The One Thing that Skyrockets Your Success

The secret of all the most successful people in history

The 80/20 principle states that 80% of outcomes come from 20% of efforts. Focus on the few things that truly matter, and success will follow.

Richard Koch (1950-present)

This principle changed my life. A lot.

This important 80/20 Principle, or Pareto's Principle, was taught to me, but I didn't really understand it until decades later. Do you?

The results speak for themselves. If you applied 80/20, you would be in the top 1% of whatever field you applied the 80/20 Principle towards. You would be in the Top 1% quite easily and naturally. Yet most people rarely apply the 80/20 Principle, even if reminded time and time again.

1. Most things are not equal.

Just 7 companies (Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon, NVIDIA, Google, Tesla) account for 50% of the market (NASDAQ). If you had invested early in any of these companies, you too would be extremely wealthy. That is one easy way to get wealthy. I invested early in domains, Google and tech stocks and crypto. And NVIDIA in 2018.

80/20 math says that 20% of the inputs give you 80% of the results. This results in 4x or 400%. This is remarkable in a world where financial returns of 25% are 'great.' This is why Buffet buys stocks of 'companies' and not the stock index of the Top 500 companies. 

In 2018, I sold 80% of my Google stock (which had 10x'd) and bought NVIDIA at $60. It has increased 25x in 6 years. Now, I am pondering what my next 10x stock will be.

There are 2,781 billionaires worth $14 trillion. The top 10 billionaires account for $1.6 trillion or 11.3%. The top 100 account for ~33%. The top 500 (20%) account for 70%. Close to 80/20. What do they do uniquely? 80/20 focus.

In terms of longevity, 2.5% of Americans (3% of females, 1% of males) will reach the age of 100. Of those who do achieve this century milestone, 0.02% will live another ten years. Less than 1 in 100,000 centenarians will make it to 115. Almost no one makes it to 120.

Longevity only matters if you are healthy. Otherwise, life will just get harder for longer. Health principles also follow 80/20.

Don't treat your 'to-do list' 'and 'not-to-do list' equally. Life operates on a logarithmic scale.

Don’t confuse activity with achievement.

John Wooden (1910-2010)

2. A very few things have the most impact.

Success is a few disciplines practiced every day.

Jim Rohn (1930–2009)

Very few things have tremendous value and impact. Finding and focusing on these vital few will leapfrog you ahead. 

Warren Buffet played his financial game by limiting his financial decisions to 10 big bets, and Quentin Tarantino played his movie game by limiting himself to just ten movies.

80/20 means 20% input gives 80% output = 400%. If good is 25% returns, then 400% is 16x greater than good at 25%. Therefore, 80/20 results in greatness. Focus on 80/20 to be great. It's that simple but hard to do consistently. Focus on 80/20 consistently each day.

What ten bets will you place in your lifetime? I like to think of one big bet every decade.

I applied this to one of my businesses, BlackFriday.com. We reduced 1500 affiliate retail companies to 300 (20%), giving us 90% of the revenues. Sixty companies of these gave 70% of the revenues. Twelve companies gave 50% of the revenues. We eventually reduced it to just 60 companies, reducing our work of managing 1440 companies. We created new revenues by offering sponsorship placements to the top 12 companies. We did 90% less work but made 4x more money.

3. The 80/20 Principle is fractal.

Big doors swing on little hinges.

W. Clement Stone (1902–2002)

I learned from 80/20 Sales and Marketing, written by a good friend, Perry Marshall, that 80/20 is fractal. This means that inside every 80/20, there is another 80/20. 

So out of 100 things, there is only one thing that matters a lot:

• 1st 80/20 Fractal: 

  • 20 things give you 80% results.

• 2nd 80/20 Fractal: 

  • Twenty percent of those twenty things (four things) will provide you with 80 percent of the 80 percent results (64%).

  • I.e. four things give you 64% of the results.  

• 3rd 80/20 Fractal: 

  • Of the four things that give you 64%, 20% of those four things (1 thing) will provide you with 80% of the 64% results (50%). I.e., one thing will give you 50% or half the results.

  • Bingo. Secret.

• Confused or crystal clear? Read it again.

So, find that one thing and focus on it. Or the four things that give you 64%. Or the 20 things that give you 80%. The key is to focus on the few things or (better yet) the ONE thing that gives you 50%. 

Forget or ignore all the rest.

You are not programmed or taught to think or behave in this way. 

You will remain ordinary without 80/20.

You can become extraordinary and fantastic with 80/20.

My Life Question:

If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.

Lao Tzu (601-531 BCE)

What do you want to be great at?

• What is the one thing that would give you half your results? 

  • Focus on that daily.

  • Make your list of possible ten that can be 80/20. Figure out the vital few.

  • Revise this list daily in the morning as you learn and experiment.

• Find at least one 80/20 a month.

  • Imagine what your year will look like. Wow.

My Life Lesson Then (from my younger self):

Find your purpose in life. You do have one. It’s deep in your soul, buried under the layers of the scars of your heart. Unravel it and give it all your heart and soul.

Life is fractal, just like 80/20 is fractal.

• When you find your 80/20 purpose, visualize it and find the one thing I call the domino you need to knock down for even bigger dominoes in life. You can apply this to your career/business, health, and relationships.

• Write your goal and then draw five dominoes that would knock your goal down. You can knock down the first domino today, this week or this month—maybe this quarter.

Life Advice Now (from my present self):

Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.

Buddha (563-483 BCE)

Relationships are 80/20 but don't do 80/20 transactions in your relationship. Relationships aren't transactional or about efficiency. Love fully and unconditionally. Forgive and forget. Love and cherish. These things can not be fully measured but are felt to be truly valuable.

• Some people think their lives are about wealth, while others believe they are about health. As you get older, you realize your life is about deep, meaningful relationships and purpose. We call this love and legacy.

• My Magnum Opus I envision is:

  • Health and Wellness Retreat with the world's healthiest restaurant and fitness centre with people I love and people in need of wellness

  • A Gospel Media Network with God.com, Heaven.com, Religion.com, and Jesus.com is leveraging technology and media to touch hearts and souls for eternity.

Next week:
The One Thing That Matters

The “F” word that has F, U, C but no K

“Do that which you fear to do, and the fear will die.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

See you next Thursday!

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