Neil Desai

I recently started reading a new book called From Good to Great by Jim Collins. It’s a fascinating book about how companies make the leap from good companies to truly great companies. It got me thinking about the Pareto Principle. The Pareto Principle (also known as the 80/20 rule) says that roughly 80% of the results comes from 20% of the causes. One example is that 80% of the wealth is owned by 20% of the people.

I started thinking about looking at the Pareto Principle in a completely different light. What if the average successful person achieves 80% efficiency in life? By that I mean what if we get 80% that we can out of our lives? 80% success, fun, greatness. 80% of everything. What if all that separates remarkable people from average people is just 20%. How does someone achieve 100% potential in their life?

I believe the people in life that achieve 100% potential are the Gandhi’s, Steve Jobs’, Martin Luther King’s etc. Those individuals are truly remarkable and are remembered forever. I know I’m fairly young so who am I to really know what makes those individuals successful? However, what I’m learning from this book is that maybe it’s not just about skills or how well you know something but instead that extra 20% is about something no one can teach you in a class. It’s knowing how to lead. It’s being modest. It’s having unbelievable determination and hustle. 

I’ll be the first to admit that I really have no clue how to teach or even learn to do those things but I’m going to try. I hope to use this blog to find some of that information out along the way.