80/20 as a tool for negativity redistribution/correction:

Often, when we think of 80/20, we speak of it in the positive: 

"80% of your revenue and income comes from 20% of what you actually do to run your business" 

or 

"80% of your happiness comes from 20% of the things you do" 

etc. 

But the 80/20 rule is universal. It works in the positive AND the negative. 

"80% of the drama in your life comes from 20% of the people in it" 

or

"80% of the anxiety and stress you feel comes from 20% of the activities you engage in/things you surround yourself with/thought patterns/etc." 

etc.

That means, that just like the positive, major changes can be made with very small movements and adjustments. 

You don't need to get rid of ALL your clients to be happy again in business... just one or two. 

You don't need to start over from scratch with your broken marketing system... just make one or two corrections and you'll find success. 

You don't need to shut off ALL social media/connection with the outside world/distractions... just the 20% which are making you 80% miserable. 

You don't need to remove ALL your friends and family... just the 20% that are making up 80% of your misery. 

Often we think in sweeping terms. It's black and white. All or nothing. 

I'm either always happy OR I'm always sad. 

I'm always loving what I do OR I'm constantly miserable. 

My business 100% works OR it 0% works. 

A more accurate way to view things is through the lens of 80/20. 

Step 1. Identifying what you want 

Step 2. Understanding what few things are causing the biggest problems 

Step 3. Adjusting ONLY those few things 

Step 4. Measuring the impact and recognizing the 80% improvement 

Lemme give you a few examples: 

This past year we had a very real team issue within No Pants. Low performance. Not achieving our goals. Toxicity. 

Instead of firing the entire team and shutting down certain income streams (all or nothing approach), we only had to change one person. 

The result? 

High performing team. Results. Achieving our goals. 

Why? 

95% of the toxicity, drama, and low-performance issues came from 5% of the team (in our case, the one person... also, 95/5 is the 80/20 of 80/20 which is the same thing as saying: what's the 20% of the 20%?) 

Another example: 

This past year I was feeling a TON of stress from client work. Anxiety. Depression. No more passion. I wanted to shut down an entire income stream in my business. 

Instead of blowing it all up, self-sabotaging, chasing shiny objects and running myself in circles... I fired one client. 

Just one client. 

The result? 

I fell back in love with that part of the business. 

Why? 

Because 95% of the drama was coming from 5% of my clients (in this case, just one person again). 

This process plays out in EVERYTHING you do in life and business. 

Funnel not working? 

Don't scrap the whole thing, find out the 20% that's broken, fix it, and you'll have solved 80% of the reason it's not working. 

Fallen out of love with your business? 

That's probably not true. You probably just need to fix 20% of what you're doing and it'll be something you enjoy again. 

etc. etc. etc. 

The point is: 

Most of the things that make us miserable, unhappy, confused, frustrated, etc. is easier to solve than it seems. 

We falsely believe we have to solve EVERYTHING in order for it to bring us what we want. Rarely the case. Finding that 20% that brings the 80% of pain/anxiety/frustration/confusion and fixing it will bring you the same general result and feeling as if you'd tried to fix it all perfectly. 

It takes a lot less effort and time too. 

If you haven't much exposure to the 80/20 rule or you'd like a more in-depth analysis with plenty of real-world examples of this principle at work, I recommend you read the Richard Koch book The 80/20 Principles: The Secret To Achieving More With Less. It's a good primer for exploring the concept.