Mind the gap
The 80/20, the gap between cause and effect.
One of my favorite concepts is the Pareto Principle or the 80/20 rule. It states that 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. Economist Vilfredo Pareto first observed this through uneven land distribution. He noticed that 20% of the population owned 80% of the land in Italy.
There is a huge imbalance between the inputs and outputs. While the principle may not be universally relevant, it certainly applies to most cases. And you could probably notice it in effect anywhere.
In businesses, only a few customers contribute the majority of the sales. In sports, only a handful of players excel and only a few teams compete for the championship. When trading stocks, the chunk of the profits comes from just a few trades.
On a personal note, I wear the same two or three shirts most of the time. The same apps consume much of my screen time. I am most productive in only a few hours in a day.
The numbers are not strictly 80/20. But the idea holds. And while the idea is simple, its application is very much impactful.
Think about your recent actions. Are they directly aligned with your plans? Or are you ‘productive’ doing non-value-adding tasks? Sometimes we keep ourselves busy with activities we thought could get us closer to our goals. And we fail to realize we barely even move the needle.
The general idea is this: only few of your actions will produce majority of the results. So focus on the things that matter and spend less time on those that don’t. Prioritize and strategize on what actions could produce a significant impact. Begin to mind the gap.