Slowing Down the Game
Leadership
The 80-20 rule seems almost magical. The idea that you can achieve the vast majority of your desired results with a relatively small investment of your resources sounds too good to be true. Life just doesn’t seem to work that way. Most people report being overworked, stressed out, and running behind. The more common experience is that the 80-20 rule is determined after the fact, not before and during. In other words, it is tailor-made for armchair quarterbacks and pundits, but a frustrating reality for the rest of us who have to compete in real time.
In 10X is Easier than 2X, Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy take the benefits and applicability of the 80-20 rule to new heights. Not only does the 80-20 rule work to achieve your current goals, but it can also be used to create exponential change. Importantly, they argue that substantial growth based on the 80-20 rule only works when the future dictates the present. This means we must be willing to let go of many of the successful practices that have contributed to our current success but will do little to make our desired future a reality.
To make the 80-20 rule less of a “should have” exercise by looking in the rear-view mirror, we need to start by having clarity about our aspirations for the future. A clear vision not only provides inspiration and motivation but also the guidance we need to start making the long-term and sometimes difficult investments in the present.
We also need to face reality and ask the hard questions, “Does our vision align with our gifts and talents” and “Is there a pathway to pursue the opportunity?” More and more, we hear divergent voices about the wisdom of chasing your dreams. On one hand, the advancements we see in art, economics, technology, and social development happen because individuals pursued a difficult goal that seemed unlikely, if not impossible, when they began. The passion created by the opportunity to pursue a worthy goal and doing something you love is a powerful combination we all want to experience. However, we also see the frustration when years of effort yield little progress, and regret sets in on missed opportunities that would have provided better results and a more balanced life.
Once you have committed to your path, you must begin the equally difficult task of separating the 20% of extremely important activities from the rest. In the beginning, it is less about individual activities and more about what you are paying attention to. It has never been harder to maintain a laser focus on what matters most. We live in a world of non-stop distractions offering competing opinions (presented as facts) and unlimited (and unproven) possibilities presented as low-hanging fruit. It can be hard to stay on one path long enough to develop the needed understanding and mastery to achieve success. Without clarity of vision and purpose, the “next” thing can look like the “best” thing.
Once you are paying attention, you begin to notice the activities that move things forward, ones that maintain the status quo, and ones that have negative effects. Athletes experiencing improved performance often talk about the game “slowing down” for them. They see more clearly the rhythms of the game and the opportunities they present. They are no longer caught up in the 80% where they are just keeping up with the flow of the game but now see what they need to do (the 20%) to positively influence the outcome. Once they figure it out, they spend less time developing skills related to the 80% but go deeper through deliberate practice to master the skills that make them different from the other players.
Of course, it is important to note that the 80-20 rule is more of an approximation than a principal set-in-stone. Most of us would probably be happy to live in a 40-60 world where our time and energy commitments yield a more positive than neutral or negative return. Like most things in life, it is more about moving in the right direction than being able to announce you have arrived at the destination. Purpose and vision matter as does seeing opportunities realistically and making commitments to intelligently and boldly pursue them.