The 85% Rule is Powerful and Life Changing

If you have been following me for a while, you might have heard me mention the 85% rule before. This simple idea mentioned by Ramit Sethi in his book I Will Teach You To Be Rich has helped me grow so much. A few months ago, I made a LinkedIn post giving my thoughts on the book, where I mentioned the 85% rule:

What is the 85% Rule?

The premise for this rule is an easy one:

Doing 85% of something is better than not taking any action at all.

Ramit mentions this in regards to getting your finances in order. For a lot of people, handling finances can be an overwhelming and negative experience. It’s easy to psyche yourself out before you even start because you’re not a “financial wizard.” You might feel that you don’t know everything you need to know, so you’re not fully prepared. But that’s totally fine. You don’t need to. You are better off just starting. You can learn and figure everything out along the way, and getting to that 85% mark.

Because 85% is a hell of a lot more than 0%.

The Power of the 85% Rule

I use the 85% Rule whenever I take on a new challenge. Initially, it gave me that boost to get my finances in order when reading Ramit’s book. It made me feel that it was okay to not fully understand or be prepared but to still take positive steps and actions in the right direction while using the book as a resource.

Upon further reflection, I realized I implemented this advice when starting my blog. I had done blogging for companies I worked at in the past. I knew I was at least a somewhat decent writer. But I had never created or managed my own website in this capacity. I never had to build my own subscriber base from scratch. There was so much I didn’t know how to do, but I decided to just do it anyway.

“For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.” -Aristotle

Just Start

Have you ever had somebody give you the following advice?

Just start.

Whether it’s a blog, business, or anything you want to achieve, somebody at some point in time has probably said this to you. Or you’ve heard it in some inspirational YouTube video. Odds are, you probably knew it was good advice, but weren’t exactly sure why.

“Yeah, just start. Easy for you to say. If only it were that simple.”

There can be a lot of fear about starting something. Fear of the unknown, fear of failure, fear of uncertainty, fear of loss, etc. However, once you embrace and implement the 85% rule into your life, all of those fears will fade away. Why is that?

Because you will know that 85% is a hell of a lot more than 0%.

Even if you have absolutely no idea what you’re really doing, still start. The truth is, most people don’t when they’re beginning something new.

Lastly, I want to say that starting is half the battle. Most people are too afraid to ever even begin. If you decide to jump into it, you are already 50% there. And if you get to 50%, you will get to 60 and 70%.

And guess what?

70% is a hell of a lot more than 0% too!

THAT is why you should just start.

Best,

Eric