The 8 to 1 Rule

The 8 to 1 rule is a rule of thumb.

I first heard this rule from marketer Mike Long.

The 8 to 1 Rule: A task will be roughly 8 times quicker then 2nd or 3rd time you have done it compared with the first time.

Why the 8 to 1 rule is important

Our minds work in a linear fashion. So if it takes us 5 hours to do something the first time, our mind will tell us that it will take us 5 hours every time we want to carry out that task.

In reality, the second time we do something it is much easier. In other words, we get the hang of it after the 2nd or 3rd time.

It is important to keep the 8 to 1 rule at the forefront of our minds so as to prevent ourselves from becoming overwhelmed with learning new skills.

Regards

-Simon

This entry was posted on Friday, July 30th, 2010 at 8:20 PM and is filed under Uncategorized, misc. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “The 8 to 1 Rule”

  1. rather not say Says:
    August 20th, 2010 at 12:22 PM

    so, you are saying (in general) that if a task took you 5 hours to complete the first time, by the second/third time it should only take you about 45 minutes?

  2. simon Says:
    August 20th, 2010 at 5:34 PM

    Correct. Of course, this is assuming that you put in full effort etc.

  3. rather not say Says:
    August 24th, 2010 at 4:51 PM

    i think it’s slightly exaggerated maybe more like 5 to 1

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