Hey friends

The Pareto Principle, more commonly known as the 80/20 Principle, is named after the nineteenth-century Italian economist, Vilfredo Pareto. In 1896, Pareto discovered that approximately 80% of Italian land was owned by 20% of the population.

The 80/20 Principle has influenced many important achievements, especially in the world of business, computer science, and quality engineering.

However, very few people apply the 80/20 Principle to optimize their everyday life and as a result, miss out on some important ramifications it could have on their health, happiness, and success.

I first learned about the 80/20 Principle in Tim Ferriss' The 4-Hour Workweek and furthered my understanding by reading Richard Koch's The 80/20 Principle.

Although both books primarily apply the 80/20 Principle to business, they also suggested a broader application to life.

For instance:

• What are the 20% of your possessions you get the most value out of?
• What do you spend 20% of your time doing that gives you 80% of your happiness?
• Who are the 20% of people you’re close to who make you the happiest?
• What are the 20% of the clothes you wear 80% of the time?
• What’s the 20% of the food you eat 80% of the time?

These might be easy questions for you to answer, you just haven't considered them before.

Once you've answered them, you'll realise how simple it is to apply the 80/20 Principle to other areas of your life where you increase efficiencies.

Enjoy your weekly dose of marginal gains!

P.S. This week, I got some great feedback about the content in this newsletter.

Two things were suggested; 1) I include a direct way for you to get in touch if you have any questions on how to implement these habits and routines in your life; and 2) We start a community where we can engage on the content and grow together.

I've added an AMA section below which deals with 1). Let me know whether you're interested in 2) by replying 'YES' to this email. Thanks!

🚀 Performance Hacks

How to be the BEST: 5 Lessons from Rio Ferdinand (6mins)

5 simple and effective lessons I learned about becoming a high achiever from Rio Ferdinand’s interview on The High-Performance Podcast. You can also download a one-page summary of those insights in the video description.

3 Effective Goal Setting Methods to help you create better Goals (2mins)

Choosing the right goal-setting method is an important step toward setting the right goals. Focusing on the process of setting goals has a significant impact on our ability to accomplish them. This essay sets out 3 simple and effective goal-setting methods that will help you set better goals.

❓Ask Me Anything❓

Got a question about applying these habits and routines to help optimize your life?

Send me an email and I'll be happy to help. If you want to have a chat to go deeper, schedule a Discovery Call.

🧠 Brain Food

📖 Blinkist: When by Daniel H. Pink. This summary provides 7 key insights to get a better understanding of how big a role timing plays in our lives, why we make the decisions we do and why we make them when we do.

📝 Blog Post: The Antilibrary: Why Unread Books are The Most Important. I’ve got a big stack of unread books that I keep adding to. I’m sure you’ve got a few as well. This blog post perfectly explains our relationship between books and knowledge, and why you shouldn’t feel guilty if you do have a bunch of unread books on your shelf.

🎙️ Podcast: Brad Stulberg: Ditch The Hedonic Treadmill for Sustainable Success. Stulberg is a human performance coach and dives deep into the negative impact of hustle culture and how true, sustainable success demands groundedness.

📱 Tools + Tech

💻 App: Yuka.io. I was turned on to this app by my girlfriend. If you’re interested in evaluating the quality of your food for healthier eating, you need this app. Yuka deciphers product labels and analyzes the health impact of food products (and cosmetics). You get recommendations for healthier products and best of all, you start eating healthier. Ohh, and it’s FREE!

🐦 Tweet Thread: 10 documentaries that will inspire you + change your life within 100 minutes or less.

🧐 Useful: Finch is a self-care app. You’ll get a little pet bird that grows as you complete healthy activities.

✍🏾 Quote of the Week

“If you want to have a great day today, think about all the ways it might go sideways. Be prepared for that. Think about how you’d handle it, all the things you would need to do in response. Practice being calm in the face of how overwhelming it might seem.”

From the Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday. Resurfaced using Readwise.