It isn't enough to think outside the box. Thinking is passive. Get used to acting outside the box.
Tim FerrissRead
Which 20% of sources are causing 80% of my problems and unhappiness? Which 20% of sources are resulting in 80% of my desired outcomes and happiness?
Interpretation
What this quote means
Identify the key sources of your problems and successes to improve your happiness.
Tim Ferriss's quote highlights the principle of the Pareto Principle, or the 80/20 rule, which indicates that a small percentage of causes often lead to the majority of effects. By analyzing and recognizing which 20% of sources contribute to a significant portion of your problems and successes, you can focus on eliminating negative influences and amplifying positive outcomes in your life.
Themes
80/20 PrincipleHappinessProblemsSuccessSources
In practice
Example use cases
During a workshop on productivity, to encourage participants to evaluate their work processes, I could use this quote.
More from Tim Ferriss
All quotes →The way we measure productivity is flawed. People checking their BlackBerry over dinner is not the measure of productivity.
Tim FerrissRead
It's just astonishing to me, but not surprising in some respects, how dependent we are on the somewhat meaningless and certainly ephemeral feedback that we get from strangers on the Internet. I think that's a dangerous dependence to develop.
Tim FerrissRead
I always point people to the article '1,000 True Fans' by Kevin Kelly. If you choose your thousand ideal customers or readers properly and find the single author blog that targets that audience, you never have to do any more marketing. You're done. That is a lesson that very few product developers and marketers have learned, and it's unfortunate.
Tim FerrissRead
By using money as the scapegoat and work as our all-consuming routine, we are able to conveniently disallow ourselves to do otherwise: 'John, I'd love to talk about the gaping void I feel in my life, the hopelessness that hits me like a punch in the eye every time I start my computer in the morning, but I have so much work to do! I've got at least three hours of unimportant email to reply to before calling prospects who said 'no' yesterday. Gotta run!
Tim FerrissRead
Being busy is a form of laziness - lazy thinking and indiscriminate action. Being busy is most often used as a guise for avoiding the few critically important but uncomfortable actions.
Tim FerrissRead
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