add to that our own human unpredictability, and it becomes even more crucial to focus on the vital few activities rather than doing everything.
Though I can’t eliminate life’s chaos, or my wife’s habit of moving things, the Pareto Principle offers a practical framework to navigate many other areas.
I don’t know about you, but I need a system that helps me identify and prioritize the actions that move me toward my goals—and occasionally helps me locate those frequently misplaced household items.
Thank you for reading!
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