The Pareto Principle states that roughly 80% of one’s effects come from 20% of the causes, a common rule of thumb, especially in business. It’s the law of the vital few, that which with you devote much effort and time (80%) ends up to yield only 20% of the results. This spans all aspects of one’s life, in work, in health, in relationships, and in finances. How so? Here are a few examples:

Work

You know all those annoying e-mails that really eat up your time and sanity? You know, the ones that just keep on flooding your inbox, never to let you have it empty, not even for a minute?

You end up then frustratingly responding to each and every one, trying hard to zip through them as quickly as possibly without missing any vital details. All in all, you spend the majority of your day (80%) or more doing tasks (e-mails) that only show for a small portion of your actual work (20%). Bummer. That really does suck, I totally get it.

Health

So all those little calories you’re counting, from the creamer you put in your morning (and afternoon) cup of coffee to the child-sized frozen meal you call your lunch (seriously, how can one be full on that?!), you’re painstakingly counting each calorie (80% of efforts) to ensure you are under the 2,000 or 2,500 calories intake a day.

But then you completely bomb and give in to that delicious piece of over-sugared and over-processed chocolate cake from your coworker’s 20th work anniversary that takes milliseconds to destroy. I’ve seen it happen. Way. Too. Many. Times.

It’s gotta stop! All the little efforts (which really are quite great, it really is) totally do not make up for your catastrophe you call self-control. You’re spending 80% of your time counting the little things when you totally miss the biggest piece of the pie (literally).

Relationships

You took out the trash every week now for the last 4 weeks and counting. He’s done the laundry each week. You’re doing the dishes. A lot of stuff is just maintenance, things we have to do in order to just live. At least, if you want to live semi-clean.

But these things we do, they end up taking the majority of our time together (80%) but don’t account for much value (20%). It’s the time that you can actually sit down and look the other person in the eye and really share what’s going on in your life that makes the relationship sustainable and strong.

Don’t forget about those times. If it’s less and less frequent, you might think twice about the stupid garbage that should be taken outside when your partner is really sad about being passed up for the promotion at work. The garbage can wait. It’s not going anywhere. Your partner? Not so much.

Finances

So all those coupons you’ve been scrimping and clipping and finally using just to save $0.35 off of a bag of Doritos, wow, congrats! Look at the big picture here.

First, do you even need a bag of Doritos? (I know, hard to say no to that, I understand.) Especially if you’ve been complaining of how fat you’ve gotten since college? That tempting bag of chips won’t help you reach your goal of flat abs and toned arms any time soon, I promise you that. Hey, it was my favorite snack too but even the favorites have to be let go in lieu of a bigger goal. Discipline, people!

Second, evaluate your efforts in saving money. Coupons are just a marketing tool to get you to buy a particular brand or product and to generate sales. It’s not to help you save money at all. You may think that (and that’s why the marketers have you totally hooked to the coupon section of the Sunday newspaper) but it’s totally not the case. You’re spending a lot of time (80%) to save not a lot of money (20%). Realize this.

So what’s all this 80/20 nonsense about really?

All this is in an effort to help you realize that a lot of what we spend our days on, including myself, is on really boring, stupid, little-to-no-value activities. Yup, even when it is considered part of our job description. Doesn’t make it more important just because it’s what you’re supposed to do.

We need to evaluate what we are spending our time on that yields less-than-brilliant results. Okay, it doesn’t have to be positively brilliant each time you do something (but wouldn’t it be cool if it were?) but if you could limit those tasks and activities you do that don’t bring in much value to you, your life, and a step closer to your goals, that would be a fantastic way to use your time!

Just think, no pointless and idiotic e-mails back and forth, with everyone carbon copied someone’s two-word reply of “thank you.” Just say thank you to that person!

No 2 hours wasted clipping coupons to save a few bucks when you didn’t need the Crest Whitening Strips anyways in the first place.

No counting every single little calorie every day of your life because you have a killer 75-minute kickboxing class at night that utterly drop kicks your ass if you even thought about eating that cookie at work, never mind actually eating it.

No fuss and worry about not cleaning the kitchen because you were so busy celebrating your partner’s birthday this week and enjoying the moment. The kitchen can wait.

Revel in the moment! Use your time to your advantage! It is, after all, your time. Make it what you will. Be fun, have fun! Own the 80/20 rule, don’t let it own you!

And seriously, don’t be spending 80% of your waking day doing silly things that account for only 20% of your productive and meaningful work. Don’t think I won’t karate size you upside the head if you do! Because I will.

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