The 80 / 20 Rule.

I am sure you have heard of the 80/20 rule. It applies to many aspects of life.

In any organisation you will find that 20% of the people do 80% of the work while the remaining 80% do a bit of filling in around the edges. In organisations there has to be people who are invested otherwise the organisation simply would not work. Sometimes they are a little too invested and have an expectation that everything will be just so and please them because they have so much of themselves invested.

But I want to talk about investing the 80/20 rule in ourselves. On the inside door of my pantry cupboard, I have the 80/20 alkalizing to acidic food list. This list was given to me by my brother about 15 years ago when he was in the midst of the great battle for his life. It was a battle he fought long and hard, but ultimately, the disease, multiple myeloma, won.

The idea is that one should consume 80% alkalizing foods and 20% acidic foods to maintain a good body pH. Disease thrives in an acidic environment and most of us, because of lifestyle and diet are too acidic. The list begins with the most alkalizing and ends with the most acidic forming. And guess what, the things listed at the beginning and end are not even foods!

The list begins with love, peace, forgiveness, meditation / prayer; these are alkalizing and essential for health and wellbeing and finishes with anger, bitterness, stress and hate which are acidic and will cause physical and emotional illness.

I try to apply the 80/20 rule to my overall health and well being, because let’s face it, it is impossible, for me at least, to do the right thing all the time. So rather than burden myself with resolutions and rules I simply cannot keep, I bring things down to little choices which are made all the time. Rather than having a great long list of do nots, I aim for 80% of my choices to be in line with overall goals. It seems to work.

This rule can be applied to what one eats and drinks, exercise or lack thereof, where and how to spend time and money. I am a firm believer that the most important aspect of life is balance and the 80/20 rule keeps that balance on the good, positive and wholesome side.