We live in two worlds. One is the outside world including all aspects of our life at home, work, or school. It’s everything that is out there. The other is the inside world, our inner life consisting of the six-inch space between our ears. Our inner life largely includes our thoughts, attitude, opinions, and beliefs about the outside world. Everything we encounter takes place in these two worlds: the stuff out there and what we think about the stuff out there.
The Rule of 90/10 suggests how we experience success or happiness relative to the outside world and our inside world.
· Top 20s believe that most (90%) of their happiness or success is tied to their inside world and very little (10%) is tied to the outside world.
· Bottom 80s believe that very little (10%) of their happiness or success is tied to their inside world and significantly more (90%) is tied to the outside world.
Top 20s know they don’t control the outside world, but do control their thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs about the outside world. They know that their inside world influences their experience of the outside world.
The Rule of 90/10 is the ultimate responsible-thinking strategy.
With 90/10, we eliminate our role as a victim and embrace the big belief:
“I have the power of choice.”
Tom taught high school for forty years. During the first half of his career, he lived in the Bottom 80 world of 10/90. He let the outside world dictate his experience, but then would blame others when he wasn’t getting the results he wanted. In the second half of his career, after learning the Rule of 90/10, he realized that his inside life was negatively affecting the outside world. He focused on his own thinking and social-emotional state as he encountered outside conditions. Both Tom and his students enjoyed a much better experience as a result of this transformation.
We become a Top 20 by first improving our thinking,
then by taking action with that new and improved thinking.
Identify a time in your life when:
· You influenced the outside world in a positive way by controlling your inside world.
· You influenced the outside world in a negative way by not controlling your inside world.
As we move through 2021, let’s be aware of our inside world and know we have the power of choice.
From our Top 20 team…Kevin Brennan, Willow Sweeney, and Tom Cody…who choose to make both of my world’s flourish.
Paul Bernabei
Director
Top 20 Training
paul@top20training.com
