The 80/20 Principle - Richard Koch - Part 5

The 80/20 Principle - Richard Koch

2017 Reading Challenge - Day 90

  March 31, 2017 

Book 28 - The 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Achieving More with Less
by Richard Koch (2008)
 Part 5 - pages 207-255
Reading Time - 1 hour

The last few chapters and I'm still looking for value in this book. A chapter on how to money begets money thanks to compounding interest and investing. "To succeed you must aim for the top". I don't agree with that statement and maybe that's why I find this book such a hard slog.

He also makes an attempt to shoe-horn Happiness into the 80/20 principle. While I didn't find a lot of correlation with his ideas and the 80/20 principle, he did have some interesting ideas on happiness. We have control over our happiness - it's not cast in stone based on our childhood, history or genetics. There is a delicate balance between what we think and feel on a daily basis and our physical and mental health. This resonates for me based on my own experience. The author notes that we are free o change the way we in which we think and act. If we change the we think, then we change the way that we feel. We are always telling stories about ourselves and life... so why not tell positive stories rather than negative ones.

The last chapter is an add-on to this edition in which the author looks at some criticisms of the first edition and how people have used the principle. I did see the point in this chapter. Really seemed like an afterthought.

On the whole... I wouldn't read this book again, unless I was a business person interested in clawing my way to the top. But I'm not... so I won't.

On another note... 28 books in 3 months is a pretty good rate. I have gotten a bit behind the 8-ball here... and am trying to catch up with the present (April 7).