Richard Koch Quotes

Strive for excellence in few things, rather than good performance in many.

If we did realize the difference between the vital few and the trivial many in all aspects of our lives, and if we did something about it, we could multiply anything that we valued.

80% of the results come from 20% of the causes. A few things are important; most are not.

The few things that work fantastically well should be identified, cultivated, nurtured, and multiplied.

Hard work leads to low returns. Insight and doing what we want lead to high returns.

To get useful new ideas, we must go beyond our immediate circle and make contact with distant parts of the social system.

The 80/20 principle - that 80 percent of result flow from just 20 per cent of the causes - is the one true principle of highly effective people.

What could you achieve that would make you proud, that no one else could do with the same ease?

It is not shortage of time that should worry us, but the tendency for the majority of time to be spent in low-quality ways.

Celebrate exceptional productivity, rather than raise average efforts.

We tend to think of innovation as difficult, but with the creative use of The 80/20 Principle innovation can be both easy and fun!

The key is to work out the few things that are really important, and the few methods that will give us what we really want.

Use all the willpower at your disposal to make yourself happy. Construct the right stories about yourself - and believe them!

Progress is personal; it comes from individuals demanding more of themselves and everyone else.

Only do the thing we are best at doing and enjoy most.

Instead of expending time to train yourself not to be afraid of snakes, avoid them altogether.

Make the choice that you want to be happy. You owe it to yourself and you owe it to other people too.

If a species is diverse, it can survive and prosper. If a species is homogeneous, it is vulnerable.

Those who seize the day become seriously rich.

Chose the niche that you enjoy, where you can excel and stand a chance of becoming and acknowledged leader.

Creation occurs when ideas and individuals collide and collude.

The 80/20 Principle, like the truth, can make you free. You can work less. At the same time, you can earn more and enjoy more. The only price is that you need to do some serious 80/20 thinking.

If we want to sum up the theory of evolution by natural selection in two words, which have great relevance for all societies and businesses, we should simply remember: diversity works.

Conventional wisdom is not to put all of your eggs in one basket. 80/20 wisdom is to choose a basket carefully, load all your eggs into it, and then watch it like a hawk.

The road to hell is paved with the pursuit of volume. Volume leads to marginal products, marginal customers, and greatly increased managerial complexity.

Laziness is the road to progress, but only when it is allied to intelligent thought and high ambition.

Marketing, and the whole firm, should devote extraordinary endeavour towards delighting, keeping for ever and expanding the sales to the 20 per cent of customers who provide 80 per cent.

Where a chunk of business is simple, the chances are that it is.

I make it a personal rule never to do anything that I don't really care about. It is surprising how much this cuts out.

It may be that you will be happiest in the rat race; perhaps, like me, you are basically a rat.

Most of us don't work out what we want. And most of us end up with lopsided lives as a result.

Not only is happiness not money, it is not even like money.