The 80-20 Learner E-Book

Peter Hollins

• Herausgeber: WS
• Kategorie: Ratgeber
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 155

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

Figure out what you need, focus on that, and ignore the rest. That's the actual key to success in life.
Learning can be OVERWHELMING. So much info, so little time. But what matters? What will actually help you get an A+ grade, or take you to the next promotion? Read this book.
Find the 20% of knowledge that will contribute to 80% of your performance. Easily.
The 80-20 Learner will force you to dramatically change the way you approach learning. It will help you dissect all of your knowledge and materials, and then ruthlessly cut them down until you find only what is necessary. And that's what will take you to the next level. In this book, learn how to embody an 80-20 Pareto mindset in all the learning and skill acquisition that you do, and how you can make more progress in weeks than others can in years.
Efficiency -> measurable by months and years. It really all adds up.
Peter Hollins has studied psychology and peak human performance for over a dozen years and is a bestselling author. He has worked with a multitude of individuals to unlock their potential and path towards success. His writing draws on his academic, coaching, and research experience.
Skip the frustration and focus on the real factors that matter. Stop wasting your time!
- the 85% rule and how it actually works together with the 80-20 rule
- how to hone in on your current knowledge set and then fuse that new with information to skyrocket your learning speed
- how to teach yourself with a ruthless minimalist mindset and prevent uselessness from creeping in
- learning to evaluate your learning processes to isolate the exact factor to keep or throw away
- how to memorize just about anything with minimalist 80-20 approaches

Leseprobe

Peter Hollins

The 80-20 Learner

Shortcuts to Fluency, Knowledge, Skills, and Mastery

The 80-20 Learner: Shortcuts to Fluency, Knowledge, Skills, and Mastery

By Peter Hollins,

Author and Researcher at petehollins.com

< < CLICK HERE for your FREE 14-PAGE MINIBOOK: Human Nature Decoded: 9 Surprising Psychology Studies That Will Change the Way You Think. > >

--Subconscious Triggers -- Emotional Intelligence -- Influencing and Analyzing People

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Living an 80/20 Life

What 80/20 Learning Really Means

The Eighty-five Percent Rule

The Shortcut to Skills Acquisition

The Framework of Efficiency

Chapter 2: Keep Things Lean

What You Already Know Is the Key

Become Your Own Minimalist Teacher

Minimizing Information Overload

Chapter 3: Learning to Learn

The Five-Hour Rule

The Aha! and the Huh?

Learning Techniques: What Works, What Doesn’t

Set Your Own Learning Standard

Chapter 4: The 80/20 Rule Can Solve Problems

How to Evaluate Your Learning Experiences

Overcoming Learning Plateaus

Problem-Solving with Pareto Analysis

Chapter 1: Living an 80/20 Life

In 1941, engineer and management consultant Joseph M. Juran became interested in the work of Vilfredo Pareto, an Italian economist and sociologist. Pareto had observed that around eighty percent of all land in Italy was owned by just twenty percent of the Italian population. It was Juran who took this observation and really ran with it, though, claiming that most things in life, not just property ownership, have this kind of unequal distribution. He claimed that eighty percent of any outcome or phenomenon is actually the result of just twenty percent of the causes. Juran applied this so-called Pareto principle to many different areas, including economics, mathematics, and industry.

The principle has since been expanded even further to help describe and prescribe a certain mode of distribution in all matters of business, learning, and personal development. Later in his career, Juran himself would use this principle in many loose and ad hoc ways, describing his principle not so much as a law but rather a description of a certain distribution, where "the vital few and the useful many" share unequally in a certain phenomenon. He eventually concluded that we could use this principle to our benefit; for example, we naturally become more efficient if we purposefully focus on the “vital” twenty percent instead of the much-less-vital eighty percent.

Today the Pareto principle as it is applied in popular culture is only distantly related to Pareto’s original work, but has come nevertheless to represent an important truth about how we can strategically focus our attention for maximum results no matter which area we are working in. Thus it follows that given limited resources, we should prioritize focusing on that twenty percent of our situation that will give us the most “bang for our buck.” Of course, the challenge then becomes identifying that twenty percent!

