Practice Habits: The Pareto Principle (80:20 Rule)

A huge insight regarding effectiveness and efficiency that’s guaranteed to elevate your study and practice habits!

Table of Contents

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Prerequisites

The LOVE of music… and the discipline to study and practice.

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Lesson Goal

To deeply understand the implications of the Pareto Principle and how it informs your daily study and practice habits (not to mention everything you do in life!).

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What is the Pareto Principle?

The Pareto Principle, also called the 80:20 Rule, is the empirical observation that, in human endeavors, the majority of effects come from a minority of causes and vice versa. In other words, only a small percentage of our time and energy is very productive, while most of our time and energy is wasted doing things that have little effect or value.

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By the way, there’s nothing sacred or magical about the numbers 80% and 20%. Some activities can be 90%-10%, 99%-1%, or worse! In fact, some of our biggest investments of time and energy are less than useless; they’re destructive.

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Implications for Studying and Practicing Music

Applied to studying and practicing the piano, The 80:20 Rule invites us to discover how to learn the most with the least effort. To that end, making the most effective and efficient used of your precious time and energy requires you to…

1. Focus on the minority of efforts that produce the majority of fruit.
2. Stop wasting time doing things that do not prepare you for performance.
3. Align all of your study habits with your personal musical goals in mind.
4. Stop trying to do everything, everywhere, all at once.
5. Study and practice the kinds of music that you want to play.
6. Stop practicing things that are not relevant to the music that you want to play.
7. Can you think of some others?

Special Note: You will soon discover that the entire Piano-ology website is infused with a deep appreciation of the Pareto Principle. Enjoy!

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