It is one of those rules that are classically introduced in the world of business management.  It is most commonly used to describe the phenomenon that eighty percent of your time will be consumed by twenty percent of your problems.  But the eighty/twenty rule has much broader implications that reach into almost every area of our lives.  Typically we will put twenty percent of our energy into the areas that hold eighty percent of our passion.  Our partners, our children, parents and families will often be the recipients of the smaller percentage of our attention.  

In my work as a minister I have found this same rule applies; at any given time twenty percent of my congregation will need eighty percent of my attention.  Teachers will typically realize this same rule in the needs of their students, doctors with that percentage of their clients and police with the lawbreaker element.

So why is this such a big deal?  Aside from the fascination it provides to statistical ‘obsessives’ recognizing this rule can help us to maintain a healthy balance in our lives.  It will remind us where we want to put the eighty percent of our energy.  We can choose to put it into our wealth focus, our education, our recreation or whatever we may find our priorities to be.

Of course the obvious catch here is in recognizing WHAT those priorities are.  Herein lies the greatest breakdown between success and failure.  Those who succeed know what they want, why they want it and what to do when they get it.  Those who don’t have these answers clearly in their plans may still understand the eighty/twenty rule but will see it more as Murphy’s Law rather than a tool for advancement.

Understanding a law, or its associated rules, is of little benefit unless we know how to apply it. 
For a great many years we have understood the principles, rules and law of electricity.  Yet we have only been able to use it to the degree that we understand it.  The same applies to the law of gravity and spiritual laws such as ‘the law of  reciprocal action’ and ‘the law of attraction.’ 

First we learn about the law, and then we learn in our ignorance how it has been ruling us.  As we grow we start to recognize the principles of the law and how to start using it. 

We next proceed into the difficult part of any learning curve, perseverance through apparent failure and the deepening of our understanding of the principles of the law. 

This is largely when the eighty/twenty rule starts to be a significant learning aid.  We realize we are being affected by the demonstration of the rule; for example, an employee is taking up an overly large chunk of my time and energy and it is beginning to cost me in other areas of my work.  Now that I have become aware of the imbalance I can begin to seek avenues to reestablish a healthy balance.