The of and to a in is I that it for you was with on as have but be they.
Right? You may be scratching your head, searching for meaning in a sentence that seriously resists meaning altogether. Relax. It’s (almost) nonsense. But the meaning is there. As it turns out, these are the twenty most prevalent words in the English language. The first word in the list appears five times as often as the fifth word, eleven times as often as the eleventh word, twenty times as often as the twentieth word, and so on. This is called Zipf’s Law, and it applies to all sorts of things. As it turns out, eighty percent of any given book, article, or other writing is made up of the top twenty percent of all words.
This eighty-twenty phenomenon starts to seep out into all different kinds of areas in our daily lives.
Eighty percent of customer complaints originate with twenty percent of the customers.
Eighty percent of land in the USA is owned by twenty percent of the population.
And…eighty percent of our results come from twenty percent of our efforts.
That’s right. Eighty percent of what we accomplish in a given day, week, or year is due to only twenty percent of the work we put into it. Think on that for a minute. There’s more meaning there than you realize. I would go so far as to say that eighty percent of our stress is due to only twenty percent of our experience, too.
The holiday season is in full swing now. I live and work in a tourist destination, and Black Friday was as packed as I can remember. It’s a wonderful place (that’s why I call it home), and I certainly understand the appeal. That doesn’t make the traffic and the crowds any less challenging. So I went home, put on some music, poured a glass of good wine, and enjoyed a delicious dinner. I changed into my most comfy clothes, made brownies, and watched a movie with my son. I took a long, hot shower and fell asleep reading a really good book. And I woke up feeling like a new man. Four hours of my life, just twenty percent of my day, gave me far more than eighty percent of the joy and peace that that day had to offer.
Take some time before the holiday craziness sets in. Figure out which twenty percent it is that brings you the most happiness, and guard it with your life. And after the ball drops on 2018, go forward with this in mind. You may surprise yourself with just how much you’re capable of.
Of note: the, of , and and are the three most prevalent words that appear above. There’s something you know now.
