Are you a creator, or a consumer? Do you add more than you take away? Are you part of the 20% that does 80% of the work? Are you part of the 1% creation force?

Or are you simply a lurker?

PARETO PRINCIPLE – THE 80/20 RULE

Many of us are familiar with the 80/20 Rule where 20% of anything is generally responsible for 80% of the result.

Formally this is called the Pareto Principle.

In business, it’s generally thought 20% of your customers create 80% of the sales. Throughout the world, 20% of the people control 80% of the wealth. In sports, the Pareto principle states 20% of exercises and habits create 80% of the impact on the body’s condition.

THE 90-9-1 PRINCIPLE

In our pervasive internet culture, the 90-9-1 principle states that in a “collaborative website such as a wiki, 90% of the participants of a community only view content, 9% of the participants edit content, and 1% of the participants actively create new content.”

Guess what they call the 90%…

Lurkers.

FAUCET OR DRAIN

Seth Godin explores the same concept slightly different, asking, “Are you a faucet, or are you a drain?”

“Some people, every time they engage with others, are an energy drain. They take persuading, cajoling and enthusiasm to get going, and require ever more of it to keep going.

“And some people are a faucet, an endless pipeline of possibility, potential and forward motion.”

WHO ARE YOU?

I ask again…

Are you a creator, or a consumer? Do you add more than you take away? Are you part of the 20% that does 80% of the work? Are you part of the 1% creation force?

Or are you simply a lurker?

BEING A CREATOR

I love creating ideas, writing and speaking. I love creating poetry. I love creating stories. I love to lead music. I even love to sing though I can’t read music, play an instrument, nor carry a tune.

I love interviewing guests on#RedEdgeLive and sharing their stories. I love working with my clients and creating actionable plans to help them grow their business.

BEING A LURKER

Now to be clear, while I love to create I also love to consume.

I love reading books and blogs and listening to podcasts. I love watching cat videos and a good show on TV. I love going to the movies, especially out at the Lewiston Theatre.

And if you remember, I enjoy listening to Don Williams, Billy Joel, The Piano Guys, The Tabernacle Choir, Barry Sadler, and Mozart is my one and only!

So I guess I also love to be a lurker!

CREATE MORE, CONSUME LESS

We should consistently create more and consistently consume less.

Behavioral scientist Jason Hreha suggests we change up our “active/passive ratio.”

Everyone has an active/passive ratio. Active = time you’re actually making something (even talking counts) Passive = time you’re consuming.

Hreha urges us to “rediscover our creative cores, and spend our time expressing our thoughts and dreams — in writing, drawing, painting, video, and photo.”

Referencing the writing of James Altucher, Hreha goes on to suggest “we force ourselves to come up with 10 ideas each and every day.”

Those ten ideas could be anything.

“Do 10 of anything,” Hreha writes. “Project your mind outward. Force your perspective out into the world. Stop being a gigantic, passive vessel — collecting and consuming the ideas of others.”

Your ten ideas could be 10 thoughts, 10 photos, 10 squiggly lines representing a cartoon caricature. Or how about 10 nice things to say about a family member or coworker.

Maybe you create 1o minutes to call someone you have spoken to in a long time. Maybe you create 10 minutes of downtime.

“Create and express your own,” Hreha wraps up. “Become fully human. The world is waiting for you.”

I agree.

it is true that the story you most consistently tell yourself will be the story to most consistently come true in your life.

It is also true the actions of creation which are most consistent in your life will, in time, also create corresponding results.

Create a great story full of beautiful and powerful acts of creation!

Have a great Monday! Thanks for letting me share.

Les

p.s. Take 13 minutes today to start creating 10 things!

Feature Photo by Jacek Dylag on Unsplash

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