The no-pareto rule

20% of X contributes to 80% of Y. This is Pareto rule and it applies satisfactorily in business/work. 20% of your products contribute to 80% of revenue. 20% of customers contribute to 80% of business. 20% of things you do, contribute to 80% of your results and so on. 

Its also straightforward where Pareto does not apply. In deeply emotional spaces- You cant say 20% of your kids contribute to 80% of happiness. Although I wonder if it is just a matter of having less than 10 kids. Maybe if you had 16 kids, the Pareto principle will apply. (So its true even in emotional spaces? ) As a rule, for less than 10 of anything, either it is too hard to quantify or it is likely to be unique/dissimilar enough that you cant apply the rule. For more than 10 of course, there is potentially a bit more homogeneity and thus the rule starts coming in. 

I am thinking of a place where Pareto doesn't apply even when the numbers are greater.  Are we unable to devote focus to more than 20% things ? The other nuance with Pareto is that a lot of times we dont know which is the 20% that works unless we do 100% of the things. So while it may be true that only 20% yields results we cant just do away with 80% 

If there is a point to this post, I havent found it yet.