The 80/20 rule states that 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts.
In business, 80% of your profits come from only 20% of your products, which means that 80% of the work you do is only responsible for 20% of your profits; while 20% of the work is responsible for 80% of your profits. In a company, 20% of the employees create 80% of the value of the company, while 80% of the workforce only creates the remaining measly 20% of the profits. Moreover, 20% of customers contribute 80% of the company's revenue, while the majority of customers do not matter much.
In daily life, 20% of your behaviours are healthy and help improve you, while 80% are just that.
In school, 20% of students are elites, winning awards and making breakthroughs or are good students with good scores, while the remaining majority are mediocre and a small portion of them even cause trouble. The same rule applies to the courses students take: 20% of them are useful and the majority do not contribute much.
In interpersonal relationships, only 20% of the people you know are directly helpful or very important to your life; the others just are not that relevant.
Countless examples illustrate this rule. The examples above are just a few of many. The lesson of this rule is to focus only on the top 20% of your work, profits, friends, education, etc., and cut out everything else as much as possible to improve efficiency in every aspect of your life.
As far as I am concerned, this rule represents an over-generalized view of everything, and its instructions are narrow and one-sided. Most of the time, seemingly useless things turn out to be extremely helpful. In Chinese, there is a classic motto taught by Zhuangzi: "The benefit of the useless is the greatest benefit." (“无用之用，方为大用”) Some people believe they are doing something useful, but with little effect. Others seem to be doing "useless" work, but they will be famous in future generations and cited as being of great use. Henry David Thoreau is a case in point. When he was alive, others thought of him as an idler, a loser who had no money and no family and was good for nothing. Nevertheless, generations of people around the world are gradually recognizing Thoreau's wisdom. The same is true of Van Gough. During his lifetime, his paintings were not appreciated. The most expensive one was only sold for 300 francs, but today each of Van Gough's works is worth tens of millions of dollars.
The same is true for a company's employees. Even if a few employees make the largest profit, their accomplishments would be impossible without the seemingly modest support of the rest of the workforce. In school, while most subjects are not tested in major exams, such as art, they take the pressure off students and give them a chance to relax. Without these seemingly time-wasting subjects, students would work themselves to exhaustion when all they learn are the hard-core subjects.
In short, do not be guided only by gains, outcomes, and benefits. Utilitarianism is partial and narrow-minded. Life is full of uncertainties. Who knows what will happen in the future? Try to experience everything and discover the benefits of something useless, which means creativity. The creative ones are the most flexible and adaptable.
对二八定律的评论
80/20法则说，你80%的成果来自你20%的努力。
在商业中，80%的利润只来自你20%的产品。这意味着，你所做的80％的工作只创造20％的利润。而你所做的20%的工作却带来了80%的利润。在一个公司里，20%的员工创造了80%的企业价值，而80%的员工只生产了剩下的微不足道的20%的利润。此外，20%的客户贡献了80%的企业收入，而大多数客户却没有发挥大作用。
在日常生活中，20%的行为是健康的，有助于你的整体提升，而80%的行为不拖后腿就谢天谢地了。
在学校里，20%的学生是精英，赢得了荣誉，并在学校历史上取得了突破；然而，其余的大多数只是平庸，其中一小部分甚至是捣蛋鬼。此外，学生选修的课程也遵循同样的规则：20%的课程是有用的，大多数的课程根本就没有什么价值。
在人际关系中，你认识的人中只有20%对你的生活有直接的帮助或强烈的重要性；其他的人根本没有那么大的关系。
有无数的例子可以说明这一规则。上面的例子只是众多例子中的几个。这条规则教导我们应当专注于工作最重要的一小部分、能帮助创利的20%， 朋友中最亲近有用的，以及教育里最菁华的那一少部分，并尽可能地削减其他一切，以便提高你生活的各个方面的效率。
在我看来，这条规则对一切都提出了过于笼统的看法，它的指导是片面和狭隘的。更多的时候，那些看似无用的东西可能是最有用的。在中国，有一句庄子教导的经典格言："无用之用，乃大用也"。有些人认为自己在做有用的事情，但效果不大；有些人似乎在做 "无用 "的工作，但他们会在后世出名，被引为大用。亨利-戴维-梭罗就是一个典型的例子。他在世时，别人认为他是个游手好闲的人，一个没有钱、没有家庭、一无是处的失败者。但到了后来，梭罗的智慧得到了全世界世世代代的认可。梵高也是如此。在他的一生中，他的画作没有得到赏识。最贵的一幅以300法郎售出；然而，今天，凡高的任何一幅作品都价值数千万美元。
对公司的员工来说也是如此。虽然主要的利润是由一小部分员工创造的；然而，如果没有其他员工看似微不足道的支持，那些精英们可能就无法取得任何成就。在学校里，虽然大多数科目在重大考试中不被测试，如艺术；然而，它们缓解了学生的压力，为他们创造了放松的机会。如果没有这些看似浪费时间的科目，学生所学的都是硬性科目，他们会紧张到筋疲力尽。
一言以蔽之，不要只受利润、结果和利益的驱动。功利主义是片面和狭隘的。生活中充满了不确定因素。谁知道未来会发生什么。试着去体验一切，发现无用的东西的有用性，这意味着创造力。有创造力的人是最灵活和适应性强的。
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