Pareto Analysis

Pareto analysis is based on the Pareto principle. And not at all on The Peter Principle. The Pareto principle is the 80:20 rule: 80% of where you drive is on the same 20% of road. 80% of land is owned by 20% of people. You get the gist.

Pareto analysis is a graph-way to use the Pareto principle when things go wrong. You look at all the things that could (or do) go wrong, and you figure out which few things are creating the most problems. Specifically, which few things are causing 80% of the problems?

Maybe the #1 reason you’re not getting dates isn’t because your pickup lines are bad, but because your hair is. Your bad pickup lines are still problematic, but less so. Your hair is 50% of the problem you’re not getting dates, and your pickup lines are 30% of the problem.

What about your shoes, you wonder? Well, that’s causing 5% of the problem, so we’ll ignore that for now. Best to focus on the factors contributing to the top 80% of reasons why you can’t snag that date.

See: Pareto Principle.