The 80/20 Rule... (must read)

The 80/20 Rule During the last week, a friend and I got talking about many things including women, of course. I asked him how his girlfriend, who doubles has my good friend for a long time was doing. Soon, he started saying many wonderful things about the ex-girlfriend and how much he misses her, and wanted her back.

 Immediately, I was reminded of Tyler Perry’s movie I saw some years ago, Why Did I Get Married? So I decided to share the movie plot with my friend.

It was about married couples who had “issues” with their spouses – If she’s not overworked, she’s over the top or overweight or overly perfect, and their men were far from perfect too. Eventually, they all worked out their relationships except Mike, the egoistic husband of Shelia (the overweight lady), who dumps her for her “great-figured” friend Trina, just to realize, “… she don’t clean, don’t cook, don’t take the garbage out, don’t….” Mike loses to The 80/20 Rule, which (in this case) states that most men get 80% of what they need from a marriage yet they tend to go after the 20% that someone outside can provide for them because it appears to be more to them when it really isn’t.

 Mike focuses on the 20% in Trina and loses the 80% in Shelia; who eventually “worked out” with Troy (new husband) and becomes amazingly sexy. Ex-husband Mike, although still with Trina, is very jealous of Shelia’s new-found bliss and tries to weasel his way back into her good graces, but she tells him to go enjoy his “20”, referring to The 80/20 Rule.

After thinking about his 80/20, last Friday my friend came around and said excitedly, “Hey buddy, I have decided to stay with my 80!” “Good for you”, I responded.

The 80/20 Rule does not only apply to relationships, it applies to many things in different ways. It is true that, “Not all that glitters is gold”. We should be careful not to end up like Mike. The fact that what we have isn’t perfect doesn’t mean it isn’t good, or can’t be better. Besides, a known devil is better than an unknown angel. 

Most times, that which we are attracted to, isn’t as good as it appears. Learn how to use The 80/20 Rule to your advantage by appreciating your 80 and improving on your 20, instead of losing the 80 to the 20! Originally, the Pareto Principle (The 80/20 Rule) referred to the observation that 80% of Italy’s wealth belonged to only 20% of the population. 

More generally, the Pareto Principle is the observation (not law) that most things in life are not distributed evenly. Don’t get caught up on the numbers. Both 80 and 20 are just examples of one type of uneven balances, so don’t use a literal mathematical interpretation of the rule. The numbers here aren’t that important. The actual applications are less mathematical.

How to Really Use the 80/20 Rule to your Advantage

 Pick an area of your life where you feel there is an imbalance of effects. This won’t apply all areas, but many situations are out of equilibrium (time, health, money and possibly even relationships).

1.      Identify the key 10, 20 or 40 percent of inputs that are creating most your results. It can be 10% of the time that creates greater efficiency. It could be the 40% of relationships that create the most happiness for you.

2.      Find ways to emphasize the key percentage. Spend more time on these activities. Place them first in your schedule. Meet with key friends more often. Invest more money with the best price.

3.       Find ways to downplay or eliminate the rest. Get rid of activities that don’t have a high return. Stop spending time in relationships that don’t create enough value. Stop wasting money on investments that can’t give you a better quality of life....

The 80/20 Rule During the last week, a friend and I got talking about many things including women, of course. I asked him how his girlfriend, who doubles has my good friend for a long time was doing. Soon, he started saying many wonderful things about the ex-girlfriend and how much he misses her, and wanted her back. Immediately, I was reminded of Tyler Perry’s movie I saw some years ago, Why Did I Get Married? So I decided to share the movie plot with my friend. It was about married couples who had “issues” with their spouses – If she’s not overworked, she’s over the top or overweight or overly perfect, and their men were far from perfect too. Eventually, they all worked out their relationships except Mike, the egoistic husband of Shelia (the overweight lady), who dumps her for her “great-figured” friend Trina, just to realize, “… she don’t clean, don’t cook, don’t take the garbage out, don’t….” Mike loses to The 80/20 Rule, which (in this case) states that most men get 80% of what they need from a marriage yet they tend to go after the 20% that someone outside can provide for them because it appears to be more to them when it really isn’t. Mike focuses on the 20% in Trina and loses the 80% in Shelia; who eventually “worked out” with Troy (new husband) and becomes amazingly sexy. Ex-husband Mike, although still with Trina, is very jealous of Shelia’s new-found bliss and tries to weasel his way back into her good graces, but she tells him to go enjoy his “20”, referring to The 80/20 Rule. After thinking about his 80/20, last Friday my friend came around and said excitedly, “Hey buddy, I have decided to stay with my 80!” “Good for you”, I responded. The 80/20 Rule does not only apply to relationships, it applies to many things in different ways. It is true that, “Not all that glitters is gold”. We should be careful not to end up like Mike. The fact that what we have isn’t perfect doesn’t mean it isn’t good, or can’t be better. Besides, a known devil is better than an unknown angel. Most times, that which we are attracted to, isn’t as good as it appears. Learn how to use The 80/20 Rule to your advantage by appreciating your 80 and improving on your 20, instead of losing the 80 to the 20! Originally, the Pareto Principle (The 80/20 Rule) referred to the observation that 80% of Italy’s wealth belonged to only 20% of the population. More generally, the Pareto Principle is the observation (not law) that most things in life are not distributed evenly. Don’t get caught up on the numbers. Both 80 and 20 are just examples of one type of uneven balances, so don’t use a literal mathematical interpretation of the rule. The numbers here aren’t that important. The actual applications are less mathematical. How to Really Use the 80/20 Rule to your Advantage Pick an area of your life where you feel there is an imbalance of effects. This won’t apply all areas, but many situations are out of equilibrium (time, health, money and possibly even relationships). Identify the key 10, 20 or 40 percent of inputs that are creating most your results. It can be 10% of the time that creates greater efficiency. It could be the 40% of relationships that create the most happiness for you. Find ways to emphasize the key percentage. Spend more time on these activities. Place them first in your schedule. Meet with key friends more often. Invest more money with the best price. Find ways to downplay or eliminate the rest. Get rid of activities that don’t have a high return. Stop spending time in relationships that don’t create enough value. Stop wasting money on investments that can’t give you a better quality of life....

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