The Pareto principle, or the 80-20 rule, is quite simple. 20 percent of your effort is going to bring 80 percent of the results. If you judge your activity by this rule it means that almost everything you do is not going to bring enough results for you to spend time and effort on.
Some time ago Coca Cola representatives admitted that half of their marketing budget is a waste of money, but at the same time they admitted that they have no clue on which part they should cut. The same applies to every day activities.
When it comes to personal development everything influences our evolution. Everything, no matter how small it may seem, might have a huge influence in the long run. This is one reason why most people try to do as many things as possible, experiment, gain experience and skills that might turn out to be useful in a future situation.
It’s hard to find a balance between effort and results. Some will rather focus only on what will bring them immediate results while others will rather expand their knowledge and capabilities in order to profit from this in the future.
Either way, effort, even if now it may seem not to be worth it, will prove itself useful in the long run.