For the past few posts I’ve been speaking about zombies. Take a look here: Part 1 + Part 2
So as to belabor the point no longer, Zombies are all around us. In fact, without realizing it many of us have unknowingly become Zombies.
What do Zombies Want?
It is simple Zombies want you to become a Zombie. Why else would those you tell that you are on a diet and trying to lose weight so that you might improve your health and prolong your life offer you chips, pastries, soda and other life deficient substances? If you think that they might be capable of offering you fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, water and other life-sustaining substances, you would be dead wrong. In truth, bringing home and offering you foods that sap life from you is precisely all that Zombies are capable of doing.
Have you ever found yourself telling someone about a dream that you have to do something you found exciting and exceptional? You were so excited about the potential for your dreams to become a reality only to have the listener reply that what you dreamt would be too hard for you to accomplish it or worse they just flat-out told you that you would fail.
I imagine that you were stunned to find that one who you consider a friend could not encourage you or at the very least refrain from raining on your parade. Again, these people are incapable of providing you the type of support that you need to accomplish your dreams. They do not know how to dream themselves. They are Zombies and they are only doing what Zombies do.
How about each New Year when you share with your few close confidants that your New Year’s resolution is that you are going to become financially solvent. Before you can get the strategy to put your financial house out of your mouth that close confidant asks you for a loan, encourages you to go on a cruise, request your participation in a seasonal shopping spree or exerts peer pressure that compels you to make some unnecessary large purchase that derails your financial plan.
How much easier would it be for the person to simply encourage you to stay the course so that you might reach your goal? How much more would it benefit you long-term if you no longer had to continue working a job you hate so that you can pay for things that you don’t need and accrue interest on things that you no longer want? Alas, this imagery is only wishful thinking because Zombies can only do what Zombies do.
Zombies and the Pareto Principle
The Pareto principle (also known as the 80–20 rule, the law of the vital few, and the principle of factor sparsity) states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.
Business-management consultant Joseph M. Juran suggested the principle and named it after Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who observed in 1906 that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population; he developed the Pareto Principle by observing that 20% of the pea pods in his garden contained 80% of the peas. In the 1992 United Nations Development Program Report, the report showed the distribution of global income to be very uneven, with the richest 20% of the world’s population controlling 82.7% of the world’s income.
It is a common rule of thumb in business as the distribution shows up in several different aspects relevant to entrepreneurs and business managers. For example:
- 80% of your profits come from 20% of your customers
- 80% of your complaints come from 20% of your customers
- 80% of your profits come from 20% of the time you spend
- 80% of your sales come from 20% of your products
- 80% of your sales are made by 20% of your sales staff
The Pareto Principle, You, And Zombies
What does the Pareto principle have to do with you and Zombies? It means that 8 out of 10 people whom you associate with each day are in capable of helping you advance your life in the fashion that you need or desire. It means that everything you hope to be or hope to accomplish could be completed in the first 96 minutes (20%) or less of an 8 hour workday if you were to stay focused and avoid the Zombies.
Moreover it means that for every ten “friends” that you have only 2 out of 10 of those friends are non-Zombies. This means that only 20% of those you consider friends are capable of encouraging you to reach your weight loss goals. Only 20% of those you consider friends can help you stay inspired so that your dreams can become a reality. Only 20% of those you consider friends can help keep you financially accountable so that you are not one of the unfortunate many who can never afford to retire.
As it relates to your life and the life of your children, all of this means that you must be vigilant in your assessment of those whom you allow to be in your life and in the life of your children. Eight out of every ten people you know are Zombies and their one unconscious objective in life is to make you just like them a Zombie: overweight and unhealthy, lifeless with no dreams or goals and bankrupt financially and otherwise.
If you want to be in the best shape of your life, escape the rat race, travel the world, eliminate all financial worries so that you have the freedom and mobility to do whatever you desire whenever you desire it, please stay away from these people. If you want your children to live a most incredible and fulfilled life, learn and experience more than you ever thought possible, watch them grow to become incredible human beings, keep these people away from your children.
Remember, there are only two people in ten who are not infected. These are the people who should make up your children’s village: teachers, coaches and role models. These and these alone are the people who you should fellowship with if you ever want to be more than just another Zombie.
What do you think? Were you previously aware of the connection between zombies and the pareto principle?