Most of you are familiar with the Pareto Principle aka the 80/20 rule. The principle is also known by its other names such as “the law of the vital few” OR “the principle of factor sparsity”.

Why should you care? Because if you study it carefully, you can use this principle to succeed on steemit.

The Man Behind the Principle: Vilfredo Pareto

The principle is credited to Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto who observed that in Italy, the majority of the land (80%) is owned by a minority (20%).

The Pareto Principle is applicable in many different aspects of your life. It is consistently observed in business, in sports, even in engineering.

Here on steemit, I won’t be surprised if roughly 20% of steemit users control 80% of the available Steem Power. The question then is how you become a part of that magical 20%.

The answer lies in understanding why the Pareto Principle works.

The Principle Behind the Principle: Accumulative Advantage

I came across an excellent blog that explains how accumulative advantage works. Here I’ll let James Clear of jamesclear.com explain it to you:

Imagine two plants growing side by side. Each day they will compete for sunlight and soil. If one plant can grow just a little bit faster than the other, then it can stretch taller, catch more
sunlight, and soak up more rain. The next day, this additional energy allows the plant to grow even more. This pattern continues until the stronger plant crowds the other out and takes the lion’s share of sunlight, soil, and nutrients.

Does this sound familiar? Of course. It’s what’s exactly happening here on steemit. In fact, it’s what exactly happens in real life. The winner takes it all.

Humans are very similar to plants in this sense. We compete for the same resources. In sports, there’s only one gold medal. Politicians are competing for the same votes. Here on steemit, we are competing for a bigger share in the limited reward pool.

Okay, I understand. You say. But how do I become part of that 20%?

In the case of plants, they only have to grow ‘just a little bit faster’ to accumulate the advantages. Read carefully as this is the key takeaway from this post. If there’s nothing else you learn from this, remember this simple point: small differences in performance lead to disproportional rewards.

You don’t really have to be super-awesome to dominate. You only have to be slightly better. At the start, the difference may be very small but with the passage of time, those small advantages add up.

Even just a 1% advantage over your peers will put in the mythical 20%.

It’s called The One Percent Rule. It’s the underlying engine that makes the 80/20 rule possible. If you want to be part of the elite 20%, you just have to be 1% better.

From Minnow to Whale in a Few Thousand Steps

If you’re a minnow who wants to be a whale, it may seem like an impossible task. But there are newbies who break out and become whales in a relatively short amount of time.

Now that we understand that it only takes a little advantage to stand out, we can apply it on how we post on steemit. Remember, you just need to be slightly better.
What to do then?

Care a little more. Spend a little more time polishing your posts. Make your comments a little more thoughtful. Spend a little more time knowing your followers.

Learn to format your posts so they’re easy on the eyes. Just this one change will make you stand out. In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

Remember, just a little goes a long way.

REFERENCES

https://jamesclear.com/the-1-percent-rule

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle

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