Struggling with an overwhelming to-do list? What should you focus on to optimise your day and reach your goals? It’s easy to fill your time with tasks that keep you busy but don’t significantly impact your strategic objectives and priorities. This guide to the Pareto Principle will help you filter your task list for maximum productivity and make progress on what truly matters.

The Pareto Principle originates from the observation that 80% of Italy’s wealth belonged to just 20% of the population. The key idea is that many areas of life are not distributed evenly, so the percentage of effort does not produce an equal amount of reward or outcome. In the sphere of productivity, this means that focusing on a few important tasks will help you achieve most of your desired results. In other words, the majority of your results will come from the minority of your inputs.

Start by writing down your master task list with everything you want to complete in a month or week. Give each of these tasks a ranking:

A – Urgent and important (things that must be completed and have set deadlines)

B – Urgent but not important (things that need to be completed but don’t necessarily need your input to get done)

C – Important but not urgent (things that will contribute to overall goals but don’t have set deadlines)

D – Not important and not urgent (things that don’t contribute to goals or add much value to your day)

To maximise your productivity, your focus should be on A-rated tasks – these will make up most of that all-important 20%. For B-rated tasks, look to delegate to others or schedule some time to work on them after completing your more important tasks. For C-rated tasks, schedule time in the future to focus on these once you have ticked off important tasks with set deadlines. For D-rated tasks, try to delete as many as possible altogether.

Once you have categorised your tasks, think about when you are most productive. For some people, that will be early in the day. For others, that burst of energy might come after lunch or in the evening. Identify and dedicate your most productive few hours to your most pressing tasks. For periods of lower energy or productivity, schedule more routine tasks, arrange meetings, or work in those vital desk breaks to take a walk or have a meal. Clockwise knows that finding the right working pattern is essential, so members can access our locations 24/7 and build their schedules in a way that makes most sense for them.

Take a few minutes at the start of your day to map out your tasks, assigning the most important to the times you know you will be most focused. During these periods, tackle the pressing tasks, aka ‘eat the frog’. Have one most important task each day, which is your priority (the frog), and get that done before moving on to anything else. This ensures that your energy is used effectively on the tasks that require the most focus and will achieve the most significant returns. It’s also a great way to spur yourself on to tick off anything you have been putting off and give yourself a mental boost by accomplishing a more challenging task early on before moving on to less demanding things. Clockwise locations all have a variety of spaces to suit different styles of task, so our members can use the quiet workspaces or private offices for more focussed, demanding periods of individual work and then benefit from a change of scenery by moving to a shared breakout area or booking a meeting room for team meetings or more collaborative projects. 

Take a look at our Community pages for more tips and tricks on boosting productivity, increasing workplace wellbeing, and achieving business goals.