The psychology of setting goals
Have you heard of the 80/20 rule? Even if you have not heard of the 80/20 rule, I’m sure you are familiar with it in at least some way. Let’s dig in a bit, shall we?
From a “who was first” standpoint, the 80/20 rule is called the Pareto principle and was first discovered by an Italian sociologist and economist named Vilfredo Pareto who, in 1906 learned that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population. But it was Joseph Juran, a management consultant who in 1941 gave the Pareto principle practical applications by noting that 80% of outcomes were caused by 20% of all causes. Juran also noted that the 80/20 rule was a universal rule that applied in many situations you and I encounter daily, not just economic activities as originally discovered by Pareto.
Other examples of the 80/20 rule you likely encounter are:
80% of sales come from 20% of the customers.
80% of sales come from 20% of a company's products.
20% of medical patients cause 80% of healthcare spending.
20% of your tasks at work bring 80% of your results.
80% of your overall health comes from the food you eat and 20% comes from workouts.
The 80/20 rule in personal development
If we consider the field of personal development, the 80/20 rule continues to ring true. All the big names in personal development (you probably know who they are already) will tell you that 80% of success is your mindset and 20% is your skill set. When my daughter was playing softball, I often said to her that 80% of winning came from her mental attitude, not her skill or lack thereof. It’s sometimes hard to make that point to a crying little girl who just struck out or was pulled from the pitcher’s circle, but it’s true.
While I had heard about the 80/20 rule, it did not resonate with me until the early 2000s. As a quality professional seeking ways to reduce maintenance errors and, more formally in 2011 when I was studying to obtain two professional certifications from the American Society of Quality, I learned how important this rule is. I already knew from my previous aviation training that most causes of aircraft crashes were due to pilot error. In maintenance, there was already ample evidence that human error caused most incidents. An airplane crash, especially if you are on it, is a real-life event and I want to go off on a tangent to explain how this 80/20 principle, which is probably not widely known, does in fact, affect you regularly.
Learning about and from human error
I’m going to take a few minutes to discuss this concept of human error (and then how to correct it) a bit more because unless you are in aviation or one of the quality fields (such as medical quality), you likely have not heard much about human error. Learning about it, even with the brief overview I am going to give you, can help you tremendously in your professional and personal life. Which will make you more valuable to your organization and accelerate your overall success. So you can Achieve your dreams. And live your best life. You get it, right?
It's often considered a sport to complain about the government. It could be local, state, or federal, it’s always popular to bash the government. Some of this bashing is likely justified and you probably have your own stories about incompetent, wasteful, or uncaring government. Because I spent my career in aviation, and in particular my later years concerned with safety, quality, and compliance, I spent a lot of time dealing directly with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the people who work there. Like any large organization, they have their share of bureaucracy which is frustrating, but overall, I believe the FAA and its predecessor the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) have done an outstanding job with their dual mandate of promoting aviation and ensuring aviation safety. This is obvious due to the continued improvements in aviation safety over the years. We are currently in the safest period of history regarding aviation safety, and especially commercial aviation, where I mostly worked. I’ve previously mentioned the great strides in safety that came from FAA-led Cockpit Resource Management (CRM) that began in the 1980s. In maintenance, great opportunities still exist to better understand human factors. Interestingly, I recently taught a course in aviation maintenance human factors at Tulsa Technology Center. I am quite pleased that the FAA has required this curriculum to be incorporated for future maintenance technicians. When I was in training, no one knew about human factors at all and it’s another step in improving safety that I often speak about. Back to CRM. CRM is a form of human factors in that it tries to understand why humans do what they do and why they do it so that solutions can be developed into the equipment or procedures to reduce errors. This is sometimes known as engineered controls. A control is something that is put into place to prevent someone from making a mistake or hurting themselves. Think about how you can’t start your car unless your foot is on the brake, your microwave will not operate unless the door is closed, or how your lawnmower blade is disengaged when you release the handle, and you will understand what I mean by an engineered control.
