To systematically apply the 80/20 phenomenon across the most important situations in your personal and professional life, you can use the Exponential Life Tool we created for you.
In this document, the items under “universals” are the goals. The items under the checklist are the optimization variables.
There are six core universal areas of life that are important for almost everyone to master in order to live a good life over the long term at the most basic level:
- Health
- Relationships
- Money
- Work
- Learning
- Purpose
These areas are intertwined such that your degree of success in one either holds you back or multiplies your results in each of the other areas.
For example, if you have great health, but your relationships are full of conflict, you’ll feel unhappy. If you have great and loving relationships, but you’re deep in debt with creditors calling you all day, you’ll feel totally stressed out. Even if you’re rich and you have the wealth that everyone wants, it doesn’t mean much if you’re ill and bedridden.
But let’s try this a different way. If you have great health, and your relationships are full of conflict, but you repair your relationships, think about how much better your life becomes. It’s not just a little better, right? It’s a multiplier. If you have good relationships, but you’re in debt and stressed out, and then you take action and get out of debt ... think about how good that feels. Again, it’s not just a little better. It’s a multiplier.
Within each of the six core areas (health, relationships, money, work, learning, and purpose), there are many subareas, and that’s where you actually apply the mental models like a checklist. For example, health can be broken down into:
- Diet
- Micronutrients
- Exercise
- Posture
- Sleep
Now simply go down this checklist and ask yourself:
- What are all of the ways that the 80/20 Rule is relevant to my diet?
- What are all of the ways that the 80/20 Rule is relevant to micronutrients?
- What are all of the ways that the 80/20 rule is Relevant to exercise?
