The shuttle had picked us up, and we were on our way to the resort. All I could think was, “I hope this place is legit. Please let this be a good resort.”
I mean, it was too late now. We’d landed in Mexico and we were going to find out if the place I’d read about online was really a “family-friendly resort with great wildlife” or not.
A few weeks prior, I’d booked our vacation with the 80/20 rule deciding that good enough was good enough.
In this post, we’re talking about the 80/20 rule and how it can help multi-passionate perfectionists get. Things. Done. Like booking a trip instead of just thinking about booking one (I’ll let you know how mine turned out).
Wait, sorry, what is the 80/20 Rule?
There are lots of ways to look at the 80/20 rule. Essentially, each one is just a different way to think about how much effort we’re putting into something. We’re going to look at it in three ways:
- 80% of our results come from 20% of our efforts
- 80% of something is amazing and maybe 20% of it could be better, and
- 80% of what we do will be done really well and 20% of it will just get done
1. 80% of our results come from 20% of our efforts (The Pareto Principle)
This one’s tough to swallow, but most of the time, it’s true. Sometimes, we make a whole lotta fuss about nothing because the things we think are helping us just aren’t.
How many of us have written and rewritten notes before a big test? You know, the whole colour-coordinated, perfectly written out note set with matching flashcards? Or the perfectly organized folder system with a matching table of contents? And how many of us didn’t feel prepped for said test until we actually started studying?
Essentially, the A we got came from doing practice questions and reviewing the notes on things we got wrong. All that highlighting and underlining and re-organizing didn’t make much of a difference; it’s the studying that counted.
This is the Pareto Principle. It says that the majority of our results come from very few of our actions. And it’s important because, as multi-passionate women, there’s never a shortage of things that we could do. Because of this, it’s important to figure out which activities actually help us with each of our passions.
Of all the things that you’re doing, what is the 20% that you can truly link to a result? Be honest with yourself so that you can find your most productive work and focus there.
Now let’s look at the second way of interpreting the 80/20 rule.
2. 80% of something is amazing and maybe 20% of it could be better
Also tough to swallow, right? But most things aren’t perfect. And what’s wrong with great? Or special? Or fun?
As multi-passionates, we tend to expect a certain level of excellence in everything that we do. Which is wonderful – as long as we focus on the 80% of the things that are amazing instead of the 20% of things that could be fixed.
Because first of all, no one appreciates having their work picked apart unless they asked for feedback. And second of all, it’s exhausting to constantly analyze things. It’s much lighter to see the good in things than to fixate on the bad.
So sure, you didn’t underline everything perfectly straight in your notes, but what about all the things you actually wrote down? Maybe you could focus on having a complete set of notes instead of worrying about how they look (although I get it; messy underlining always gets to me).
And now, here’s one more way to look at the 80/20 rule:
3. 80% of our execution is spot on and 20% of it could be better
I mean, sure. Ideally, I would have booked that trip to Mexico a few months in advance. And in the perfect world, I would already have mapped out my top destinations with reasons why.
But instead, all I knew was that I wanted to go somewhere warm and that it couldn’t be too far away because I had just under a week to spend there.
Did I do all the research I could and cross reference reviews while comparing prices? No. But I did book an amazing vacation at the most unique resort I’d ever been to. And yes, there was wildlife: parrots, iguanas, fish, flamingos, monkeys, and even baby deer! So it worked out perfectly.
In other words, 80% of my planning was spot on, and 20% of it could have been better. But it all worked out.
Summary
Often, we give ourselves a hard time for not doing everything perfectly. Which, if you think about it, is pretty silly.
And as students and career women, this can spill over from our professional lives into our personal lives as well. Sometimes, like with my trip planning, we’ve just got to do the best we can.
To that end, we spoke about 3 ways that the 80/20 rule can be helpful. Remember that:
- 80% of our results come from 20% of our efforts (The Pareto Principle)
- 80% of something is amazing and maybe 20% of it could be better, and
- 80% of what we do will be done really well and 20% of it will just get done
Spending time on your passions is meaningful work. But you’ll only enjoy them if you allow yourself to take imperfect action. Get started. Enjoy. Improve.
And if you’re ready to take a break, join me and our group of multi-passionate women in our email community where we talk about self-care and productivity. You’ll get access to our helpful PDF workbooks, like our Focus Planner and our Imposter Syndrome workbook.
Alright, see you in the next post!
