Today’s topic is working on what really matters. I want to discuss the Pareto principle and show you how it can benefit your harp practice.

The Pareto Principle, or the 80-20 Rule, is named after Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who noticed that during 1906, 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population, and that 80% of the peas in his garden came from 20% of the pea pods!

The general idea is that 80% of our results will come from 20% of our efforts; most of what we do when practising has a smaller impact on our results than other much more significant things. This is very good news. If we focus on the important stuff we will gain much greater improvement in a shorter time frame. (Medium.com)

The 80/20 principle is not about “doing the bare minimum,” rather it is about focusing your energy on what really needs it in your harp practice sessions. If 80% of your positive results flow from only 20% of your overall effort, that precious time needs to be treasured.

What you need to prioritise is of course not the same for everyone - it’s based on your goals, your genre of music, and your current skill level among other factors and may be completely different from what was necessary for someone else.

By analysing the time you’re spending practicing and applying the Pareto principle to it, you can make better decisions as to how you spend your time practicing and, inevitably, speed up your progress.

The problem is how do we determine the most important 20%? We need to work out where the largest gains can be made and focus on those. Prioritise exactly what is important in any one harp practice session, rather than wasting time going over parts you can already play well.

Not everything we do in our practice session is equally important, and this needs to be reflected in how much time we give it. “Because you have spent 30 minutes practising something does not mean you will have twice the results than if you had spent 15 minutes practising it. It might only take 15 minutes to achieve the result you are looking for.” Know when you’ve done enough! If repeating a section 3 times produces the result you want, practising it 30 times will not improve this result tenfold so is not efficient use of your time.

The Important 20%: Any weaknesses that prevent your strengths from being used to their maximum effectiveness must be dealt with first, as priority. This might be a specific technical problem that needs addressing, a passage in a piece that you can’t quite grasp, a more general skill area such as sight reading, etc.

What are the things that you need right now? These things can change over time, but you need to identify your 20%.

The Pareto Principle is a valuable tool that reminds us to focus on what is important. If you are doing something and don’t see improvement then you may want to consider if it is really part of that 20% that makes the 80%. Have fun finding that 20%.

***   ***   ***

If you enjoyed this article then please sign-up to the mailing list to receive future articles, content updates and special offers.