The 80/20 Rule: How It Can Transform Your Beliefs and Your Life

We’ve all heard of the famous 80/20 rule. Known as the Pareto principle, it’s a useful tool for prioritizing activities, allocating resources, and mastering time management. It’s often used to illustrate how efforts and consequences are usually not distributed evenly. For instance, 20 percent of workers produce 80 percent of the output, 20 percent of customers create 80 percent of the revenue, and 20 percent of salespeople generate 80 percent of the results.

Examples are endless — 20 percent of criminals commit 80 percent of crimes, 20 percent of earners pay 80 percent of taxes, and so on. It’s not science, but it’s uncannily accurate.

One of my personal 80/20 insights was that 80 percent of my goals came true by merely writing them down (the other 20 percent happen through hard work and perseverance). So, Pareto applies to many areas of human endeavor. And although it’s only approximate, the 80/20 rule supports a simple and effective view of life. 

80/20 Rule and Your Beliefs

Now, allow me to propose another, perhaps shocking, application:

80 percent of everything I believe is wrong, misleading, and potentially harmful. That leaves about 20 percent of what I believe as being correct, truthful, and beneficial.

Surprised? I was! The discovery that my negative, erroneous thinking (80 percent) was eclipsing my positive, correct thinking (20 percent) is based on two deductions:

• Eighty percent of what I believe today is based in the past — from either my parents or my peer groups, and does not accurately serve who I intend to be.

• The beliefs and opinions that control my decisions and actions in this present moment were mostly formed years ago. And not by me!

For better or worse, outside forces in our distant past shape our lives. As a mature and mindful adult, the idea that 80 percent of my current beliefs originated decades ago (via parents, teachers, peers, etc.) is troubling. But science backs it up. Much of who we are is set in our earliest developmental years, before age three. As our brain keeps developing through age 18, we’re shaped by our environment.

Reflecting on these insights compels me to consciously ask myself in the moment, “Where is this thought or belief coming from? Is this what I truly think about the subject — or is it a conditioned response from deep in my past? Am I simply reacting unconsciously on cue like Pavlov’s dog?” What is truly me and what is just learned behavior I acquired by osmosis?

Unpacking Your Beliefs

One way I preserve and prioritize my own true beliefs is to intentionally reduce my exposure to negativity and group thinking. As a result, I’ve stopped viewing TV news and reading the paper. Most folks consider it normal to ingest a daily dose of the latest crises, scandals, murders, and injustice before dinner. My concern is that the bad news will shape my beliefs and my world view. 

Instead of relying on mass media to shape my thought life, I’ve developed the habit of beginning and ending each day with inspirational input. For example, I’m currently reading The Power of Beliefs in Business by Ari Weinzweig. Written by my friend and mentor, this groundbreaking book gives me a new lens to view the world and challenges me to question my beliefs:

• Is what I am thinking and how I am interpreting events based on my beliefs in the present — or something I was exposed to in the past?

• Is this belief giving me energy and serving my bigger future — or limiting who I am and where I intend to go?

• Is this thought pattern feeding my soul and greater purpose — or is it limiting my intended contribution to the world?

The other book that dives deep in this subject is Adam Grant’s Think Again. He suggests that the cognitive skills we need to develop are the ability to rethink and unlearn. He challenges us to let go of views that are no longer serving us well and dissect our beliefs, striving for mental flexibility over the comfort of conviction.

Each day is an opportunity to start fresh. But only if my practices and processes are designed to create healthy beliefs and overwrite the old code inside my brain. Remember, 80 percent of what we know or believe is probably wrong, outdated, prejudiced, biased, pessimistic, or harmful. The key question to ask ourselves is: Exactly who is in charge right now, me or my past?

This awareness that my repetitive thinking and responses are preprogramed from long ago is unsettling. Until reading books on this subject, I assumed I was on a journey of growth and maturity — an upward trajectory of thoughts not dictated by my past, but rather, independently developed through my unique experiences.  However, I now see more and more how my parents and my past experiences predicated my current choices and actions. I have traveled far on this life journey, but there is so much more development in front of me. The best place to start is to respectfully put the past behind me. 

The concept of monitoring and managing which beliefs serve us versus those that don’t is not new. Earl Nightingale (whom I credit for much of who I am today) referred to this early in his writing: “We become what we think about.”  We may agree with that intellectually, but how many times have you caught yourself asking, “What the heck was I thinking?” This happens when our thoughts are deeply rooted in our subconscious, and the deepest of all were established when we were very young. As adults, the only way to change this pattern is by the repeated application of a new set of beliefs to rewrite the old code. 

Your Beliefs and Retirement

This brings me to my passion — helping people Replace Retirement with Intentional Living. Whether you excel or not in your second half hinges on the question: Whose belief is it that we should retire at 65? Was retirement engrained in society over thousands of years? No. Was retirement taught by the great religions over millennia? No. The beliefs we now have about retirement are byproducts of the Industrial Revolution and served a political and economic agenda of the 19th century — not us in the 21st. 

I ask you, does what you believe about retirement serve your highest purpose and enhance the world you live in? Or is it old, leftover thinking designed to get you off the road and quietly stored away because you no longer have value?  

I believe we should Replace Retirement with Intentional Living, and I invite you to challenge your beliefs and the paradigms. The possibilities are endless and I hope you’ll join me in this exciting adventure!