You've probably heard of the Pareto principle. It states that 80 percent of the effects come from 20 percent of the causes. Applied to the business world, the 80/20 rule states that roughly 80 percent of your business will come from 20 percent of your clients.

Of course, the 80/20 rule is used in many other ways. Google's famed 20 percent time allows employees to spend 20 percent of their work week on a passion project. The only stipulation is that the project is work-related (and not, say, planning your wedding).

When I first started for InsureMe and we were building our resource centers [consumer and agent], we employed the 20 percent tactic. 80 percent of our work week was spent working down the long list of article topics we needed for the resource center. 20 percent of our time was spent writing a feature article—a topic of our choosing that could be used for the resource center. It helped us keep us interested and focused.

I'm a big, big fan of 80/20. Which is why I loved this post from Scott Young, who listed 20 unique ways to put the 80/20 policy to good use. From contacting clients to setting goals, you'll find it all here. See the complete list here, and see how you can incorporate 80/20 into your life come Monday morning.

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