Detailed Summary

The 80/20 Principle book is one of the famous books of the author Richard Koch. The book got recognition because of a rare yet inspiring principle named the 80/20 principle shared in the book.

According to the author, we can achieve more by putting in less effort, time, and energy. The principle states that we can get 80% output from 20% input. Although it is difficult to digest, the author has tried to convince the readers to believe this very smartly.

The 80/20 Principle Book Summary Key Points

How can you change your vision, and ways of earning, utilize your time, and multiply your achievements and happiness? The 80/20 Principle book summary teaches the Pareto principles to generate more money with less effort.

Life is not always fair

The book says that life is not always fair and balanced. However, we expect it to be, and we think that the efforts we put into anything will always give us the expected output. But it’s not true.

Things should be linear, fair, and balanced, but that is not how nature works. There’s a reason we’re the only animals to have separated from each other, why Uber has grown to be a billion-dollar company in such a short period of time, and why only 1% of the population controls 50% of the wealth. Imbalance is a natural state of life with which we must all come to terms.

In our daily conversations, for example, we only use 700 words for 66% of what we say. When you consider the derivatives of those terms, you’ll realize that only 1% of the English language’s words account for nearly 80% of what is uttered. Feedback is the source of these imbalances.

Some of the examples shared in the book are:

For example, we only utilize 700 words in our daily talks for 66% of what we say. When you consider the derivatives of those terms, you’ll realize that only 1% of the English language’s words account for nearly 80% of what is uttered. Feedback loops are to blame for these imbalances.

Stop criticizing external reasons

“We can change the way that we think about external events, even where we cannot change them. And we can do something more. We can intelligently change our exposure to events that make us either happy or unhappy.”
― Richard Koch

The author advises us to stop criticizing external reasons like “unjust wealth distribution” and start working on ourselves so that we may end up on the winning side of the equation.

To understand this, let’s take an example of when you put five fish of the same size in a pond. One will eventually grow to be much larger than the others. Even though that particular fish is only slightly larger than the others initially, that slight advantage allows it to catch more food and grow quicker.

Focus on your product range

“Who you work for is more important than what you do”
― Richard Koch

The author has motivated the readers to focus on their lives and gave business owners a few tips. The author says that in order to grow your business, you need to focus on your product range.

So, your product variety is the perfect place to start simplifying while simultaneously growing your business. He discovered that the top three products accounted for more than half of the income for some businesses. You could significantly expand your business by focusing on these three best-sellers, but you’ll never go anywhere if you keep attempting to sell the other 97 that aren’t gaining momentum.

Exact numbers are not required in the 80/20 principle

The beauty of the 80/20 principle is that precise figures aren’t required. Of course, pinpointing the 20% of your friends that bring you 80% of your happiness is impossible, but Koch claims that your gut instinct is a decent estimate.

He refers to this as 80/20 thinking and claims that by focusing on only that, you can substantially increase the quality of your life.

You can also read the book Think Like a Rocket Scientist Summary for the aspiration.

Who would I recommend The 80/20 Principle Book Summary to?

The 80/20 principle book is recommended to business owners who need to work smart. Moreover, anyone who is having a tough time managing everything needs to read this book.