BEWARE OF THE 80/20 RULE - LET YOUR SECRET BE YOUR SECRET

How many times have you given up on an idea which you had believed in because someone had told you it won't work? How many times have you been scoffed at when you put a point across which no one else had thought of before? Are you someone who is internally referenced (derives confidence and satisfaction from your own judgement) or externally referenced (confidence and satisfaction gained from the feedback of others)? If you haven't heard of the 80/20 rule before it's time I shared it with you.

The 80/20 rule insinuates that 20% of people achieve 80% of what they set out to do while 80% only achieve 20%. This rule sheds light on why a lot of our ideas never seem to make it past the inception stage as soon as we share it with somebody else. There is a higher probability that you would run your idea past someone who achieves very little in life and have therefore developed a negative attitude to getting out of their comfort zones and taking risks.

It is therefore important that we keep our ideas to ourselves or seek out people who could help you develop the ideas further or at least encourage us to pursue it instead of giving up without trying.

I had a funny experience while working for the biggest building society in the UK. In one of our management training sessions, the Personnel manager who was facilitating a session on innovation commented to one of my colleagues that all the ideas she came up with in the session were either tried and tested or seemed far-fetched. To which my colleague classically responded: "You wouldn't know innovation if it bit you in the leg. You'd probably call it far-fetched".

Due to my knowledge of the 80/20 rule, it would take someone of the calibre of Richard Branson, or 50 Cent or Barack Obama to knock my idea...and that would be after I've tried and exhausted a lot of options.

As an individual I am ultimately responsible for myself. Therefore, I give myself the highest regard in evaluating my ideas, better than anyone else. I would much rather prefer to try something and fail than not to try at all because someone didn't think it was a good idea. Especially as there is a significant chance that the person belongs to the 80% of little achievers. I wouldn't want someone else's take on life and their experiences to be the main determinant in how I live my life.

Therefore, if I was given one shot at advising anyone I know, it would be to keep your ideas to yourself and only share with those who have a track record of achievement. So, if you do not succeed, you'd know it's not because you gave up on your stool.