The 80% Rule and Mediocrity
One of my interests outside of teaching is music, specifically playing the guitar. Actually, I play guitar, bass, and am attempting to learn the Dobro as well. I like bluegrass music and am working on playing all the instruments in the band, I suppose.
I read blogs and articles about music and playing the guitar, and found some articles by Jamie Andreas. I’m not sure who Andreas is, but here’s a quote from an article that just smacks of truth to me:
It is relatively easy to achieve about 80% of anything. It is relatively easy to develop ourselves to about 80% of proficiency in any field we may choose. If you want to become a computer programmer, a business person, own a restaurant, be a carpenter, be a musician, anything, you can study it, get experience, and become “functional.” Most people that bother to develop something useful (and most do, being forced as we are to “make a living”) achieve this level.
But to become really good, to start to rise above, and noticeably so, the average person doing what you do, THAT takes a whole different kind of effort, and a whole lot more of it. Most people do not do this in their particular field. Most people really are, when it comes down to it, content with doing what they “must,” and keeping their standards and goals low enough to avoid too much demand and discomfort. That is why the age-old lament of all employers is “you just can’t find good help anymore.” Yes, because the #1 goal of most people is to DO as little as possible and GET as much as possible. That is the formula for mediocrity.
To put it simply, it is easy to be mediocre, that is why so many people are achieving it
I first became aware of the 80% rule from read Scott Adams’s blog–he’s the author of the Dilbert cartoons–and I think there’s a great deal of truth to it. It’s easy to be mediocre, but to be good, or excellent, takes a lot of work. Getting back to Andreas’s article:
Closing in on that last 20%, well, that separates the men from the boys, as they say. Here is the thing to understand: every step forward and upward required to move past the common crowd will most likely require as much as ALL the effort previously put out. The higher we climb, the more we must exert for every inch gained, but every inch is precious, and worth more than everything before it. The gap between 99% to 100% is, in fact, infinite. Yes, the real polish, the real excellence, comes only to those deeply committed to it.
I think about this in relation to playing the guitar, being a student, or being a teacher, and I’m certain of the truth in it.
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