80/20 and Parkinson’s Law—Unlocking 10x Results by Ignoring Most Tasks

Vilfredo Pareto, an Italian economist, noticed over a century ago that 80% of Italy’s wealth belonged to 20% of its people—and then realized this uneven pattern was everywhere. From garden peas to corporate profits, a minority of causes drive most outcomes. Decades later, Parkinson’s Law revealed another truth: the amount of time you give a task is the amount it will take, expanding or shrinking to fill the available space.

Applied together, these principles create a powerful formula for radical results: focus almost exclusively on the handful of actions or relationships that yield most of your desired results, and use tight deadlines to ensure you don’t drown in details. In practice, when an entrepreneur applied this, he realized 95% of revenue came from just 5 top clients and eliminated or ignored the rest—resulting in double the income, major stress relief, and a 10-hour workweek. In studies of high-performing individuals, ‘selective focus’ and ‘time compression’ repeatedly correlate with massive productivity gains and job satisfaction.

The counterintuitive lesson is this: working longer and doing more is a trap. Doing fewer, more important things, with bold deadlines and unapologetic deletion of the trivial, multiplies both output and joy. It also fosters a cycle where you have more energy to invest in what truly makes a difference.

To jumpstart exponential results, pull out your latest to-do list or think about the efforts that led to real wins in the past month. Highlight the top 20 percent—the phone calls, projects, or study sessions that actually made things better. Now, take the single most impactful one, and squeeze it into a short, sharp deadline. You’ll notice increased urgency and laser-like focus. For all the other stuff, batch it or cut it. Keep repeating this process and watch as your results stack up while your stress goes down. Pick your 20 percent today.