I first heard of the 80/20 rule a few years ago. I then realised I had seen it manifest in teaching as well.
It actually has another name: the Pareto principle.
When I started teaching company English courses, I saw people from both management and staff who struggled with advancing their level. They usually needed English for work meetings and company level communication. They just didn’t know why they were advancing slower than they imagined.
Some wanted to understand movies and songs too.
But they didn’t know how to do it the right way.
Others wanted to perfect a presentation.
But they didn’t know how to simplify and rehearse.
They also wanted to be able to chat in casual English.
But they didn’t know how training for that was different from the professional language.
Looking here and there and trying this and that without a structure often equals wasting valuable learning time.
The price you may pay for that is poor learning efficiency.
Those years of teaching made me gradually develop targeted, fun and creative ways to help my students.
One of the key problems I realized was that they didn’t know what mattered and what not for efficient learning.
What to focus on first and what can wait.
And in what order it was best to move ahead.
If you do a bit of this, a bit of that, without a plan for your current English communication needs, it will be hard to advance as fast as you would like.
1-Minute Tip ⏳
This is where I see the 80/20 rule comes into play.
The 80/20 rule basically says that about 80% of the results in a process come from about 20% of the causes.
This applied to learning means that about 20% of what you do for learning will generate 80% of the results.
Which means, the rest are marginal or unnecessary in that moment.
Do the 20 to get the 80.
You don’t need to do everything and look everywhere to get substantial results in learning.
The only thing you need to figure out is the 20% that will get you 80% of where YOU want to be.
Now, what is your personal 20%?
That is the task a language coach can help you define.
I recommend focusing on the tasks that will really help you get ahead in a significant way for your current English needs, and not wasting precious time on things that won’t.
Good luck!
If you need help to figure this out for you, and you are curious how I could help, you know where you can find me. I’m a DM away.
This content is authentic and it is not AI generated. I write it for you based on my 20+ years of teaching experience.
👋 Hi, I’m Gábor.
I facilitate English business communication between Spanish speakers and the world.
Talk to you next time. 🙂
Gábor 🙂
Connect | Gábor Légrádi | MA, RSA/CTEFLA