Blending the Concept of Wu-Wei and 80-20 Principle With Effortless Success
Wu wei is an Taoist belief which means, natural action. I am learning to use this concept currently in my life.
The challenge is that even though the concept of Wu wei sounds overly simplistic. I am seeing some resistance as someone of a more “western approach” to action, tends to be my default mode. The urge to continue to do more and more work is still ingrained deep within me. But, with practice I believe I can get the hang of this concept, and have actually seen some success with it in my own life.
But, I wanted to take it further. I’ve decided to start taking the concept of Wu-wei and combining this with Pareto’s 80/20 principle I’ve mentioned in a previous post. For those that aren’t familiar with the 80/20 principle go Here.
The ability to blend these two philosophies together successfully begins with the right mindset.
For example when I started using the 80-20 principle and still got things done in a shorter amount of time, I actually felt guilty.
My western default mode of wanting to always do more began to kick in, even after I got what I knew needed to be done already complete.
But, I learned that the 80/20 principle was becoming so effective, that I trained my mind overtime to just let it be.
The reality that I saw, was that if I overworked myself, it would lead to burnout.
So, not wanting burnout, I began to successfully apply the 80-20 principle pacing myself a lot better, than before.
It became more about laser focusing my attention on tasks that were of most importance, and saving the other tasks of least importance to be either outsourced, or done later.
I also was inspired to be more conscious about how I applied the 80-20 principle more after reading this good post by Yaro Stark on: How The 80-20 Principle Change My Life.
The hard part wasn’t doing the 20% of work I needed to get done anymore, it was telling myself time to stop doing things that weren’t the 20%.
This is very similar and ties into the idea of Wu wei. Taking action only when it is inspired, and with what is “important.”
When action is taken out of force, you move away from the natural flow of the universe.
As you take action with the natural flow of the universe, you become more “effective” and your timing is right on point. It takes the ultimate trust to rest when everyone else isn’t, but your body tells you to do so. The philosophy of Wu-wei doesn’t mean being lazy, or idol. This is just action in flow, that feels right. This doesn’t necessarily mean not working hard. It simply means effectively putting in the effort into very laser focused activities that bring about a greater return and more effective for the long term. I personally don’t like using the term “working smart,” but these concepts are in the same ball park.
Richard Koch’s 80-20 Way
In Richard Koch’s Book The 80-20 Way he mentions the story about a Well Known German Officer General Von Manstein: Forgive the very blunt vocabulary below. I just hope you get the overall concept…
General Von Manstein said, that there are only four types of officer.
First there the lazy, stupid ones. Leave them alone , they do no harm.
Second, there are the hard working intelligent ones. They make excellent staff officers, ensuring that every detail is properly considered.
Third, there are the hard working stupid ones. These people are a menace and must be fired at once. They create irrelevant work for everybody.
Finally, there are the intelligent lazy ones. They are suited for the highest office.
It takes the ultimate trust to stop working even when your funds are where you want it to be, but trust in your own flow and everything will fall into place.
Both the 80/20 principle and the Wu-wei require the ultimate trust, trust in yourself and your flow.
However, blended together both these principles can lead to a clearer sense of self awareness as well.
Once again, it is in letting go and saying no to what isn’t resonating with you becomes the challenge at first.
Detachment and Freedom
There is a connection that I’ve observed, between letting go and having abundance. Those that remain a detached outlook on life and are in a constant state of flow are more in the energy of abundance, than a person totally attached to something or outcome.
I think attachment to anything for too long causes suffering, to be honest. If you think of it everything changes. Change is the only constant. So as we hold on to what we think we want too long, but it doesn’t feel right in our being, we suffer. This holds true to money, relationships, and whatever else you can think of. When we let go, we are free.
Try It Out Yourself
Everyone is different. Some may find these two philosophies a waste of time.
Some people’s lives may change completely, if they truly consider consciously applying these two philosophies of time management and way of life. Try out a combination of these two time management philosophies for 30 days and see if they work for you successfully as well.
