The 20/80 Rule

The rule that 20% of the people do 80% of the work or business is widely known. Focusing on the 20% that returns 80% of the result is the lesser known rule, but far more impactful on a business – and your experience.

EOS employs the second rule throughout the system. In short, everything is reduced to the essentials – the highest priorities. Focusing on more increases complexity and often impairs achieving the desired outcome, so why make it harder?

When you are choosing what your company does, pick one thing you can excel at and become the master of it.

When you define your marketing message, pick the three things about you, that when taken together, make you uniquely more valuable than everyone else, and communicate those three things in every sales call.

When painting your 3-Year Picture, pick the 5 to 15 things you want most for your business 3 years from now. In your 1-Year Plan, choose the 3 to 7 most important goals that move you a third of the way towards realizing your 3-Year Picture and, in the next 90 days, the 3 to 7 most important priorities (Rocks) for moving a quarter of the way towards achieving your goals.

With your processes, document the few essential procedural steps to do everything that is repetitive. With job descriptions, define the plus or minus 5 roles/responsibilities for each seat. Leaving the non-essentials undefined allows individuals to bring creativity to the process or seat.

It’s all about prioritizing and simplifying. If you’re not doing this, I strongly encourage you to start now. Start living the 20/80 rule.