80/20 Principle

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Questions:  
What are the key takeaways from the 80/20 principle that I can apply to my life? 
What are the most important decisions that I need to make and how can I use the 80/20 principle to make them? 
What are the 10 low-value and 10 high-value uses of my time? 
How can I apply the 10 rules for career success and 10 commandments of investment to maximize my returns? 
What are the two ways I can be happier and how can I implement them? 
What can I do to thrive in the new world and maximize the opportunities available?

The 80/20 Principle asserts that a minority of causes, inputs, or effort usually lead to a majority of the results, outputs, or rewards.

It's important to keep it in mind because it is counterintuitive. Humans are cause and effect thinkers. We think in terms of 1:1 when nonlinear relationships are more common. 80/20 is a useful heuristic to remember that.

And it is important to keep the counterintuitive in mind because 80% of your thoughts/thinking step from what is intuitive (cause and effect thinkers by default)

The goal is to focus on the vital few instead of the trivial many

80/20 Thinking
Fuzzy
Qualitative
Requires Thought
Provides insight
Highly valuable

80/20 Analysis (Using stats)
Precise
Quantative
Requires investigation
Provides facts
Highlly valuable

80/20 Thinking

Constantly ask "What vital few inputs are leading to most of the output"

Examples
Most of the value of the book is in a vital few areas, never bother with reading cover to cover
The few firms in a field pay the most vs the rest of the field
The vital few of a business reap most of the value
The majority of the increase in wealth of most portfolios comes from a few investments

80/20 Principles
Celebrate exceptional productivity, rather than raise average efforts
This means when you're in a streak of productivity, do everything you can to keep it going.
Look for the short cut, rather than run the full course
Exercise control over our lives with the least possible effort
This means limit task switching as much as possible
Be selective, not exhaustive
Strive for excellence in few things, rather than good performance in many
delegate or outsource as much as possible in our daily lives and be encouraged rather than penalized by tax systems to do this (use gardeners, car mechanics, decoratos, etc.)
Choose our careers and employers with extraordinary care, and if possible employ others rather than being employed ourselves
only do the thing we are best at doing and enjoy most
Look beneath the normal texture of life to uncover ironies and oddities
in every important sphere work out 20 percent of effort can lead to 80 percent of returns
Calm down, work less and target a limited number of very valuable goals where the 80/20 Principle will work for us, rather than pursing every available opportunity
Make the most of those few "lucky streaks" in our life where we are at our creative peak and the stars line up to guarantee success.

Tenets of 80/20 Principle
There are only a few things that ever produce important results
Most efforts do not realize their intended results 
What you see is generally not what you get: There are underlying forces at work
It is too complicated and too wearisome to work out what is happening and it is also unnecessary: all you need to know is whether something is working or not and change the mix until it is; then keep the mix constant until it stops working
Most good events happen because of a small minority of highly productive forces; most bad things happen because of a small minority of highly destructive forces
Most activity, en mass and individually, is a waste of time. It will not contribute materially to desired results

Five rules for decision making with 80/20 Principles

Not many decisions are very important. Do not agonize over the unimportant ones. 
Most important decisions are often those made only by default. 
Gather 80 percent of the data and perform 80 percent of the analysis in the first 20 percent of the time available, then make a decision as if you were 100 percent confident
If what you have decided isn't working, change your mind early rather than late
When something is working well, double and redouble your bets 
Be conscious about this. There has to be something in your day/life that is working well. Double down on, triple down on that.

The Top 10 low-value uses of time
Things other people want you to do
Things that have always been done this way
Things you're not unusually good at doing
Things you don't enjoy doing
Things that are always interrupted
Things few other people are interested in
Things that have already taken twice as long as you originally expected
Things where your collaborators are unreliable or low quality
Things that have a predictable cycle
Answering the telephone;

Top 10 high value uses of time
Things that advance your overall purpose in life
You need to identify your purpose first. What do you want out of life
Things you have always wanted to do
Things already in the 20/80 relationship of time to results
Innovative ways of doing things that promise to slash the time required and/or multiple the quality of results
Things other people tell you can't be done
Things other people have done successfully in a different arena
Things that use your own creativity
Things that you can get other people to do for you with relatively little effort on your part
Anything with high-quality collaborators who have already transcended the 80/20 rule of time, who use time eccentrically and effectively
Things for which it is now or never

Look at this list and do audits on where you can introduce these into your life

10 rules for career success
Specialize in a very small niche; develop a core skill
Choose a niche that you enjoy, where you can excel and stand a chance of becoming an acknowledged leader
Realize that knowledge is power
Identify your market your core customers and serve them best 
Identify where 20 percent of effort gives 80 percents of returns
Learn from the best
Become self-employed early in your career
Employ as many net value value creators as possible
Use outside contractors for everything but your core skill
Exploit capital leverage

Look at this list and do audits on where you can introduce these into your life

10 commandments of investment
Make your investment philosophy reflect your personality
Be proactive and unbalanced
Invest mainly in the stock market
invest for the long term
Invest most when the market is low
If you can't beat the market, track it
Built your investments on your expertise 
Consider the mertis of emerging markets
Cull your loss makers
run your gains

Two ways to be happier
Identify the times when you are happiest and expand them as much as possible
Identify the times when you are least happy and reduce them as much as possible

Thriving in the new world
Spend time searching for new networks and platforms that have just got going, make it a hobby and devote a few hours a week to it
Think like an owner. Try to grow the network as if you own it. You will reap most of the benefits
Look for network businesses
Work in network businesses. When they are still small
Only work for an 80/20 boss
Find your 80/20 idea
Become joyfully, usefully unique

Starred

Dunk (exclude from study)

80/20 Principle

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