Monday 5 Things ….. Pareto Happens …..
26.10.05 By D. Paul Graham
Because Mondays are easier when you know where 80 percent of your attention belongs.
“Pareto’s Address” Eighty percent of the boats remain at dock while 20 percent generate all the stories. Photo by D. Paul Graham, Wilmington Island, 2026
Vilfredo Pareto observed that roughly 80 percent of results come from 20 percent of causes. He reached this conclusion by studying land ownership in Italy. I reached it while trying to fit one last coffee mug into a dishwasher already packed with plates, bowls, and enough forks to cater a small wedding.
I rotated the mug, tilted it, removed a spoon, rearranged three glasses, and briefly considered whether the laws of physics might be negotiable before admitting defeat. The dishwasher remained full, the mug remained in my hand, and somehow 80 percent of my frustration had been caused by the one item that wouldn’t fit.
This morning’s M5T results from embracing the 80/20 rule and discovering that most of life is supporting material.
1. IN OUR KITCHEN. Eighty percent of the washing seems to come from 20 percent of the dishes. It’s always the same coffee mug, cereal bowl, dinner plate, and one dependable fork making their daily journey from cabinet to table to dishwasher and back again. They are not dishes so much as a small, overworked culinary staff.
The remaining dishes stay safely tucked away, awaiting a state dinner, royal visit, or the unexpected arrival of twelve people who all require matching soup bowls. Some have not seen daylight since Blockbuster charged late fees, yet I remain convinced their moment is coming. Apparently, abundance means owning twenty plates while repeatedly washing the same two.
The same is true of kitchen gadgets. One knife does nearly everything, while the avocado slicer, melon baller, and something with a spring I am unable to identify continue to enjoy secure cabinet tenure. Our kitchens may offer endless choices, but habit already knows what it wants and where the good mug is kept.
2. IN MY WORK. Eighty percent of the useful results come from 20 percent of my work. The remaining work mostly involves emails, meetings, preparing for meetings, rescheduling meetings, and sending emails to clarify what everyone thought had been decided during the meeting.
Somewhere inside every 45-minute conversation is a useful nine-minute exchange trying desperately to escape. It usually emerges afterward in the hallway, when someone quietly asks, “So, what are we actually doing?” At that moment, strategy finally arrives, slightly late and without a PowerPoint.
Work has a talent for making activity look important. A crowded calendar feels productive. A full inbox feels consequential. A document with seventeen tracked changes feels like civilization is advancing. Yet real progress often comes from one decision, one telephone call, or one uninterrupted hour spent on the thing we have been avoiding all week.
Perhaps productivity isn’t about doing more. Perhaps it’s about identifying the few things that matter and politely declining the 45-minute meeting devoted to avoiding them.
3. IN MY WARDROBE. Eighty percent of the time, I wear roughly 20 percent of my clothes. The remaining closet and drawers are apparently waiting for a highly specific occasion that has not occurred since 2007. Yes, as a matter of fact, I do have shirts that old.
There are shirts purchased for people I briefly imagined becoming, jackets requiring weather Savannah rarely provides, and trousers awaiting the return of a waistline now available only in archived photographs. A few items remain because they were expensive, which apparently makes them more flattering while hanging untouched in the closet.
Every wardrobe contains optimism disguised as fabric. There is the shirt that will look wonderful after losing five pounds, the suit awaiting an invitation grand enough to deserve it, and the shoes that are very comfortable provided one does not walk, stand, or otherwise put them on.
A closet is less a record of what we wear than a museum devoted to who we thought we might become. Meanwhile, the same dependable clothes return week after week, proving that comfort, like character, is revealed through repetition. Our favorite clothes know who we are. The others are waiting for the lifestyle promised by the catalog.
4. IN MY PHONE. Eighty percent of my screen time probably belongs to 20 percent of my apps. The remaining apps sit quietly on screen three, waiting to remind me that I once downloaded an app for tracking the International Space Station which has continued to orbit successfully without my supervision.
My phone also contains apps for tracking water, learning French, Italian, and Swahili, meditating, organizing passwords, monitoring sleep, improving productivity, and limiting the amount of time I spend using apps. This last one sends me regular notifications, which seems counterproductive but admirably confident.
Each forgotten app represents a former burst of optimism. For one afternoon, I was going to become fluent, hydrated, centered, well-rested, and knowledgeable about migratory songbirds. Then I opened email.
My phone contains several abandoned versions of my future self, each represented by a forgotten password and an unopened notification. Technology gives us nearly unlimited possibilities and an extraordinarily efficient way to avoid most of them. The apps we open reveal our priorities. The ones downloaded and used once reveal the wildly optimistic person we were for eleven minutes. The weekly screen-time report arrives to settle the disagreement.
5. IN MY DAILY FRUSTRATIONS. Eighty percent of life’s irritation seems to come from 20 percent of its problems. They are rarely monumental. Just small, persistent things like the password I changed yesterday and forgot today, the smoke alarm chirping at 3:00 a.m., the overhead bin over my seat that was filled by the guy I just saw walking to the back of the plane, or that one coffee mug that simply won’t fit where I want it to.
Large problems summon our courage. Small ones nibble away at our patience. We can remain calm during a genuine crisis yet lose faith in humanity when someone loads the toilet paper roll in the clearly incorrect direction.
Life is often less a heroic battle against dragons than a prolonged negotiation with objects that should know better. Perhaps wisdom is knowing which irritations deserve our attention and which should be denied the satisfaction.
The more I notice the 80/20 rule, the more useful it becomes. Where does 80 percent of our joy come from? Which habits create 80 percent of our progress? Which worries consume 80 percent of the peace? Which possessions add something to life, and which are simply enjoying free room and board?
We spend too much energy giving equal attention to unequal things. Not every task deserves our best hour. Not every opinion deserves a response. Not every possession deserves storage. Not every problem deserves a committee. The answers are often obvious. The challenge is giving our attention to the 80 percent that matters and considerably less to what just makes noise.
Here’s to a week of fewer priorities. Five should be plenty!
© 2026 D. Paul Graham / imageGRAHAM, llc, All Rights Reserved
Paul continues to insist there is room for one more mug. The dishwasher has invoked its constitutional right to remain full.
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