内容来源：https://lifehacker.com/work/what-is-the-pareto-principle?utm_medium=RSS

内容总结：

帕累托法则：掌握“关键少数”，实现事半功倍

你是否听说过帕累托法则？这一由管理学家约瑟夫·朱兰在20世纪40年代提出的原则，又被称为“80/20法则”或“关键少数法则”。其核心观点是：80%的成果往往来自于20%的投入。这一规律最初源于经济学家维尔弗雷多·帕累托对意大利财富分配的研究，如今已广泛应用于工作与生活效率提升领域。

日常生活中，帕累托法则无处不在。例如在学习乐器时，大量演奏实际上依赖于少数几个核心和弦；在团队运动中，大部分得分常由少数关键球员贡献。对于个人而言，我们日常事务繁多，但真正产生核心价值的往往只是其中一小部分。该法则的意义正在于帮助人们识别并聚焦于那些能带来最大回报的“关键20%”。

如何有效运用这一法则？首先，需在工作与生活中观察“80/20”规律的具体体现。例如，企业可能发现大部分利润来自少数忠实客户，那么战略就应侧重于维护并扩大这一核心群体。对于个人任务管理，可结合优先级排序方法（如1-3-5清单、看板或艾森豪威尔矩阵），并通过持续记录分析，识别出哪些行动能直接推动目标实现。

实践表明，坚持追踪每日任务与实际成果两周左右，高效产出的关键活动便会逐渐清晰。此后，即可将更多精力集中于这些“高杠杆”事项，减少低效时间的消耗。值得注意的是，该原则同样适用于非工作场景：例如花费少量时间陪伴朋友或辅导孩子，却能收获深厚的情感联结与长期积极影响。

本质上，帕累托法则是一种聚焦核心的思维工具。通过精准识别并强化那“20%”的关键努力，我们不仅能在工作中提升效能，也能为生活中真正重要的事务释放更多空间，最终实现个人时间与精力的优化配置。

中文翻译：

你可能听说过帕累托法则（或许就在阅读我关于如何提高工作效率或学习效率的建议时）。但你真的了解帕累托法则吗？

坦白说，我也是最近才开始真正掌握它，因为理解这个理论远比付诸实践容易得多。它也被称为80/20法则或关键少数法则，初看可能令人困惑，但理解并运用它确实能带来变革性的效果——帮助你更高效地管理时间，以更少的投入获得更大的成果。谁不向往这样的状态呢？

什么是帕累托法则？

简而言之，帕累托法则指出：80%的成果往往源自20%的投入。这一概念由管理顾问约瑟夫·朱兰于20世纪40年代提出，并以社会学家维尔弗雷多·帕累托的名字命名。帕累托曾指出意大利80%的土地由20%的人口持有，这一观察使他闻名于世。这个法则有多种表述方式：80%的结果来自20%的工作，或80%的效应源于20%的原因。无论措辞如何变化，核心思想始终如一：聚焦那关键的20%就能撬动80%的成效。

一个常被引用的生活化例子是学习钢琴或吉他。你需要钻研音符、调式、节拍、速度、和弦、节奏、风格乃至乐理等大量知识。但即兴演奏时，你很可能仅凭几个最常用的和弦就能流畅演绎——效果依然出色。这说明，实际演奏中绝大部分表现力其实依赖于少数核心技巧的掌握（当然，调式与风格知识仍是整体演奏的基石）。

再比如体育赛事：仔细观察你会发现，心仪球队在比赛中大部分得分往往由少数顶尖球员贡献。现在回想你一天的行程：上班工作、兼顾副业、处理家务、投入爱好、陪伴子女、学习充电、健身锻炼、朋友聚会……事务繁多，但真正获得报酬的仅占其中一小部分。这解释了为何我们常将主业置于其他事务之上——即便是收益通常较低的副业。这正是80/20法则的用武之地：它能帮你理清待办事项的优先级。

如何运用帕累托法则实现成果最大化

你可以在工作中发现这一法则的体现。例如在零售行业，很大一部分利润可能来自少数稳定忠诚的客户群。那么，将主要精力用于服务这群客户，或通过数据化精准营销吸引新客户加入该群体，显然是明智之举。如果大多数潜在消费者对邮件营销无动于衷，就应当调整策略：要么全力扩大核心客户群，要么深耕现有核心群体。运用此法则的关键在于发现它与日常工作的契合点。

