The 80% Approach

by Dan Sullivan

Taking all of the resources in your personal and work life to higher levels of productivity.

Genres: Business, Productivity, Personal Development, Nonfiction

49 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Dan has over 35 years’ experience as a highly regarded speaker, consultant, strategic planner, and coach to entrepreneurial individuals and groups.

He is author of over 40 publications, including The Wall Street Journal Bestseller: Who Not How, The Great Crossover, The 21st Century Agent, Creative Destruction, and How The Best Get Better®. He is co-author of The Laws of Lifetime Growth and The Advisor Century.

Dan is married to Babs Smith, his partner in business and in life. They jointly own and operate The Strategic Coach Inc., with offices in Toronto, Chicago, and the U.K. New workshops are also being held in Los Angeles and Vancouver. Dan and Babs reside in Toronto.

Reviews

[Mario Tomic · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book I've read so far on overcoming perfectionism and procrastination. The big idea of the book is that no matter how much you prepare for a task you're most likely to get it 80% done anyway because as you do the task you'll find new ideas how to improve it. It's really a great concept. The book was recommended to me recently by a very successful entrepreneur and I'm glad I've read it. Another thing, it's only about 40 pages and free to download so there's really no excuse not to go through this material. Highly recommended!

[Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Better than anyone I've read, Dan explains the debilitating affects of procrastination on one's confidence, and how an obsession with perfection leads to perpetual dissatisfaction. If there is a downside it is only that the solutions that Dan offers to better faster results are so simple and become so obvious after reading them that it's possible many will discount and ignore the message.

[Vansh]

"Perfectionism is the result of a mental obsession with achieving the “ideal”—as a minimum requirement—in all situations and areas of life. Procrastination results from the refusal to take action until an “ideal” result is guaranteed in every situation. These two habits almost always accompany each other. You seldom have one without the other."
Perfectionism represents "shoulds" not how things actually are. If one lives like this, perpetual dissatisfaction is likely.
Procrastination an insistence on guarantees before taking action. It causes guilt, undermines confidence, self-restrict opportunities and increase needless struggles.

1-If the task no matter the preparation, procrastination or focus is seen as only 80% 'good' then just focus on the 80%.
If procrastination is based on judging oneself on how well one does, then action is necessary as it expands our abilities and hence confidence in it. Procrastination just results in wasted time, energy, and adds guilt about not taking action. Preparation (a potential form of procrastination) without engagement results in a person having little sense of urgency or excitement. Again, if 80% will be the outcome, taking action immediately is the best thing to do and then you can focus on improvement.

2-When doing something new it's inherently impossible to attain 'perfection' or gain "100%" because the goalpost changes based on the information you get by engaging with the activity. Not to mention; 80% is all that's required... 80% of the times. Hell, your 80% is accepted as others' 100%- to make sourdough you don't need a century old starter with herbs, springwater, and unicorn dust. Making the sourdough itself would be impressive to most folks. Nobody cares for your 100% because 80% of the times, all one requires is good enough to push forward and quick as possible. The obsession with 100% is a bottleneck preventing one from eventually achieving 100%. Striving for 100% alone makes sense (even then so, in batches of 80%) but most things in life are a matter of teamwork.

3-See what each person is good at.
Skills (we're assuming they're static at time of task) can be put into 4 categories: incompetent (failure+frustration), competent (meet minimum standard with great effort), Excellent (superior skills, some passion, ease) and unique ability. Unique ability means you are great at it, enjoy it, are energized by it and your energy 'leaks' to others, and you keep getting better.
Doing 80% with your UA (unique ability) results in success+satisfaction in all areas of life. It can also help you identify what UA looks like in others and increase ability. Find your 80% UA contribution and work accordingly.

4-Procrastion=lowered individual confidence but also no teamwork
These two are reinforced by one another if not eliminated. Improvement in your specific areas of life always depends on improvement of teamwork and supporting one another. Procrastination is folly- always get the first 80% done ASAP. It results in increased self, and team confidence. It gives oneself a sense of achievement, progress and improvement. This will attract people of the same thinking and enable others to follow your own example.

5-Striving for 80% produces better result.
It is often larger, more higher quality than 100%. Demanding 100% means you'll be anxious and think of failure- resulting in lowered relaxing, focus and sleep along with higher strain and fatigue. These are just personal consequences; for the team it means you'll be over demanding, neglecting everyone else who isn't involved. All 3 of these problems result in worsened quality and speed along with perhaps second order consequences on teamwork, creativity, productivity, success, and satisfaction.
80% result is more natural, more powerful than going for 100%. 80% is like using the wind to sail a boat compared to paddling for hours on end. It increases your energy, allows space for creativity, confidence and maximises the team's unique abilities rather than overstretching them. 80% makes people feel and work better whereas 100% makes people isolated in their own fears.

6-Delegating the second 80% is powerful.
Here's how Mr. Sullivan's process has changed in writing the Quarterly-report. It generally has 6 parts. First-concept: he would procrastinate before committing to one as he wanted to be right. Now he chooses one and goes with it. Second-Outline: He'd take up a week to outline with great detail. Now he completes a rough outline in one hour. Third-layout: Previously took 15-20 hours doing it page-by-page with sometimes 3-4 drafts and lasting 3 days whilst the production team waited. Now he sees his graphic team's UA and sketches the layout on a single sheet of paper and gives it, taking at most 2 hours. Fourth-text: He'd take many weeks with as many as 5 drafts. Now he does the first draft ASAP, and his editors make the necessary corrections+refinements. An issue is now done in 12 hours, with it generating a better result and saving potentially half a month. And so on.
Point is, the way you contribute and allow others to contribute should have a team-based approach. As it makes it quicker and more effective.