The principle can be applied very concretely to specific issues or to more abstract, overarching concepts. However it’s applied, the idea is that by making consistent small efforts in the vital twenty percent, one can achieve substantial success, whether your goal is mastery of an instrument or a language, personal development, or growing a business.

The 80/20 principle is everywhere:

•      Customer service may spend eighty percent of all their time managing just twenty percent of customer complaints.

•      Eighty percent of health care funds are spent on twenty percent of people in a population.

•      Eighty percent of a business’s sales come from twenty percent of its clients.

•      Eighty percent of people tend to use only twenty percent of a phone app’s features.

•      Twenty percent of software bugs cause eighty percent of all errors.

•      People wear twenty percent of their clothes eighty percent of the time.

•      Twenty percent of the exercises we do have eighty percent of the impact on our health.

•      Analyzing and solving just twenty percent of emerging issues will remove eighty percent of your problems.

•      Twenty percent of our relationships satisfy eighty percent of our social needs.

•      To be healthy, we need only eat well eighty percent of the time, can “cheat” twenty percent of the time.

The focus of this book is to find out exactly how we can use this principle when it comes to learning, improving skills, absorbing new information, and boosting memory. Can this principle help us make the best of our skills and strengths? Can it improve our focus and help us stay lean, minimal, and on track? Basically, can it help us learn better?

The answer is absolutely YES!

However, there is a caveat: This 80/20 principle has been much misunderstood since the 1940s, and today the concept is often carelessly applied to situations that don’t really warrant it. Many things in life follow this distribution pattern—but not all things. That’s why one skill we’ll return to again and again in this book is thinking carefully and strategically about how to apply the principle—and indeed whether to apply it at all.

What 80/20 Learning Really Means

It's important to note that the 80/20 rule is a guideline and not a strict mathematical law. The percentages of causes and effects do not necessarily add up to one hundred percent, and the exact figures may vary. The rule merely highlights the imbalanced ratio of effort to results. Furthermore, it doesn't mean that the remaining eighty percent is insignificant or should be ignored. The key is not really to cheat, but rather to find real ways to be more efficient and avoid wasting time on actions that bring only modest satisfaction. The aim is to work smarter rather than harder.

Imagine a student is trying to work their way through an assignment—they’ve been asked to read five long academic journal articles, but the problem is, they have very little time and need to find a way to do it fast. What’s the best thing to do? The 80/20 principle might help them decide that hidden in the pages and pages of data is the most important and essential information—let’s say around twenty percent of the total word count. They guess that this info will most likely be contained in the abstracts and concluding paragraphs, and possibly in the figures and diagram. So, they read these bits first. Then, if they have time, they later read the remaining eighty percent. They’ve successfully applied the 80/20 principle to make their lives easier but also work with limited resources—in this case their time.

But consider another student, who is trying to do the bare minimum to get the highest grade possible in that course. This student knows that their final grade is what matters, and that this is mostly coming from the score on the final exam. They conclude that since eighty percent of their results on this course are coming from twenty percent of the work (i.e., the exam), they should focus exclusively on “learning the exam” and ignore the practical exercises, student discussions, and additional readings. They do this and earn around a seventy percent mark on the exam (which is only a B grade!) but promptly forget the little they’ve learned because their entire process has been shallow and rushed. They passed the exam, but so what? They learned little. Is this truly the most “productive” way to go about things?

These two examples show us that the 80/20 principle is a helpful starting point, but it’s really about helping us think more clearly about:

•      What the most important task is

•      What our absolute limits are

•      What our goals are

•      What our priority is—and what we don’t really care about

Essentially, the 80/20 principle is all about cultivating discernment. When we are discerning, we are able to clearly see through noise and distraction and identify the material, actions, choices, issues, or outcomes that are genuinely the most pivotal. It’s about focus and deliberation and avoiding waste and error.

