My [Mini] Seminar and the 80/20 Rule

Today I had one of my first real speaking experiences outside of college where I could really talk about the area of life I am most interested in, exercise and strength training.

I am not well known in the world of strength and conditioning so I am even more unknown with the group I was to talk to.  I was told to make an hour-long presentation on the benefits of exercise and strength training for optimal health.  OK a little remedial but pretty straight forward none-the-less.

So I figured that this was not my typical tire-flippin’, box squattin’ crowd but I imagined a room full of eager eyes waiting to soak up all the information I was about to spew out for the hour to come, well I was a little wrong.

The room filled with about eight people and I was assured more.  I was not worried about the numbers but I did need to get the show on the road.  More trickled in late and as I began to speak I assessed the crowd I was dealing with to see which direction I was going to take it.

My eager eyes I dream of before were few and far between.  Out of a room of 15 people only three seemed interested and the rest of the lot were either shy, sleeping, know-it-alls, or just there to try and piss me off by walking in late and bringing McDonalds to stuff their faces with.

In all honesty I have learned over the years to work as hard as I can for myself and not to care too much about others.  Like the famous 80/20 rule where 80% of your ______(fill in the blank) comes from 20% of your _____ (fill in the blank).  In my case 20% of the people represented 80% of all the attention, question asking, and personal story sharing that went on this afternoon.

I guess the best we can do in the real game of life is knowing you worked as hard as you could to reach for the elite 20%  that will listen, execute and return the favor by passing it along to others.  If only that were easier said than done.