7-Procrastination elimination=happier, more time, improves talent
Just eliminating all the procrastination from his side made the team process better. What can be done in ~4 days used to take 5-6 weeks. A positive urgency washes over the team with newfound sense of confidence and autonomy. Widely adopting the 80% approach means the energy and enthusiasm of every team member is raised. An ineffective team slows down the process but one without procrastination allows one to have more opportunities to improve and practice. Chronic negative emotions come (in the workplace) come from habitual perfectionism in daily life or procrastination in dealing with these situations. One's psychology and emotionality will improve if this approach is adopted.

8-More profit, more enjoyment
If perfectionism led to higher performance it may've been useful to pursue but does it? What could've been fun turns into intimidating. The idea that nothing you can do, say, or think will match the titans of old is antithetical to growth. The entire purpose of giving these ideas was to make you like them. By adopting this in your daily life you'll enjoy yourself and outperform all perfectionists you encounter.

Practical tips: Be clear and confident with any new project and why it's important to you. Focus on achieving three 80% tasks at a day (anything more is bonus). Do everything well enough but also quickly so that you can delegate the rest. No reason to have meetings unless someone has done an 80% initiative others can contribute towards. Ask 'why' if you're ever stuck and eliminate the crap which makes it feel like obligation rather than positive commitment. Find ways to get the ball rolling. Find like-minded people.

[Paul Bard · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sort of a long blog entry with one idea and lots of reasons for it. I’ve no idea how or when it ended up on my kindle.

Basic idea: entrepreneurs eschew both procrastination and perfectionism by completing 80% of a project.

Huh then.

So be a C+ student. Be good-enough. You may as well, because you get the same results anyway.

That’s it.

[EC]

my dad made me read this.

[Christina Zugno · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's okay.

I love a straightforward short read, and this is very much that. My main issue with this book is it's pretty repetitive on the 80% approach and it's uses. It discusses procrastination and perfectionism in a very pessimistic lens and reepeats how the 80% principle is a solution to all human problems. That's a pretty big claim.

That being said I do understand the fundemental idea behind this. Your 80% will be precieved as 100% to others is very true. It's the idea that by just executing a project, even if you know it won't be perfect, is better then not starting at all.

I aalso totally agree with the notion that focusing on 100% does lead to burn out and mental fatigue in the long run - even leading down a road of lack of self-confidence on ones ability. Overall the principle itself is great.

I just wish there was more explanation into what the 80% principle is and what the extra 80% after 80% is. That concept could be flushed out a bit more for readers to fully grasp.

[Muwaffaq Salti · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very short book. Nothing wrong with that. His approach to moving fast and aiming for 80 per cent of your goal or project is essentially a psychological trick to get you to take action without making perfect plans and wasting time on perfect strategy. It is a very good and easy system indeed and I do think it will make a tremendous difference to people who are in the habit of procrastinating. Learning by doing is the fastest way to success IMO and this is a learning by doing strategy. Initially I was going to give it 4 stars as it is such a simple concept and the book is so short, but given the amount of self-help books that I read that are incredibly long winded and repetitive and are not imparting large volumes of wisdom to match their length, I decided that brevity and simplicity were a virtue worthy of 5 stars.

[Mark Manderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 80% diagram shows our first attempt at anything yields roughly 80% good enough no matter how hard we try so this helps us eliminate perfectionism. 

Therefore do the first run of 80% as quickly as possible as most often its good enough. 

If need another 80% run on the project then look to execute quickly! 
THIS SECOND RUN TAKES US FROM 80% TO 96% QUALITY! 
2 MENTAL HABITS THAT PARALYZE:
Perfectionism (unable to make decision and commit). 
Procrastination (refusal to take action until ideal is guaranteed). 

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick help for chronic perfectionists

Very short book that covers the material very effectively.

It provides a quick, incisive framework to help unblock you from perfectionism and procrastination.

I do think it over-reaches a bit in parts. And sometimes the author makes it seem like the concept will revolutionize humanity.

But in the whole, it's well worth the read. Highly recommend.

[Fanni Melles · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 80% approach is very useful and I personally need to work on my own - being a perfectionist and, eventually, a procrastinator. Thank you very much for summarising the concept and its advantages, I really needed this!

[Christopher Armani · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book to read once every six months. Simple concepts, yet in the midst of perfectionism and procrastination it's so easy to forget the answer is embodied in a single word: start.

[Gabriel · Rating 5 out of 5]

first audiobook :)

[Demetrius]

Terrific, challenging, insightful, and seemingly life-changing :)

[Marcelo Campos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Não li ainda!

[Zsombor Zsuffa · Rating 5 out of 5]

By reading this book it is the shortest time you can bring an tremendous improvement in your efficiency.

[Nancy Handler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life changing!

[Jose Amezcua · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great short book. 80% is good enough. Stop thinking and take action! Forget perfection! Start now!!!