The short version – utilize 20% of your full potential for 80% of results. There’s some debate on the actual origins of this rule, and the debates are narrowed down to 2 people:
Italian Vilfredo Pareto (1)
Some French guy (Source not 100% accurate so not posting for now)
To summarize this rule – most people put out 80% of their effort, work, etc to only receive 20% back. Others found a way to only utilize 20% and receive 80% back. How? Here’s what was discovered through research:
Think of inputs and outputs. Society is taught “what you put in, you receive an equal amount back.” WRONG! How many times during a group project has 1 or 2 people did 80% of the work, while the rest did a combined effort of 20% and everyone came out ahead?
Society likes to say someone who works intelligent/smarter are the “lazy” ones. Yet the hard workers are the same people who work 12+ hours a day to barely make ends meet, while the “smarter” ones work 2-3 hour days and can live however they want. What’s the difference? The hard worker(s) don’t manage time, money, and resources appropriately; rather than actually planning ahead, talking to the right people, etc to verify things are going in the right direction.
In relationships, you have the one who puts in 20%, and those looking from the outside believes the couple are doing great. The one putting in 80% is frowned upon because the effort looks more like something else is going on. This is a big, big problem because on the inside, the couple knows who’s the one putting in the work, not the outside. The outside, however, doesn’t know the entire story.
On my blogs, only 20%~ are deemed good and readable, while the other 80%~ seems more like filler, or something just to post for the day out of habit.
Religion has taught people to tithe (while it’s 10%, the same principle applies) to receive more back.
Here’s some other factors to keep in mind:
The 80/20 does not mean it’s ok to be lazy, nor is it promoting laziness. I know some readers will try to debate “well if you’re only putting in 20% that means you’re lazy.” No it doesn’t mean laziness; laziness is its own parameter. What the rule does is help people use only what’s necessary/needed, no more and no less. It doesn’t mean “use 20%” either. If you maximize your efforts, resources, and find ways to “Trim the fat,” at most 20% is all you would need to complete a task/job/project successfully.
Procrastination is another factor some will debate. Do early, so you have time later to review and change/update as needed. How many times has people in the past waited till the last minute for something, and risk not completing on time, resulting in lateness? If you start early, and notice something isn’t right, there’s time to complete before the due date. This is also where the 80/20 rule can come in – 20% of the work first (layout, planning, research) this way when you need to do the other 80%, the framework is already set in place, and changes can come/go as needed.
I chose this topic as today’s posting due to some of these entrepreneurs I keep reading/watching about; and yet there’s a lot of important information they leave out. I’m not talking “rags to riches” (which I will post about another time), but those who act like they made it big by some simple steps “everyone can do!” If everyone can do them, why-
Are there still homeless people?
Society as a whole sees wealth as first class?
Competition is limited thanks to the rest of corporate America?
Other countries (Japan being the biggest) have other avenues while us as Americans are so closed minded that their ideas seem stupid to us?
People like me are still financially unstable while others claim within the exact same time they “made it big?”
There’s more uneducated, unplanned families than planned, smarter families?
Advertising has to remind people what’s on the screen is fake?
Are get rich quick scams still around?
If you take nothing else from this posting today, remember this – the 80/20 rule is a simple formula you can apply to any factor in your life. Also, remember the 20 is AFTER planning, research, etc, not before. If you’re part of the 80% (like me) who’s struggling, finding difficulty to make ends meet, and/or not able to find the help needed, you’re not the only one.
1 – https://www.briantracy.com/blog/personal-success/how-to-use-the-80-20-rule-pareto-principle/
The Royal Assassin 