制定每日待办清单时，可采用优先级排序法，如1-3-5清单法、看板法或艾森豪威尔矩阵。这能立即帮你分辨哪些是当日要务，哪些可以推迟或委派他人。先按常规方式执行待办清单两周，但每天结束时记录每项活动的直接成果。例如：若回复邮件半小时后成功签约10位新客户，就记录下来；若花一小时整理会议数据最终推动项目获批，也予以标注。久而久之，那些能产生最大效益的核心环节便会清晰浮现。此时你便可优先安排这些“20%高效益事务”，减少在低产出任务上的时间消耗。

通过追溯结果、分析成因来确定优先级，不仅能提升工作效率，也适用于非工作场景。从更抽象的层面看：与朋友喝杯咖啡或辅导孩子作业只需相对较少的投入，但可能收获80%的回报——比如巩固了友谊，或让孩子感受到安全感与成就感。这些回报带来的长远影响，远超过任务本身耗费的30分钟。当你通过优先级排序和理解帕累托法则腾出更多工作时间，就有更多机会将精力分配到生活的其他领域，持续收获丰盈的人生回报。

英文来源：

It’s likely you’ve heard of the Pareto principle (maybe even while reading my tips on how to be more productive at work or study more effectively). But do you really know what the Pareto principle is?
To be honest, I only just started to get a grip on it fairly recently, because it's a lot easier to read about than put into practice. Also known as the 80/20 rule or the law of the vital few, it can be little confusing at first, but understanding and implementing it can truly transformative, helping you to better manage your time and get more done with less effort. Who doesn't want that?
What is the Pareto principle?
Basically, the Pareto principle states that 80% of your outcomes result from just 20% of your effort. The principle was coined by consultant Joseph M. Juran in the 1940s and he named it after a sociologist and economist named Vilfredo Pareto, who was famous for pointing out that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the total amount of people. You’ll hear it described a number of ways: 80% of results come from 20% of the work, or 80% of effects come from 20% of the causes. No matter the wording, it all means the same thing; just focus on that 80/20 split.
An often-cited example of how this works for everyday people is learning the piano or guitar. You study individual notes, keys, time signatures, tempos, chords, rhythms, styles and so much else, including music theory. But when it’s time to jam, you’re probably falling back on a handful of the most common chords—and it sounds fine. In that way, a huge chunk of your actual playing is dependent on just a few small things you've mastered (although you do need that knowledge of keys and styles to make it come together).
For another example, consider how a few truly excellent players tend to be responsible for the majority of points scored by your favorite sports team during a given game. Now think of how much you do in a day: You go to your job, work any side gigs you might have, do household chores, and devote time to hobbies, child-rearing, studying for classes, going to the gym, and seeing friends. You do a lot, but you only get paid for a small fraction of that work, which is why you might prioritize your job over some of the other things on the list—even side hustles, which typically generate less money. That's where the 80/20 rule comes in: It helps you prioritize your to-do list.
How to use the Pareto principle to maximize your results
You can identify ways the general principle manifests in your work. For instance, if you work for a retail company, you might notice a major chunk of profits comes from a small but dedicated group of consistent buyers. It would make sense, then, to focus a majority of your work on appealing to them, or to bringing others into that group—maybe by strategic, data-based advertising. If the majority of would-be consumers ignore your email marketing, don't keep doing what you're doing. Instead, zero in on how you can add more people to that core group, or just go all-in on the core group itself. The real trick to using this principle is figuring out how it applies to your own day-to-day tasks.
When you make your daily to-do list, use a prioritization technique, like the 1-3-5 list, Kanban, or Eisenhower Matrix. Right off the bat, this helps you figure out which of your necessary tasks for the day are important and which can be pushed off or delegated. Spend about two weeks working on your to-do lists every day as normal, but at the end of the day, write down what the direct results of each activity were. So, if you spent half an hour responding to emails and netted 10 new clients from that, write it down. If you dedicated an hour to compiling the data for a big meeting that got your project greenlit, mark it down. Over time, the basic functions that yield the biggest results will become apparent and you can start making those activities—the 20%-of-your-effort activities—a bigger priority, so you waste less time on the tasks that don’t produce as many results.
Working backward and considering the effects, then identifying their causes, will help you prioritize and get more done, but it can also help you with non-work tasks. In a more abstract sense, a relatively small amount of effort is required to grab a coffee with a friend or help your kid with homework, but the 80% yield might be reenforcing and maintaining a friendship or helping your child feel safe and accomplished, which have longer-lasting impacts than the 30 minutes those tasks take. When you free up your working time through prioritization and an understanding of the Pareto principle, you have more opportunities to spread it around in other areas of your life and keep reaping the benefits.