The 3-Step System to Achieve Any Goal
A Surefire Way to Achieve Goals
Everything in the world is subject to the 80/20 Principle. You may have heard of it before.
It was discovered by Italian Economist Vilfredo Pareto in the early 1900s. He realized that 80% of the wealth in England was held by 20% of the population. Pareto’s discovery caught the attention of a guy called Richard Koch, who stepped in and dove a little more in depth with this ‘idea’. The results were incredible..
He realized that the 80/20 principle didn’t just apply to wealth.
The “Pareto Principle” also known as the 80/20 Rule is one of the most helpful concepts for goal setting and time management. This principle can be applied to almost any situation!
80% of traffic comes from 20% of freeways
80% of your productivity comes from 20% of your efforts planning
80% percent of the races are won by 20% of the runners
To put into context, 20% of your efforts will account for 80% of your results. Richard Koch, who studied the 80/20 rule, developed a three step system to achieve any goal. Let’s apply the model to our health and fitness goals.
Step #1: The 80/20 Destination
First, identify your goal, or “destination.” Where do you want to be? How you want to feel, and perform. These are the 20% of your goals that will bring you 80% of total happiness when achieved. The 20% goals that really, really matter to you should be what you focus disproportionately on.
To apply this to fitness. A goal of yours might be to look good, but a 20% goal should be to feel good. By shifting your mind to focus on performance instead of aesthetics, you will end up with 80% results: not only will you increase your performance levels, but you will also feel better, prevent injury, extend your life, and look good.
Step #2: The 80/20 Route
Secondly, identify the path to take to get there. What is the easiest way to your destination? AKA path of least resistance. Every goal typically has 4 ways to achieve it.
1. Low Effort, Low Reward
2. High Effort, Low Reward
3. High Effort, High Reward
4. Low Effort, High Reward
You want to choose the simplest path, aka LOW EFFORT, HIGH REWARD. This is the 80/20 path and this will give you the best ROI or return on investment.
You want to look for a training program that provides structure, challenge and evidence-based principles while also empowering you through education. Connecting with a community of like minded, goal focused individuals will also help you succeed. Travel the correct route, make the trip once and avoid the mis-steps.
Step #3: The 80/20 Actions
Thirdly, determine the key pillars of your success. What are you doing to advance to your destination? What are the actions that will make a huge difference in the big picture? What are the “need-to-do” vs. the “nice-to-do”? What are the few actions that really matter, and when acted upon, will guarantee success?
Determine what these pivotal actions are in your fitness program. Does being a part of a community drastically help you stay on track? Live workouts? Workouts you can do anywhere? Workouts that don’t involve equipment? Workouts that take an hour or less?
For you, a "need-to-do" might be joining a community to stay accountable and commit to a program that won’t bore you, while a nice-to-do might be live workouts. This will differ for everyone, but focus on the “needs” not the “nices” and you will dramatically improve your chance at achieving your goal.