80-20 Rule- It Rules!

In this weekly E-newsletter you'll find tip and clips, winks and links to keep you focused on your goals of fitness and weight management.

This is a reprint of my August 17, 2008 issue of my weekly e-Newsletter- Please find the sign up form on the front page of this blog if you are not already receiving this valuable resource.

You can find past issues http://community.icontact.com/search?q=palmettofitnessfocus&in=all&age=all

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Pareto was 80-20% correct- of course

You may not have known it had an official name, but it's called
Pareto's Principle - The 80-20 Rule
Here’s the short version: 80% of output gets done by 20% of input.

There are lots of applications for this principle- and while unproven- they all seem pretty accurate- probably 80% of them are accurate at least.

• 80% of work gets done by 20% of the people
• 80% of the money is given by 20% of the people
• 80% of your income is as a result of 20% of your effort
• 80% of your emails come from 20% of the people
  

What would Pareto say about your health and fitness?

Could 80% of your success/ failure come from 20% of your effort?

If 80-20 is reality, it would seem important to identify what makes the critical difference and find a way to maximize your effort to maximize your success.

In my experience, 80% of the time I can-“be good", and only "lapse" 20 % of the time and sure enough, my success just tanked. For weight loss, your calorie deficit is critical. I bet you could isolate and correct ONE thing that is hindering your success.

• Skipping meals
• Sodas/ alcohol
• Late night eating
• Sweet snacking
• Fast food
• Mayonnaise
  

Then there is your exercise effort. For every hour, 20 percent means around 12 minutes is most critical to your success

• Are you coasting those last minutes of cardio?
• Are you going wimpy on your resistance training?
• Are you avoiding working up a sweat?
• Are you doing the same old routine vs. alternating programs to get new stimulus?
• Could you try interval training to ramp up the intensity?

How wonderful that you don’t need to change everything, but by tweaking only 20% of your effort you can improve your ultimate success.

Your assignment this week is to find out those critical-to-success areas. Once you’ve identified what is making the 80% impact, laser-focus your behavior and priorities to succeed!