When I worked on Wall Street, I did the unthinkable. I took vacation. Not just the 3 day weekend type. But two g**damn weeks. _In a row._ I took 3 weeks off for our wedding + honeymoon. I took 2 weeks off when my kids were born. Which may not seem like a big deal, but shockingly on Wall Street _it still is_. (In fact, Bloomberg interviewed me as their main “rebel” in the article [Wall Street Dads Find Parental Leave Easier to Get than to Take]().) The reason I was able to take these _daring_ vacations was not because of excessive _chutzpah_. It’s because of one of my favorite principles from the _RadOS_ : __The 80/20 Rule.__

And in this case, (courtesy of Andy Grove’s _High Output Management_) I had discovered that when you manage employees, __one-on-one touch bases__ were the 20% of the time, that got 80% of the results. And because our team was straight ?, I could take 2 weeks off. (And so could they, btw.) The 80/20 rule abounds in all dimensions of our lives. Mark Manson offers some prompts to introspect on how the principle is serving you: * What are the 20% of your possessions you get the most value out of? * What do you spend 20% of your time doing that gives you 80% of your happiness? * Who are the 20% of people you’re close to who make you the happiest? * What’s the 20% of food you eat 80% of the time? Now that we’re _airtight_ on the 80/20 rule, let’s introduce another wrinkle: __the hourglass principle__(h/t [@TimothyJFrancis]())__.__

The graphic above is in reference to managing/delegating. But you could replace ___Lead___ with ___Strategic Thinking___. But what I love about this concept is the _magic_ in that last 10%: __the review.__ Reviews are unsexy. They feel mundane. That’s because incremental change doesn’t release the dopamine of checking something off a to do list. Yet the reviews are restorative. They’re like deep sleep after an intense workout. Part recovery, part cross-pollination, and __tons of growth.__ Think about Manson’s questions. It’s great to ask them. Even better to execute upon them. __But what about reviewing if the outputs match the inputs?__ Or said differently, was it all worth it? Now I’m keen to know – _how do you implement reviews into your lives?_