Remember that originally, Pareto simply observed that land ownership was unequally distributed. However, this doesn’t mean that knowing this allowed him to predict who would be rich in the future and who would own land. It also told him nothing of why land was distributed that way, or how it might be changed. In other words, his law was purely descriptive.

In the same way, knowing that twenty percent of your products will make you eighty percent of your total product doesn’t magically grant you the power to know which products those will be! In other words, knowing that there are powerful and disproportionate causes doesn’t mean you are any better at identifying them. It also doesn’t mean you instantly understand how to solve the most impactful problems, even if you can identify them.

Sadly, in life there is no “cheat code” that can spare us effort and hard work, but we can apply the 80/20 principle, along with other necessary elements:

•      Willingness to constantly observe and update—progress is iterative and evolves over time

•      Willingness to pay attention to process, rather than just being carried along by default habits

•      The ability to constantly trim away at waste and excess

•      The ability to think about our thinking and learn about our learning—i.e., metacognition

The 80/20 rule is powerful—but it needs to be applied intelligently.

Studying and Learning

When applied to being a student, the principle tells us that a significant portion of your success can be attributed to a smaller portion of your total efforts. For example, roughly twenty percent of your studying efforts and time may result in eighty percent of your exam success. The rest of your efforts may have only marginal impact on the outcome (“useful” but not “vital”).

Understanding this principle helps you identify the key inputs that have the most impact and allows you to focus and optimize them. By recognizing that a small portion of what you learn in class covers the majority of your exam content, you can prioritize and concentrate on that crucial information. Similarly, you may find that eighty percent of your study time is spent on only twenty percent of the materials you're studying, indicating that you can allocate your time more efficiently by focusing on the most relevant and impactful subjects.

Applying the 80/20 rule in education enables you to avoid wasting resources on less productive activities and instead invest your time and efforts into the areas that yield the greatest results. You can apply the 80/20 concept to the material you’re learning, but also to the methods and techniques you’re using to learn that material, for example:

Step 1: Create a list of ten study methods

Think about the various techniques you typically use for studying, such as reading material repeatedly, using productivity tools like the Pomodoro technique, taking notes, or highlighting keywords. List these methods, and if you feel you have fewer than ten, explore and adopt additional strategies that suit your needs.

Step 2: Analyze, compare, and rank the methods

Evaluate each method based on factors like ease of use, time consumption, and studying results. Determine which methods provide a better understanding of the material in less time and note them down. Similarly, identify methods that are time-consuming without yielding significant results. After analyzing and comparing, rank the methods based on their effectiveness and efficiency.

Step 3: Identify the top two methods

From the ranked list, select the two methods that consistently deliver the best results for you. These two methods will be the primary focus of your studying. It’s important to let go of the other eight methods for now and concentrate solely on these two. By using these two methods consistently, you can accelerate your learning process and achieve better outcomes in a shorter period compared to utilizing other methods.

Reading

Reading a book in its entirety can be a daunting task, especially when faced with a busy schedule or a long reading list. However, by applying the 80/20 principle and adopting a strategic approach, you can extract the most valuable insights while optimizing your reading time. 

The principle can be applied like this: Eighty percent of the factual value in a book can be gleaned from twenty percent of its content.

You can guess the limits to this, however. There is no way to adequately “summarize” fiction—in the same way you don’t just watch the first and last five minutes of a movie to get the gist! But the 80/20 rule works well with books that are purely data-based—for example, manuals and textbooks.

Prioritize and skim: Start by reading the conclusion or last chapter of the book to understand the author's main arguments or conclusions. Then skim through the entire last chapter to grasp the overall message. This will give you a clear idea of what the author is trying to establish.

Highlight key passages: As you read, use colored pens to highlight key passages that encapsulate the main arguments or provide excellent examples. Look for the overall structure and outline of the book (reading the contents page can help) to get an overview of the material. This not only helps you retain important information but also allows for easy reference in the future. By focusing on these highlighted sections, you can reread the book much faster without going through the entire thing.

