The Twenty Percent Sercret

Today we’re going to talk about staying focused on your 20%. The 80/20 principle.  

Time is The Great Equalizer

Q - We all know or have heard of someone who has had extraordinary success. How do they do more,  achieve more, earn more, have more?

A - They get to the heart of things...They go small.

“Going small” is ignoring all the things you could do and doing what you should do.  It’s realizing that extraordinary results are directly determined by how narrow you can make your focus.

What exactly is this 20% secret?  

We have found that every job or role in business, has a measurable way of tracking performance. To determine this, we ask three questions. 1. How do you gauge success in your job or business? 2. What are the things/activities that contribute to that success? 3. Out of those things/activities, which is the priority item? Meaning, if you didn't do that activity at all, you would essentially see your business fail or lose your job? This concept comes from the Italian philosopher named Vilfredo Pareto, who was born in 1848-1923. Pareto was studying the Italian economy and realized that 80 percent financial wealth in Italy was controlled by 20% of the population. Then, he looked at real estate and noticed 80 percent of the real estate was controlled by just 20 percent of the population.

What’s interesting is, this shows up everywhere in our lives - it is a principle as true as the law of gravity! Pareto’s Principle, it turns out, is as real as the law of gravity, and yet most people fail to see it’s significance. It’s not just a theory—it is a provable, predictable certainty of nature and one of the greatest productivity truths ever discovered. Richard Koch, in his book The 80/20 Principle, defined it about as well as anyone: “The 80/20 Principle asserts that a minority of causes, inputs, or effort usually lead to a majority of the results, outputs, or rewards.” In other words, in the world of success, things aren’t equal. A few causes create most of the results.

Is Less really more? - Pareto points us in a very clear direction: the majority of what you want will come from the minority of what you do. Extraordinary results are disproportionately created by fewer actions than most realize. Pareto’s great insight was that not everything matters equally; some things matter more than others — a lot more. What amazes me is that often, people don’t accept this like they do the law of gravity. Here’s a great example of what I am talking about.  If I took you to the top of a 20 story building and asked you to step off the building - with no protective gear, would you? No. You accept the law of gravity completely. Someone people don’t live the 80/20 principle the same way. I understand Pareto isn’t a new concept to everyone. What I don’t understand is why most people don’t like it, follow it or make a point of following it. Why is this? Likely due to the fact it’s not commonly talked about, taught and trusted to work.  

Trusted to work? What does that mean? We have become so accustomed to living in “chaos” and sadly have (even if not consciously) accepted it as a way of life.  When in fact, it doesn’t have to be the case.  How do we do this? First, we have to raise our awareness.  Once this is done, we can get a clear focus on what truly matters, put the blinders on and get into action doing The ONE Thing, the right thing, everything else becomes