You can do anything, but you cannot do everything.

That's the wise saying that I often remind myself of, when I’m feeling overwhelmed by my to-do list.

I have so many interests, and they seem to grow faster than Barry Allen day by day, from storytelling to mastering Da Vinci Resolve and beyond.

But I realized that I can't do it all.

I started searching for a way to sort out what matters and what doesn’t. To filter out the minimal viable action I can do, to make sure that I make the most out of the time I spent on that exciting thing in front of me.

That's where the Pareto principle comes in.

The Pareto principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, states that 80% of the results come from 20% of the causes. In other words, a small number of things are responsible for the majority of the outcomes.

This principle can be applied to many areas of our lives, including product development, investment, and personal productivity.

In product development, for example, it's common to find that 20% of product features or improvements deliver 80% of the value to customers. Think about the development of a mid range chip set from Qualcomm. The focus will be more on developing a processor that is more power efficient, even if it means sacrificing some performance. This is because majority of the users who are using a mid range smart phone is looking for a phone that can meet his or her needs and lasts the whole day.But most of the time, the problem is that you might be learning something new and you need someone who has the knowledge to determine the 20% that leads to the maximum benefits. That’s where you can use the pre-trained LLMs like ChatGPT.

You don't have to become a master of everything, nor should you try. Instead, focus your full energy on the main storyline, sifting through and involve in only the essential and intriguing aspects of side missions, much like how you play a game like Red Dead Redemption 2.

And what's next?

Share those wonderful prompts that you crafted by solving your own problems.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s your feed or my comment section.

What if the insights you gained over time from your own experience vanish into thin air one day, not helping anyone?

Imagine that “WASTED” title from GTA floats all around you on that day.

Originally shared on LinkedIn