The 90/50 rule

Knowing this can change your life

By Nury Vittachi
*
Panic! It was a holiday morning and we were ricocheting around the walls of the apartment like squash balls.

We HAD to leave the house by 8:30 am, otherwise terrible things would happen: we would be late for our first appointment, and thus all the ones thereafter, and, worst of all, we wouldn't have time to stop for breakfast on the way.

That would mean I'd have to get through a busy day without Vitamin C, G or S. IMPORTANT MEDICAL ADVICE: Always have a daily dose of the three most important food groups: Vitamin Caffeine, Vitamin Grease and Vitamin Sugar.

So there we are, grabbing coats, bags, keys and phones, and jamming random shoes onto random children's feet (some of whom may have been next door's).

At that point my wife turned to me and said: "I'm going to go wait in the car." And off she went.

Now I know what you are thinking: in your standard TV sitcom, it is the husband who goes and sits in the car, honking the horn, while the wife finishes getting the kids ready.

But for some unknown reason, in my household it's the other way round.

Actually, maybe I DO know the reason. It is because husbands in sitcoms (and the wife in my household) is not familiar with the 90/50 principle.

There are lots of business books about the 80/20 principle, but (no offence intended to the writers of those books) they're rubbish. The 90/50 principle is far more applicable to real life. It goes like this: When you've done 90 per cent of any job, you still have 50 per cent to go.

It applies in every situation. Baking a cake takes 40 minutes, but the finishing touches, such as icing it, decorating it, and disguising the bit where one of the kids stuck her finger in it, takes another 40.

Eating one of my cousin's super-hot vindaloos takes only 20 minutes but there's an extra 20 minutes in the toilet before the experience truly comes to a close. 

Knowing the 90/50 principle can make you rich. You go to a publisher and say: "Let's do a book. I’ll write the whole thing, and take 90 per cent of the profits. You do the last little bit, fact-checking and proofreading and layout, and you get 10 per cent." It sounds reasonable. Yet you both end up doing the same amount of work, and you get the money.

 Anyway, back to that particular morning. In the first seven minutes the children had been awake, we got their faces washed, their teeth brushed, their bodies clothed and their feet mostly shod. They were 90 per cent ready to go when my wife decamped to the car.

And sure enough, it took me another seven minutes to do the final 10 per cent of the preparations: find the missing shoe, the non-scratchy hairbrush, the piece of paper with the address on, the favourite hairband, and so on.

             Just as I was leaving the house, a Fedex man arrived with a document: a proposal from a publisher about our latest book project. He wrote that he would handle publishing matters and take 90 per cent of the profits, while I would write the thing and get 10 per cent.

            Yes, publishers also know the 90/50 rule.

Comments

[Cesca]

The rule applies to bosses too... the subordinates are bombarded with heavy workloads, earning only 50 percent while the bosses sit there living la vida loca, telling the sub. to do everything, earning 90 percent... Ooopss... my boss is right next to me... "hello".... LOL... Well, if they are the bosses that must be because they've got smth the sub. haven't...

Have a nice day Vittachi***

[fardel]

Be smart!
Be the boss AND the employee: you will make 90+50 percent of a normal income, and become be rich in no time at all.
Just plain, simple mathematics!
Happy new year to you all;
see you when I get rich.

[fardel]

Oops
I made a mistake:
make 90+ 10 percent of a normal income and work 90+50 percent of the normal time.
Nothing , nobody is perfect;
Sorry for spoiling your dreams in this festive season!

[Farah]

I guess it mostly applies for office timings. Boss can come late and leave early (or not come at all) but even though when an employee comes early finishes all the work for the day s/he is dumped with more work at the end of the day and expected to stay back late past the finishing time and come back to work the next day sharp on time....The boss, however is still late for work or not present at all)

[Adalina Lo]

Aye, Nury....

The more competent, skilled person always gets screwed in the end.

I think one of the ancient Chinese diplomatic strategies was: Pretend to be dumber than you are.

If you show how resourceful you are, you will then be expected to perform for others who are otherwise too lazy to deal with the stuff they delegate to you.

Being smart and intelligent stirs resentment and backstabbing which decreases your social clout and economic opportunities... and that of course means you are forced to do the stuff people avoid.

Don't be too intelligent, kind, sophisticated - that guarantees a healthier life with banking holidays.

[Santox]

Your article somehow send my blood pressure up to 140/90. Amazed and ampathise with you on the stressful activities you had to speed through. Annoyed, confounded and disgusted by the attitude shown by your supposedly- better- half. But it boils down to a decision of choice.

[fardel]

The 4 to 360 000 000 000 rule:
Setting up a secondary business in France takes a few minutes on line.
Except for me.
Since I could not do it myself( i.e I was advised not to do it myself)I asked my accountant to do it for me.
The business office asks for documents by fax ( ID , existing business licence)

One month later there is no news.
We call back.
Clerk: " Now you need to send original documents to be registered."

We send them by mail. one month later , there is no news
Clerk :"we did not receive them "
we fedex them.
Two weeks later come the news.
Clerk : You are partially registered but you have to come file the rest of the documents in person
I jump in a plane and show up two days later to the registration office:
clerk:I need an ID
I show my passport
Clerk:" Sorry the passport does not prove that you are a French citizen"
Lucky me : I travel with my birth certificate.
clerk :"Sorry there will be an extra expense: 100 Euros
me"It does not matter, flying across the Atlantic to register this business was free"
It took only four months, a transatlantic flight plus one week running in person from office to office to register a business which can normally be done in minutes,hence the 4 to 360 000 000 000 rule

I call the electricity company
Clerk:"I need business registration and bank account number"
Clerk:No Sir , a bank account from oversea will not do, you need a local bank account"

I call a bank for an appointment
Bank manager:
What do you want to do?
Sell my book to shops , at festivals and online
Bank manager
"Sorry , i am not interested"
I call second bank
Bank manager:We can meet tuesday at 10 am ( five days away).

monday ten to 5 pm
Bank manager "Sorry I cannot meet you tomorrow:you should contact another branch in another town, we shall be on strike tomorrow"
I call third banker
Bank manager:We can meet tomorrow at 3 pm
Bank manager:" I need Id and electricity bill"

Now you understand why I have been silent for the last ten days
Hey Mr Nury: You are not allowed to laugh: this is not funny, it is real, this is not Asia or the Caribbean
It is the number 8 economic country of this planet
For the time being

[sej]

Fardel, reminds me of buying a car here in Australia. At first sight, it appears...

1. To buy a car, you usually need finance.
2. To get finance, the bank requires the car be insured.
3. To get the car insured, the insurance company requires the registration details of the car.
4. To get the registration details of teh car, the dealer wants to be paid.
5. Go to step 2.

[John]

I have a joke i really want to post4 a long time pls 4give te randomness
An elephatns talking to a camel. then the elephant says y do u have 2 boobs on ur back
the camel says its easy to say 4 a guy hu has a dick on his face