skip the 80/20 rule... this is better 👇
Everyone talks about the 80/20 rule, but here’s what people don’t know:
Just 4% of your actions drive 64% of your results.
Keep reading, and I’ll show you how to find them.
The 80/20 rule is great, but for some subjects, even the most important 20% of activities is just too much to focus on.
Take copywriting, for example. To be a good copywriter you need to master hooks, headlines, transitions, offer creation, benefits, calls to action, and a bunch more. Unless you plan on pursuing copywriting as a career, it’s probably to much. And totally unnecessary.
I run into this problem all the time.
As a generalist, I can’t master every skill, interest, or hobby I decide to pick up. Instead, I need a way to drill down to what matters and get straight to results.
That’s where the Super Pareto Principle comes in. If the Pareto Principle says that 20% of activities drive 80% of results, the Super Pareto Principle says that 4% of activities drive 64% of results.
Here’s how the math works:
20% of 20% = 4%
80% of 80% = 64%
It’s the same rule, just nested.
Applying this to our copywriting example, and the Super Pareto the drives most results would likely be:
Offer creation
Hooks
Become great at these, and you can be mediocre at everything else and still win.
Make sense?
Good.
Here’s how you can use the Super Pareto Principle to master the next skill you want to learn:
Find the 80/20 first. Figure out what actually drives results. Focus there.
Zoom in. List out the 20% of activities that drive 80% of the results, and stack rank them based on impact. Once you’ve done that, try to the most important 1 or 2 activities related to the subject. There’s a good chance that will be your 4%.
Prioritize & ignore. This is where the real benefit comes from. Eliminate what doesn’t matter, reclaim your time, energy, and focus in a high-leverage way.
If you found this email helpful, be a good samaritan and forward it to a friend who’s drowning in busywork.
Catch you tomorrow!
-Michael
P.S. In Gmail, click the three “.”s in the top right of this email, then choose forward.