I heard about this rule from someone in my ward years ago and after all this time I've decided it's completely true. Allow me to explain what the 80-20 rule is. It claims that you can accomplish 80% of a task with 20% of the required time. The other 80% of your time is spent completing the final 20% of the task. For example, if you need to study 10 hours to get 100% on your test and you study for two hours you'll probably get a B- or 80%. To get that perfect score you'll have to spend another 8 hours drilling on that test.
I've found this to be the case with other assignments and papers as well. It's easy to bang out a decent paper, but to get it really good so the teacher thinks it's great takes a huge amount of time. This also works for things besides school. You can get decent at any sport if you take a fair amount of time doing it. However, to excel, to truly be the best, you have to spend hour after hour after hour. When you do that it gets to the point where it's not fun anymore. This works with video games, hobbies, cleaning, work, making your wife happy, or anything else you can think of.
It is by following this rule that I have been able to be good at just about everything I try. I'll pick something up and be decent at it in a very short time. I'll never be the best an anything though because I refuse to spend that extra 80% of my time doing it. It's just never worth it to me. It's not fun anymore once you devote that amount of time. It gets boring or I get tired or I want to try something else. The end result is usually the same anyway. My wife is just as happy with the surprise flowers as she would be if I wrote her a song and got a group of friends to perform it for her while I present her with lavish gifts.
Getting a B- is still good grades, my bosses are always happy, I'm always picked for sports teams, I win on Warcraft and Halo, I get that puzzle put together, my wife loves me, the house looks ok. Or I could perfect every one of those things and be stressed out all the time and exhausted and hate my life.
This Week's Goal
1 hour ago
2 comments:
I think being a husband and father will take much more than a 20% effort to reach "good." If you don't believe this yet, someday you will.
I think I'd be a little weirded out if you wrote me a song and had your friends perform it... it would just be a little much. And just not your style.
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