CHAPTER 4 The 80/20 Rule
In 1906, an Italian economist, Vilfredo Pareto, found an intriguing correlation. He noticed 20% of the pea pods in his garden held 80% of the peas. Studying the peas prompted him to take a closer look at this ratio. In one of his initial discoveries, he found 80% of the land in his area was owned by 20% of the people. After a detailed study, he observed this ratio held true in many aspects of life. The Pareto Principle, or the 80/20 rule, is the result of his findings.
For example:
• 80% of your income is derived from 20% of your work. • 80% of a business’s income is derived from 20% of its customers. • 80% of your value to an employer is derived from 20% of your work. With that said, there's a very good chance that 80% of the problems that led to divorce stemmed from 20% of you and your ex-spouse's interactions and behavior. I challenge you to do the following exercise. On one side of a piece of paper, list the problems and points of contention in your marriage. On the other side, list the source of those problems. I'd be willing to bet that the majority of the issues originated from the same source, whether it be a consistency in poor attitude, lack of one partner's effort toward joint obligations, financial disagreements (the most common), tone's taken, or 30
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