Art Of Money

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I’m not 100% clear of the point I’m trying to make with this post so you may be in for a tangent or two…I’m hoping it will work out well in the end.

The famous 80/20 rule…in case you don’t know it…it goes something like this:

20% of your efforts will produce 80% of your results

It goes beyond that into many things but that’s the gist of it and all we need to know for this discussion.

I know the 80/20 rule is basically true. My theory is also that it is more of a sliding exponential scale. What I mean by this is that within the 20% of things that you can do that are most productive there is a range of things that go from somewhat productive to the 1% that are magically productive.

My question is, since the 80/20 principle seems fairly intuitive, why don’t I, or we all for that matter, work in the 20% or better yet the 1%, that will produce the best results?

This week I’ve been working on my first real product as an attempt to diversify my business and get a notch higher on the Internet business food chain and I’m getting to see why so many [myself included] are not working at maximum effectiveness.

It’s easier to be ineffective.

Being anonymous and ineffective is easier. As I work on my first product I’m seeing that the potential of being at the top of the food chain is much higher, but so is the emotional intelligence required to be there.

Some common thoughts I’m facing as I go through the process:

“What if it sucks?”

“What if no one buys it?”

“What if you don’t really know what you’re talking about?”

“What if no one can understand you?”

“What if there is no market for what you’re trying to sell?”

These thoughts really are painful while I’m trying to work! And those are just the ones in my own head…I’m sure I had better be ready to hear them for real once the product is released.

Wanting to move up the food chain is a noble goal but the opposition is great. What is interesting to me is the the opposition is all inside my own head! Call it childhood programming or whatever, but I’ve been conditioned to stay right where I’m at on the social-economic ladder.

Working on the 1% that can move me up the ladder is confronting a generations old conditioning that has kept me in the realm of the exploited masses rather than the wealthy.

There’s a reason why you and I are not working in the 20% or the 1% that could really make a difference in our lives.

For me the reason is that I’m holding on to what is safe and known rather than what is growing and alive. The cost of moving up the ladder, for me, may be to experience ridicule or failure, before I get to my goals. Will it be worth it?

Even experiencing ridicule and failure without achieving my goals would be worth it, because at least then I’d be free of the power they have to alter the course of my actions.

I just wanted to share some of the thoughts that have been coming up inside me as I continue to work in a new way on my Internet business. It’s my hope that you’ll begin to take responsibility for your own financial position and to move into more powerful ways of working and to gently let the issues that you face rise up into your consciousness and gradually lose their power.

The real 1% work is done in your own way of being, by moving through the inner barriers that we have put in place to hold us back and limit our experiences.

Take care,

Jon