The Dirty Dozen
All of this talk is a lead-in to tell you about something the FAA developed called The Human Factors Dirty Dozen. The FAA states the role of human factors research: FAA human factors researchers seek to understand the physical, behavioral, cognitive, and social characteristics of aviation professionals (Note 1). Breaking this down further into maintenance, we can see The Human Factors Dirty Dozen, or the most common causes of most of the errors. These are (Note 2):
Lack of Communication
Complacency
Lack of Knowledge
Distractions
Lack of Teamwork
Fatigue
Lack of Resources
Pressure
Lack of Assertiveness
Stress
Lack of Awareness
Norms
If you click on the link in Note 2, you can learn more about human factors and as you do, you will discover that human factors affect us all, no matter what we do. Awareness of this “Dirty Dozen” list can reduce the mistakes you make and improve your life and the lives of others. Oh, and not surprisingly, as soon as you open up this page, you will learn that 80% of aircraft maintenance errors are caused by these issues. Imagine that!
OK, so I’ve just spent the past 1100 words trying to convince you that if you want to achieve your dreams and live your best life, you will have to set goals and then go about achieving them. Knowing that the biggest obstacle is the 5” between your ears will be a big help in keeping you going and should also give you the satisfaction that it’s not how much or how little you know but you being able to best determine where to concentrate your efforts (the 20%), and then do it, will result in 80% of your success. Which says the playing field of life is really more level than you think and you can compete with anyone if you understand it’s a head game and how you concentrate your efforts on the 20% of the things that will help you be most successful, you will be ahead of 80% of the people. Have you ever heard the term “80% of success is showing up?” What that means is that if you just show up, and show up on time, you are already ahead of 80% of the population. In fact, when you think of it in these terms, success starts to look easy.
I was more fortunate than some when I enlisted in the Air Force. My recruiter told me exactly what to expect from basic training and as a result, I did exceedingly well, earning an honor graduate ribbon for being in the top 10% of my class in all measurements. But it’s the simplicity of what he told me that helped me more than anything. He said the Training Instructor’s goal was to break you and get you to follow orders. Because during wartime, there is not the time nor is it the place to question orders. Questioning orders in war gets people killed and that’s what they were trying to pound in our heads. They knew what they were doing.
It's all in your mind
It's the same with goal accomplishment. It’s mostly in your head and that’s the point I hope to make with you. Consider these questions:
What do you want out of life? Consider this answer very carefully.
Do you believe you can?
What are your motives?
Is the glass half full or half empty?
Are you a positive person or a negative person?
What kind of company do you keep?
If you want to be successful, not just in goal setting and achieving your dreams, but in all of life, it comes down to taking the 20% of actions that are most effective. I’ve found that the most effective things you can do are boiled down to two things: You have to think positively and you must train your mind to believe you can. If you do these two things, they will support the other actions you must take, and you will be successful. I want to leave you with three quotes to ponder during the next week that I think make these points:
“You never fail until you stop trying” - Albert Einstein
“What you think, you become” - Napoleon Hill
“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you are right.” - Henry Ford
Master the psychology of goal achievement. Believe you can. Train your mind to continually focus on the positive and take the 20% of the actions that will give you 80% of the results you want. To me, that’s a winning formula. And the formula is quite simple and available to everyone.
What’s in it for Me
Understanding how you think about things and what actions you spend your time on will help you in all areas of your life. Today you got a really good overview of that and there are a lot of takeaways to help you.
Call to Action
Carefully consider what you read today. Click on the links to learn more. Buy and read the books recommended below. Realize that the path to success is really up to you. How you think and how you direct your actions are key to achievement. Don’t spend time blaming others or your own background for failing to get what you want in life. You have the power in your own mind already, you just need to bring it out!
Recommended Resources
Click on the link in Note 3 to see a very good video about positive thinking. Purchase and read the books The Millionaire Mind by Thomas Stanley (Note 4) and What to Say When You Talk to Yourself by Shad Helmstetter (Note 5). Both books will help reinforce the need to think positively and have a can-do attitude!
Up Next
Grit.
Notes
Please note that as an Amazon Affiliate, I may earn a small commission on the sale of any of these recommended resources.
https://www.faasafety.gov/files/gslac/library/documents/2012/nov/71574/dirtydozenweb3.pdf
The Millionaire Mind by Thomas Stanley: https://amzn.to/4eMOrX0
What to Say When You Talk to Yourself by Shad Helmstetter: https://amzn.to/3NthAKY