The Vital Few and The Useful Many

You may not have heard of Pareto’s 80/20 theory, but you have seen it in action. According to Wikipedia, “The Pareto principle states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.” Pareto’s principal was later adopted by business-management consultant Joseph M. Juran who coined the term “The vital few and useful many” which has developed into “the vital few and trivial many”. This theory has become a common rule of thumb in business.

Roar

Writing my first article to be published online was a daunting task. It has long been something I have wanted to do but am stopped by self-doubt. What will I write about? Why would anyone want to read what I have to say?  What if it's boring? In the past, those thoughts would be enough for me to redirect my efforts to less challenging pursuits.  

Recently, I watched the movie The Secret. I know this movie has been around awhile and really is no secret: however, it was new to me. One of the narrators quoted E. L. Doctorow who said “writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” This was an AH-HA moment for me.  While driving, I never fear what is in front of me won’t be illuminated as I progress forward. So now I apply this same certainty to my writing. Travel forward and the path will reveal itself, and an article is created, step by step. I celebrated my feeling of accomplishment by challenging myself further. I published it on my Facebook account for all of my friends and family to see and comment. 

Many years ago, I was a young divorced mother of two girls ages one and three. We rented a cute little house with a big front yard perfect for the girls to play on. The only problem with this perfect yard was that the grass kept growing.  The house came equipped with a lawn mower. It was not a push mower, which I was fairly certain I could handle. It was a power mower which is something I had never used.  I was a woman with a mission. I had children that wanted to play in the yard. I pulled the starter string, nothing. I pulled it again, nothing. And then I remembered.  I had watched my father mow the yard many, many times over the years. Being an inquisitive child, I always asked questions.  “Why do you push that button Dad?”  Why? Because it primed the engine with gas so it could start. Did I understand that then? No. Did it make sense now, yes! I found the button. I pulled the string and it started. It was a simple as that. I was so proud of myself that I started singing “I am woman hear me Roar” over the roar of the motor. 

So what is the moral of my story? The assignment was challenging. I took some lessons from the past and some more recently learned: Put your mind to it, believe in your ability, and have faith that the path will reveal itself as you travel forth on your journey.

Musings of a Budding Virtual Office Professional

 I'm very excited to announce the publication of my first online Article Musings of a Budding Virtual Office Professional published on HubPages. There was a helpful link to add my article to my Blogger account Musings of a Budding Virtual Office Professional.