What 5% of the Effort (Work), Will Give One 95% of the Results?

Most people would find such a return on their efforts to be exceedingly attractive, and if it could be accomplished, they would be regarded as one of the most successful who ever walked the earth. Most people’s results, or return, is much lower, and for those at the bottom, life and everything they do is a crapshoot, leading them to remark that unfavorable outcomes “just happen,” and good fortune and consequences, are equally random and illusory.

However, the most successful in any endeavor, are those who are most successful at getting 95% of the favorable outcome with only 5% of the effort most people think they have to put out to achieve that 95% -- usually with the mistaken notion that the reason they have to put out 110%, is because they don’t know which of the 5% they are getting in return.

This manner of behavior and strategy are employed by other successful specimens in the animal kingdom as the conservation of energy -- and so before taking off after every jackrabbit that catches their eye, they do quick calculations as to the probabilities of their success, or they would quickly exhaust themselves in a dwindling prospect for success.

As humans, we pride ourselves on this learning (conditioning) as the maturation process -- that we don’t go up to every hulking dominant figure and kick sand in their face, thinking that is the way to get to the top -- instead of getting beaten to to pulp, and wondering what happened?

There is a saying among meticulous coaches who correct, “Practice doesn’t make perfect; only perfect practice makes perfect.” The rest we do hoping to achieve that perfection -- but it is not the work alone that distinguishes that, and that is the critical point that is missed by those participating unsuccessfully at everything.

The secret to doing anything well (successfully), is finding out what that simple difference is that makes a difference -- and not all that can be learned, signifying very little. That is the value of a good teacher and coach -- and not all those merely claiming to be certified, usually from some bogus organization that exists only to sell their certificates to those who don’t know any better, and are easily impressed by such things.