One Simple Rule That Changed my Life Forever

95/5 Rule: Achieving Maximum Results with Minimal Effort

Key Concepts:

• 95/5 Rule: 95% of results come from 5% of efforts.
• Clarity of Vision: Knowing your target or desired outcome.
• Drip Matrix: A tool for evaluating tasks based on enjoyment and profitability.
• Defer, Delete, Delegate (3Ds): Strategies for managing the remaining 95% of tasks.
• Training vs. Telling: Empowering others through training rather than constant instruction.

I. Introduction to the 95/5 Rule

• The 95/5 rule states that 95% of your results come from only 5% of your efforts.
• The speaker learned this rule from successful billionaires and used it to transform his life from burnout to building his dream life.
• The rule is presented as a more potent version of the 80/20 rule (Pareto principle).
• It emphasizes eliminating the illusion of productivity by focusing on the one thing that will create a massive domino effect.

Example:

• The analogy of a boat with a leak: Instead of bailing water (being busy), focus on finding and plugging the hole (identifying and addressing the core problem).
• Hiring a talented marketer who failed because they lacked the discipline to analyze the problem and focus on the most impactful actions.

II. Finding Your 5%: The Importance of Vision

• Direction is Crucial: You need a clear vision to identify the right 5%. Without a target, you can't aim effectively.
• Clarity Eliminates Overwhelm: A confused mind cannot move forward. Lack of clarity can lead to depression.
• Examples of Clear Vision:
  • Bill Gates: A personal computer in every home.
  • Mark Zuckerberg: Building a metaverse.
  • Elon Musk: Colonizing Mars.
    • Musk's companies (Starlink, Boring Company, Tesla, etc.) are all part of the infrastructure for colonizing Mars.
    • Even his involvement with Dogecoin was to help save the economy, which would then allow him to get back to building electric cars.
• Vision Determines Decisions: The clarity of your vision directly impacts the quality of your decisions.

III. Practical Steps to Implement the 95/5 Rule

1. Dream Big: Give yourself permission to dream and set a target that is big enough to inspire significant action.
   • "See most people don't give themselves permission to dream so then their target is so nearsighted it doesn't feel like it's big enough to make big decisions to move your life forward you actually have to go way out there dream bigger and then aim for it"
2. Write 12 Goals: List 12 projects or outcomes you want to achieve in a year. Achieving 7-8 of them should indicate progress.
3. Identify the Key Goal: Circle the one goal that, if accomplished, would make the other goals obsolete, unnecessary, or easier to achieve.
4. Focus and Ignore: Create a list of projects needed to accomplish the key goal and aggressively ignore the rest.

IV. The Drip Matrix: Prioritizing Tasks

• The Drip Matrix is a tool to evaluate tasks based on two axes:
  • Enjoyment: How much the task energizes and excites you.
  • Profitability: How much money the task generates.
• Your 5% lies in the top-right quadrant (Production): Tasks that are both enjoyable and highly profitable.
• The Matrix is Dynamic: It needs to be re-evaluated as your life changes (e.g., having kids).
• Letting Go: Be willing to let go of tasks that were once green (enjoyable and profitable) but are no longer a good use of your time.
  • Staying in those things that used to be green now they're yellow sometimes red so I have to learn to let go and really self-evaluate where am I focusing my time
• Example: A dentist realizing his bottleneck is staffing and focusing on building a system for attracting, hiring, training, and retaining top staff.
• Calendar Prioritization: Schedule the most impactful task (5%) for the first 90 minutes of each day and stick with it until it's solved.
  • "The first 90 minutes of every day is working on the project that's going to push everything else forward keeping it there till it's solved not getting bored with it not getting distracted being disciplined stay with the problem"

V. Managing the Other 95%: The 3Ds

• Analogy: Think of yourself as a top chef who focuses on the core elements of making a meal world-class, while others handle the prep work.
• The 3Ds for managing the remaining 95% of tasks:
  1. Defer: Intentionally postpone tasks that are not a priority right now. Understanding the right timing is crucial.
  2. Delete: Prune your activities and remove tasks that are no longer necessary or valuable.
  3. Delegate: Hand off tasks to others, starting with a part-time assistant.
     • Hand off with clarity: Define what "done" looks like.
     • Practice delegating: It's an art that requires learning to let go.

VI. Training vs. Telling: Empowering Others

• Train, Don't Tell: Instead of constantly telling people what to do, train them on how to think and solve problems.
• Share Mental Models: Teach the frameworks and first principles you use to approach tasks.
• Use Resources: Leverage tools like ChatGPT to help train others.
• Checklists are Not Enough: Role-play and teach the underlying principles, not just the steps.

VII. Conclusion

• Choosing one thing and focusing on it is always better than doing too many things and playing "whack-a-mole."
• Even if you're wrong, you can eliminate things knowing they didn't work, rather than being unsure of what's broken.
• The 95/5 rule is a powerful tool for achieving maximum results with minimal effort by focusing on the most impactful activities and empowering others to handle the rest.