Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.
Bill Gates
We assume being a top performer requires a tremendous amount of time and effort. But cracking the 80th percentile of performance is easier than we think.
To be in the 80th percentile of performance we need to give 80% effort 80% of the time. 10% of the time will require more than that and the other 10% will require less than that.
Being in the 80th percentile is difficult but attainable. If we dedicate enough time and effort, we can break into the top 20% of performers in just about any pursuit.
Becoming Remarkable
Progressing beyond the 80th percentile requires significantly more time and energy. It takes the same amount of effort to go from 0 to 80 as it does to go from 80 to 90 or from 90 to 95.
Becoming the best in the world requires lifelong dedication and discipline that’s difficult to describe in words, but becoming a top performer is surprisingly attainable. Showing up consistently and committing meaningful effort toward a worthwhile pursuit is all that’s required to become remarkable.
To the average person, the 80th percentile of performance in any pursuit is remarkable in the sense that others will feel compelled to comment on our performance. This level of performance carries the same level of satisfaction as the 90th percentile with half as much time and effort.
Even though impressive results in one area of life can be straightforward, we can’t be great at everything so we need to be careful with how we dedicate our time and energy.
Focusing Our Efforts
If we want to be a top performer across multiple areas of our lives then we can only dedicate our time to handful of worthwhile pursuits.
In addition to controlling our energy across multiple pursuits, we also need to control our effort within individual pursuits. 80% of the time will require 80% effort, but we need to learn when to rest and give less than 80% effort, and when to overexert ourselves and give more than 80% effort.
Resting every day means we won’t make any progress and going all-out every day means we’ll burn out. We need to balance the steady 80% of days with 10% recovery days to stay consistent, and 10% of the time we’ll need to give all-out-effort to take advantage of a unique opportunity.
Becoming a top performer in almost any pursuit for almost any person is easily achievable as long as we’re intentional and disciplined.
We need to choose the small number of worthwhile pursuits that are important to us, give 80% of our effort 80% of the time to build a sustainable base, and use our intuition the remaining 20% of the time to know when we need to redline and when we need to rest.
With this approach we can become a bit better each day until we become remarkable in the small number of pursuits that are most important to us.
Prompts
What are 2-3 pursuits in which you’d to become a top performer?
What does 80% effort 80% of the time look like for each of those pursuits?
How will you know when you need to rest and when you need to give 110% effort?
Deep Dive
A guide to becoming remarkable with deliberate effort instead of endless hours of work.
Thanks for reading! I’ll see you next Sunday.
Kevin