# When the 80/20 Rule Fails: The Downside of Being Effective  ## About - Author: James Clear - Title: When the 80/20 Rule Fails: The Downside of Being Effective - Tags: #articles - URL: https://jamesclear.com/the-downside-of-being-effective ## Highlights Efficiency is about getting more things done. Effectiveness is about getting the *right* things done. Peter Drucker, the well-known management consultant, once encapsulated the idea by writing, “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.” --- The 80/20 Rule is calculated and determined by your *recent* effectiveness. Whatever seems like the “highest value” use of your time in any given moment will be dependent on your previous skills and current opportunities. The 80/20 Rule will help you find the useful things in your past and get more of them in the future. But if you don’t want your future to be more of your past, then you need a different approach. --- The downside of being effective is that you often optimize for your past rather than for your future. --- The process of learning a new skill or starting a new company or taking on a new adventure of any sort will often appear to be an ineffective use of time at first. Compared to the other things you already know how to do, the new thing will seem like a waste of time. It will never win the 80/20 analysis. But that doesn’t mean it’s the wrong decision. ---