Setting Goals with the Pareto Principle

It’s a New Year, and for many of us, our minds turn to set goals for the new year. We’re looking for a way to right the wrongs of the past or believe it’s time to improve on some aspect of our lives we find lacking.  

Unfortunately, many of us give up on our goals before we get started, mainly because we feel overwhelmed or are unsure of the best way to get where we want to go.  

 Are you someone who feels that you have to do things perfectly all the time to achieve a goal? Do you have an all-or-nothing mentality? If so, you’re going to want to read this! According to the Pareto Principle, the perfection mindset has proven a myth. 

The Pareto Principle is named after Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto. 

Pareto showed that 80% of the nation’s resources were owned by only 20% of the nation’s population. This concept has been expanded to apply to other areas of our lives, including time management and goal setting.  

For example, 80% of purchases typically come from 20% of an existing client base in sales. In time management, applying yourself to the most significant tasks first (20%) will reap the best outcomes (80%) in terms of time management.   

So how can you apply these principles in your own life to help you succeed in 2022?   

• Set realistic goals
• Focus on the most significant goal first
• Make the goal specific to you
• Make the goal measurable
• Be flexible about what success means

When you set a realistic, attainable goal, applying 20% of your overall time and efforts to that goal will help you reap 80% of the benefits according to the Pareto Principle. That means you don’t have to be perfect to reach your goals. You have to put forth a certain amount of effort.   

Sometimes we procrastinate on our biggest and most challenging goals (our 20%) and create busyness from the least essential plans (80%) that don’t contribute to our overall success. 

Below are our recommendations for applying the Pareto Principle to your goal setting in 2022. 

• Create a list of ten goals.  
• Ask yourself which goal would have the most significant impact on your life
• Continue down your list until you have prioritized all ten goals. This exercise will help you determine the most critical 20% of the goals you’ve set for yourself.  
• Conquer the most significant fish first. We’ve all seen those people who are busy all day but don’t seem to get anything done. They are most likely focusing on goals with low value and are procrastinating on the goals that have the most meaning but are also the hardest to accomplish.  
• Before you tackle any task, ask yourself if this is one of your 20% or 80% goals.
• If you begin each day working on high-priority tasks that will enhance your life, you can banish the habit of cluttering up your day with low-value goals. The starting point of reaching your loftiest goals is dreaming big dreams.

 If you want to reach a goal, it is essential to cast off limitations and believe that you can achieve anything that has your focus.  

 Real-World Application of the Pareto Principle 

 So you can better understand how to apply this Principle in your everyday life, let’s look at this example. An entrepreneur wants to double his income in the next three years. 

Looking at his clientele, he realized that 20% of his client-generated 80% of his income, but he was spending equal amounts of time on lower profit clients as he was on the clients who generated revenue.  

In other words, he was equally giving focus to both groups, but only one was paying off in results. So he began to focus more intensely on the top 20% of his clients that produced results for him while weeding out the clients that were not producing results. He then began to look for new clients who had the same habits and characteristics of the clients in that top 20% and added them to his clientele. He stopped wasting time on people who didn’t produce income for him and focused on bringing in more clients who would. And he achieved his goal in half the time he had allotted himself because he stopped wasting time on things that didn’t work.   

What’s Holding You Back?

Whether we want to admit it or not, most of us can figure out what stands between us and our goals. Sometimes we feel overwhelmed and helpless. Sometimes we get lazy and want to make an excuse. Sometimes we genuinely don’t know where to get started. 

Using the tips provided in this blog can help you focus on your goals and apply your focus to help those dreams come true in 2022! 

If you need additional help, BrainTap is an excellent solution for helping you find focus and clarity while working towards your goals. BrainTap is proven to help you attain clear focus and concentration. 

We recommend these sessions to help you be the best version of yourself this year! 

• Focus in the Now – Find Clarity Bundle
• Focus and Concentration – Find Clarity Bundle
• The Creativity Zone – Find Clarity Bundle
• Lifestyle Goals – Find Clarity Bundle
• Magnet for Success – Get Motivated Bundle
• Beyond Positive Thinking – Get Motivated Bundle
• End to Procrastination – Get Motivated Bundle
• Lightning Fast Problem Solving – Optimal Health Bundle
• Creativity Booster – Optimal Health Bundle
• Optimizing Your Brain’s Capacity – Optimal Health Bundle

Listen to them today