HIND-SIGHT IS 80/20
I haven’t lost my mind…well, not entirely anyway. I know the adage is “hind-sight is 20/20,” but hear me out and I’ll show you why it should be 80/20!
If you have been around here for more than a minute, you know that one of my pillars of exceptional communication is the ability to say more with less. Far too often we go on blabbering about nothing when we just need to get to the point.
One of my goals for 2022 was to make it a point to read at least two pages of a physical book every single day this year. Why only 2? Because reading relaxes me to the point of hypnosis and the book usually slams me in the forehead a few paragraphs in…so I committed to reading at least 2 pages a day with a final goal to reach 20 books read and at least 10 consumed via audible. (In case you are wondering, I have made my daily goal so far, completed 3 physical books and 1 audible book)
Why is this important? It’s not…except that it is…that 1 audible book, which I finished just last week, was life changing. That’s a little dramatic, but it opened my eyes to what I’ve been saying all along – LESS IS MORE.
That book was Richard Koch’s The 80/20 Principle. This 1997 best-seller is solid gold. If you haven’t read (or listened to) it, I highly recommend you do (to see the other books currently on my radar and recommended reading list, click HERE!).
Okay, I have just demonstrated precisely what NOT to do when taking a less is more approach. But I did it for a reason. I rambled on about some stuff that you might have found interesting, but I didn’t really lay any hard truths or solid knowledge bombs down. Don’t worry, they’re coming!
Mr. Koch’s book is all about the amount of effort we put out versus the result we achieve. He applies the theory to every aspect of life and business. He is brilliant in the way he describes the 80/20 principle.
But what is the 80/20 principle? In a nutshell, the theory claims that 80% of the results you attain are the product of only 20% of your efforts.
Now that is very general, so I challenge you to apply it to your own life. What if 80% of your happiness occurs in only 20% of your waking hours? What if 80% of the work you get done in one day is completed in only 20% of the time you are at work? And here is the big one, what if 80% of your message is said in only 20% of the words you use?
Whoa!! Pump the brakes a second. This is huge. Now, let’s look at that in reverse. If 80% of your productivity is a result of only 20% of your efforts, that means that the majority of your time (or in our case, your words) contributes very little to the overall results you are working toward. Sure, you may have a great time chatting with your colleagues at work, which is important, but this is a low (or no) production activity. Chances are good that only about 2 or maybe 3 hours of your day generate the bulk of the production or results you achieve (depending on your job of course).
Take this post for example, it is somewhere in the ballpark of 1000 words, but the real meat and potatoes of it is likely only 200-300 words. That doesn’t mean the other 80% of the words are useless, they just contribute a lower level of value to the message.
Now, before we go further, this is not a set-in stone blanket theory. As the author notes, the ratios can be all over the place, but in general, the bulk of our results come from a very small portion of our efforts, therefore, we can do (and say) more with less!
Back to the 80/20 rule in communication. What if 80% of the words you use to communicate with your clients contribute only 20% of your message? You may recall a section in my free guide to communicating greatly entitled “Less is More” (click HERE to grab your copy!). One of the first questions I ask people when they tell me they over speak is “why are you using 25 words to say what only needs 10?” 
Dr. Seuss said, “So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads.” See, even Dr. Seuss, the king of words, agrees that less is more!
The most important thing to remember is that it is the quality of your words that counts, not the quantity. Now of course you have to consider the context and purpose of what you are writing or saying. A light-hearted piece can have a more playful feel to it, but a speech or content for a formal event should be succinct and get directly to the point. If you are writing content for social media, don’t add words just for the sake of making a bigger post. Your message will get lost. It’s like adding too much milk to your coffee…it might make the cup fuller, but you diluted the good stuff. Catch my drift?
Don’t dilute your message. Your message is important, and people want to find it easily. They don’t want to sift through a mine field of useless words just to figure out what you are trying to say. More often than not, you will say far more, with a much greater impact, just by saying less.
I hope this post has helped you think about how you can say more by saying less. I would love to work with you and help you become a master of the “Less is More” principle in your communication!
Let’s chat! Click HERE to book a strategy session with me!
Thanks for stopping by!
Ciao for now!