The 80/20 Rule
I had a sick kitty for most of the last two weeks. He’s had digestive issues for quite awhile and he’s always been a finicky boy, but this time felt a little different. Benji stopped eating for the most part, only grudgingly nibbling small morsels. And he was visiting the litter box more frequently. I ended up calling a new vet - one who could come to the house with a fully equipped veterinary facility on wheels. How amazing is that? We had to wait a week for the appointment and in the meantime I tried some over the counter remedies.
By the time the vet came by, Benji was doing much better. He had started eating again and his stool was close to normal. I kept the appointment because I wanted the vet to check him out. His blood test results came back normal, but the vet wanted to do an ultrasound which is very expensive, so I’ve declined it for now. The reason for the ultrasound would be to confirm what the vet suspects - that Benji suffers from irritable bowl disease or IBD. We’re proceeding as if Benji has the condition for now. Naturally, giving a name to his possible condition sent me into research mode and I’ve spent the last few days googling everything I can find about IBD in cats.
During my research, I came across a veterinary podcast. One episode was specifically centered around IBD. While this episode reinforced just how confusing all the various dietary advice for cats is, there was one thing in the episode that stood out to me. The guest veterinarian on the show said that when he was in veterinary school he was told that 80% of the dogs and cats he was about to treat were going to get better no matter what he did. Even if he did the wrong thing. 10% of his patients would get worse no matter what he did. The remaining 10% were the cases where he would make the most impact. Initially the doctor said he wasn’t sure whether to be depressed or relieved by those statistics. But it did help him appreciate the ability of an animal’s body to heal on its own.
I thought about this and it reminded me of the 80/20 rule I’ve heard so often. That 20% of our efforts produce 80% of our results and vice versa. When I worked in marketing, we used the 80/20 rule to make a case for gathering meaningful data for each marketing campaign. We hoped to find the 20% of the ad budget that yielded the best results. It took the pressure off and gave our team the ability to try things, knowing much of it would not work.
Another example is not quite 80/20, but the concept holds true. I’ve been an avid baseball fan for years. A friend once shared that every team each season wins 1/3 of their games and loses 1/3 of their games. It’s that final 1/3 of the games that separates playoff teams from those who don’t move on. But regardless of the outcome, every team needs to play all 162 games every season.
I could go on citing examples of varying degrees of the 80/20 rule and all the situations to which it applies. But I think what I got from this was a sense of peace, strange as that sounds.
To me, this explains why I often need to create so many sketches and drawings to get to those one or two that sparkle. Or why I need to produce many bad patterns before I create one I absolutely love. When I look at this through the lens of the 80/20 rule, I don’t need to feel bad that most of my sketches will never become patterns or illustrations. I can see them as a necessary part of the process and build in the time to make them.
The 80/20 rule can provide opportunities to make improvements, but it can also let us off the hook sometimes. Maybe we don’t need to obsess over every little detail. Maybe we don’t need to know all the answers. Maybe we can take more things in stride, trusting that the effort we put in will yield results in the end. We just don’t know where our efforts will fall on the 80/20 scale. That’s the mystery, isn’t it?
For now, I’ve decided to stop my endless googling about IBD in cats and just focus on what I can for the moment. I can monitor Benji’s food intake and try to make changes. I can watch him for other signs of distress. I can talk to my vet about what’s happened these past few days. And I can get back to my creative work, blissfully unaware of which new sketches, drawings, or photos will make it into the next design collection.
How can you embrace the 80/20 rule this week in your life?