math bomb in 1% better

I wasn’t on my company’s top 10 list this year. I wasn’t even in the top 20%. I’ve become part of the 80%, the underperforming, the rest, the also ran. Not even the consideration mention, or most improved, most helpful or most congenial, surely not that. No round of applause. No accolades or acknowledgements from my peers. Just visibly absent from the list.
No one else cares or even notices.
The empty space is a manifestation of my performance which is a testimony of my nonchalant attitude and lapsed protestant work ethic. I’m ok with that. I’m just coasting, enjoying life.
I’m not wallowing in self pity. I barely gave it a second thought when the email arrived in the middle of Sunday afternoon. I only think of it now that I sit down to write my morning words.
I’ve long been a believer of the 80/20 rule. In many things, 20% of x accounts for 80% of y. 20% of clients account for 80% of revenue. 20% of activity will account for 80% of results. 20% of your employees will do 80% of the work. 20% of the salespeople will make 80% of the sales. You get the idea.
But it turns out that idea is only partly accurate. It’s too basic. A better formula might be the square root of the number. That means 100 is 10 and 50 is 7 and 1000 is 32. Rounding up for good performance.

The structure of a city (lets say) is made up by its neighbourhoods. This is tangible. However, you also have to add the intangible elements, which add mass and make neighbourhoods and cities greater. The whole thing, everything is many times greater than the parts. It’s not linear. It’s logarithmic. Linear, like 80/20 is too simplistic.