Whats this law?

[KAgantua]

Theres a saying (or a 'law', not a legal one, if you see what I mean) whereby:

Part of the effort of doing something (As long as you 'just do it') even if you dont reach all the goals, etc yields most of the consequences of the 'thing'

An example is cleaning the shed. If you just go in and do it, even if you dont sweep the floor, and even if all your tools are not put back in the 100% correct place, the shed will look 'tidy' or 'tidier'.

Its got a name.
Does anyone know what im talking about?

[Justayellowbadge]

80/20? - the Pareto principle.

[crmcatee]

Potter As in I'm just going to do some pottering in the garage.

[TheChampers]

Justayellowbadge said:

80/20? - the Pareto principle.

The defining principle of my working life; knowing when to stop, and just keep things moving along

[Kiltie]

Yeah, sounds like Pareto to me.

I struggle to put it into context of the shed analogy. Best I can think of is as follows.

• 100% tidying effort yields a 100% tidy shed.

• However, 20% initial tidying effort will result in an 80% tidy shed.

Does that work?

[davepoth]

Kiltie said:

Yeah, sounds like Pareto to me.

I struggle to put it into context of the shed analogy. Best I can think of is as follows.

• 100% tidying effort yields a 100% tidy shed.

• However, 20% initial tidying effort will result in an 80% tidy shed.

Does that work?

Yup, that's pretty much it. The other 80% effort goes into lining up all of the screws in that jamjar you have into length order, and silly things like that. You could step outside the shed and use a lawn analogy - giving it a quick swipe with a flymo will make it fine, but you could spend hours on it with a hoe, strimmer, shears, heavy roller, and so forth, and only a lawn afficionado would notice.

[Kiltie]

davepoth said:

The other 80% effort goes into lining up all of the screws in that jamjar you have into length order, and silly things like that.

Perfect.

anonymous said:

[redacted]

I like that.

[RizzoTheRat]

Law of diminishing returns?

[Matt UK]

RizzoTheRat said:

Law of diminishing returns?

My first thought also.

[fausTVR]

Matt UK said:

RizzoTheRat said:

Law of diminishing returns?

My first thought also.

+1 One of the best laws going. Like upgrading your road bike, the more you spend the less difference it makes.

[RizzoTheRat]

Yeah but that's partially countered by the one about the ideal number of bikes being n+1 where n is the number of bikes you currently have.

[TheEnd]

Matt UK said:

RizzoTheRat said:

Law of diminishing returns?

My first thought also.

That's what I know it as.

Similar to the line about education and specialisation, you learn more and more about less and less until you know everything about nothing.

[Condi]

RizzoTheRat said:

Yeah but that's partially countered by the one about the ideal number of bikes being n+1 where n is the number of bikes you currently have.

No, not at all.

I have 0 number of bikes, which to me is the ideal number of bikes. Thanks.