Action-Reaction

Ever thrown a rubber ball very hard against a wall only to have it bounce right back and hit you in the face? Ever tried throwing a lump of mud at a revolving fan, only to be splattered with dirt all over?

No? Why not? Probably because you knew what would happen next. Unfortunately, we do not have the same privilege of being able to predict the outcome of our actions so accurately in real life and sometimes end up getting hit in the face or getting splattered with mud.


This is where, the ever popular Pareto principle (also known as the 80-20 rule) comes into the picture. It can be applied to almost anything, but the purpose of this post is not to discuss the Pareto principle. 

Lets look at a different application of the Pareto principle here. The act of throwing the ball is the 20% or the action. The ball bouncing back, because the wall was hard brick and rubber being a very elastic material, is the 80% or reaction. The act of throwing the ball was something you did consciously. That is something that you have absolute control over. You however have no control over what happens next. When the ball comes back and hits you, probably giving you a black eye in the process, you may regret the action of throwing it, but then it is too late.

Sometimes, the best strategy would be to move out of the ball's way and allow the ball to run out of steam. But doing that is really tough. That is another quirk of  human nature. More often than not, humans will believe you if you tell them there are 7,623,496,516,936 stars in the sky, but try pointing them to a surface and telling them "Wet Paint". They will want to touch and confirm.

Lets look at another example. You decide to open a restaurant, as the restaurant where you were working fired you. Good for you. You have not lost the spirit. However, you need to remember that you are not doing something new here. The act of selling food predates recorded history. A simple trade of salt in exchange for grains is probably where it all began.

You have started the same thing that gazillion others have already done, some successfully and some not so successfully. So, what is your aim? Luring existing customers to your venture? Attracting new customers? Just recreating what ever was already available with the previous venture that you were part of? That is the 20% you get to choose. After you have chosen that 20%, there is nothing much you can do. The ball has already left your hand. Now all you can do is brace yourself and wait. At the same time, it also very important to analyze and understand the visitors likes and dislikes.Keep the place tidy, make the ambience friendly and comfortable, come up with new recipes that will make your visitors want to come back for more and you have a winner on your hands. With this scenario, you can clearly see, that your success is in your very own hands.

Now consider this:
You may have a great dish, but also have huge posters of sexually provocative poses in the restaurant and the people already there including the staff are using profanities liberally. Wouldn't you agree that new visitors would expect someone to approach and ask politely, "What would you like to have today?", as against someone, unshaven and shabbily dressed approaching and asking "So, what da f**k ya wanna eat, d***head?" and when they object, everyone around gangs up against them. 

It might be simpler to just get takeaways from your earlier place and dish it out here, but how long do you think that will work? You will have nothing to offer of your own and what you have on offer would be stale. To make matters worse, lets say, you tell people to leave if they don't like what you have.


If the second scenario was true, how many people do you think will want to come back, no matter how spicy and delicious your dish?

Sooner or later, you will find people who started to come to your venture, because they like you or because they are your friends, will start to leave and go back to the earlier place. May not necessarily be because that place is better, but because they do not like your place anymore. They will also advise their friends to leave or not bother with your place.You will be left with just a few who are unshaven, shabbily dressed and think profanities are cool.

I can see people avoiding your place. Can you?

Bottomline - choose the 20% wisely. You have no control on the remaining 80%, though that is fully dependent on the 20% you chose.

Good luck.

Signing off.....

Rajan

Note: I initially had this blog with unmoderated comments. But someone decided to post a communal comment. So, I have now switched to moderated comments. All comments, brick bats or bouquets, will be published, as long as it is relevant to the blog post and does not contain profanity. Cheers 


Click here for further reading on Pareto Principle.