Ah, the 80/20 rule… I wonder if Vilfredo Pareto could have begun to imagine the far reaching implications of his principle back in 1906 when he discovered that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population. This rule has been shown to apply to all sorts of things since then, from peas in a garden to customers for a company. Today I am going to show you how to apply this rule to help you declutter your life.
For our purposes, the 80/20 rule will be used as a guide to identify that small number of things that have the biggest impact in our lives. It is likely that you wear 20% of your clothing 80% of the time. It is likely that you divine 80% of your pleasure from 20% of your activities. Is it also likely that you use 20% of your kitchen utensils to cook 80% of your meals. I think you get the point. Now, the percentages may vary for a given situation. It might be 90/10 or 60/40, but the idea remains the same.
The trick is to identify the relatively small percentage of things that you use the most, wear the most, or get the most enjoyment from and start weeding out the rest. Take clothes, for instance. Imagine how much less crowded your closet would be if you only kept those things you wore most often. Take a look at your kitchen and imagine what it would look like if you got rid of everything that was used either infrequently or not at all. How about television? What if you watched the small number of shows that have the most value or give you the most enjoyment and cut the rest of the shows from your schedule?
Keeping this rule of thumb in mind as you take inventory of your activities and possessions will lend a bit of clarity and help you trim the less valuable items. It’s a lofty goal, but if we could all get to the point where all we had left were those things that we used most and enjoy the most, imagine how much simpler our lives would be.
What are some other examples where this could be useful in your life?