Selectively explore: After reading the conclusion and skimming the last chapter, read the introduction to understand the author's intentions and where they are heading. Dip into the rest of the book selectively based on your interests and needs. You can choose to read only the chapters relevant to your objectives, such as finding evidence or gathering examples, or you may decide to explore specific chapters that contain original and highly interesting material.

This approach allows you to save time and focus on the most valuable parts of the book. It’s always worth having a clear understanding of why you’re reading a text before you read it. Prepare yourself with some targeted questions to cue more focused reading.

Learning Languages

The 80-20 approach in language learning allows you to rapidly reach a level where you can effectively communicate and understand crucial concepts without relying on an extensive vocabulary. Any language contains hundreds of thousands of vocabulary words, for example, but a relatively small group of these words get used the most—approximately twenty percent.

Applying the 80/20 approach to language learning could mean, for example, focusing on a curated list of the most commonly used words first, rather than on more unusual or uncommon aspects of the language. Or, if you intend to use the language in a particular setting (for example, work), you may deliberately focus on those phrases that are most likely to help you get things done in your unique job, rather than on random expressions like “I’d like to buy a postage stamp”!

Memory

The 80/20 principle can enhance your learning and retention by forcing you to focus on the most important information. In the context of memory, the principle suggests that a significant portion of the information we encounter is trivial or irrelevant detail. In contrast, a smaller portion holds the key to understanding and retention. By identifying and prioritizing this vital information, we can optimize our memory capacity and cognitive resources.

Identify the most important information by prioritizing the crucial facts, figures, and concepts that you need to learn. It’s even better if you can identify unifying principles behind these smaller facts. For example, if you're studying history, prioritize the most significant events, influential figures, and key dates that have had a major impact. Use visuals to synthesize information in one place—it’s far easier to remember a single data-rich diagram than it is to remember pages and pages of low-density written information.

The key is to be organized. Break down the information into smaller chunks and organize them in a way that makes sense to you. Utilize mnemonic devices, acronyms, and mind maps—for example, when memorizing a list of items, create a mind map by associating each item with a visual image or connecting them through a story (more on this technique later). The visualization and storytelling techniques will help you remember the items in a structured and memorable way.

The Eighty-five Percent Rule

The Pareto principle has plenty of children and grandchildren. One of them we’ll explore here: the eighty-five percent rule. As it applies to learning, the eighty-five percent rule basically suggests that optimal learning occurs when individuals succeed or achieve the correct outcome around eighty-five percent of the time. This may seem counterintuitive at first—isn’t the goal to do as well as you possibly can?

In fact, failure does have a place in learning, and there is some research to suggest that failing about fifteen percent of the time is ideal. This rough estimate is supported by research in both human and machine-learning contexts. According to a recent paper by Wilson, Shenhav, Straccia, and Cohen, various learning algorithms perform best when the training error rate is around 15.87%, which translates to a training accuracy of approximately eighty-five percent.

The rationale behind this rule is that when we succeed all the time, it becomes challenging to identify areas for improvement since there is no contrast between good and bad strategies. Conversely, if we constantly fail, we may struggle to understand what actually works. You may have heard that “practice makes perfect,” but in reality, if you are repeatedly practicing the wrong way to do things, you are not actually learning or improving—in fact you might simply be teaching yourself all the wrong things. That’s why a better rule is “perfect practice makes perfect.”

It is through a mixture of success and failure that we can differentiate between effective and ineffective approaches, allowing for learning and progress. Failure is a teacher, but only in the correct proportions: too much and it can demoralize and confuse; too little and you aren’t learning at all.

For a real-world example, we can picture someone trying to perfect their golf swing. They may practice the same movement many times and keep refining it with each attempt. But if they perform every single practice swing perfectly . . . then what? They could conclude that there’s no need to keep practicing that swing, but the fact is that they don’t know why they did as well as they did, or how they could transfer that skill to other tasks.