80/20 Rule Are You Above Average?

If asked, most people consider themselves above average in most areas. There are many studies demonstrating people feel this way, like the survey of college professors where 94% of them indicated they do above average work. Statistically, it’s impossible that 94% of any population is above average, like in the fictional town of Lake Wobegon, where all of the kids were above average.

You would think an educated group of college professors would understand the statistical impossibility of the majority of them being superior, but the human trait of illusory superiority leads people to view themselves as more capable than they really are.

Although fundamentally we can’t all be above average, there are predictable ways in which groups are divided. Most populations are divided according to Pareto’s principle, otherwise known at the 80-20 rule.

As I’ve written about before, Pareto’s principle says that for most things, 80% of the results come from 20% of the effort. This theory has been proven over and over to be true across many applications. This theory was used to explain the 20% of the richest people in the world who account for 80% of all global income. This generally holds true for athletes, income, students, employees or any measurable statistic among a group of people.

Put more harshly, 20% are winners, while 80% are losers.

Using that language, what is it that distinguishes the winners from the losers? Do winners have access to information the losers don’t? In our modern world, most everyone has the same information—there are very few secrets anymore. Fit people do not have weight loss secrets fat people don’t have. Rich people are not blessed with any secret techniques inaccessible to the poor.

In fact, the blueprints to almost anything are available for free at libraries. Most highly accomplished people in all fields have biographies describing their path to success, and if you pay close enough attention, they all have three things in common.

1. First they choose – High achievers simply choose which group they belong to. They do not wait for anyone else to anoint them with elite status. They know that will never come, so they simply appoint themselves to the 20% group.
2. They take responsibility – Winners know they are 100% responsible for their own success or failure, while losers often view themselves as victims of someone or something. The twenty-percenters know that as long as they are responsible for their success, or failure, they maintain control and thus can decide their own fate.
3. They think and behave like winners – It’s impossible to belong to the 20% group while hanging on to any of the thoughts or behaviors of the 80%. Winners model winners.

Earl Nightingale summarized these three behaviors wonderfully when he said, “If you had no successful example to follow, in whatever endeavor you choose, you may simply look at what everyone else around you is doing and do the opposite, because—The majority is ALWAYS wrong.”

The majority is the 80%. Chose to be part of the 20%, realize it’s up to you and only you to make it happen, and think and act like they do. If you do, you’ll always be above average in whatever you chose to.

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