Comments on: The 40/30/30 Rule

By: partgypsy

partgypsy — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 22:00:07 +0000

Way too vague to for any utility, rule doesn’t seem to be much more than a feel-good device.
For one depends on the activity and skill/expertise level. Taking risks may be important in stock picks and winning a gold in snowboarding, but doesn’t have much relevance if you want to knit a kick-ass sweater, play a piano piece perfectly or ace an oral presentation.

By: katie

katie — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 07:04:18 +0000

I think this is definitely more useful psychologically than the 80-20 rule. Thanks for the post!

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:08:46 +0000

To those questioning the numbers: Go read the article. It’s a pep talk from a skiing coach, not an immutable law. The main point is to include the 30% of pushing yourself. “if I wasn’t falling at least once a day in training, I wasn’t trying hard enough.”

He had been totally focused on improving his speed and avoiding falling (getting it right) and his coach said he was missing the point. By practicing, we can get stuck in a rut and lose sight of the risks we need to take to grow.

It isn’t about having a nice clean pie chart.

By: brad

brad — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:57:16 +0000

thanks for posting it, but i wasnt able to draw anything useful from this post at all. basically my misgivings are the same as others, the numbers seem arbitrarily chosen, and dont logically fit some activities.

By: David/Yourfinances101

David/Yourfinances101 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:30:47 +0000

I would say that the percentages depend on what you’re talking about. Take getting out of debt for example. That virtually involves nothing physical.

I think that would be virtually all mental.

How about losing wieght? To me, that one is probably 60/40, physical/mental.

You can have the best mental outlook in the world, but if you don’t go exercise, I doubt you’d lose a pound.

It all seems relative to what the task at hand is.

By: Matt

Matt — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:45:44 +0000

Thanks for this intriguing post about the 40/30/30 rule. Being a bowler for 33 years, I would agree that once you understand the basics of a sport or game, the mental abilities matter more than the physical. I do take into account my successes within the sport are due to the risks I’ve taken along with the experience I can rely on. You have to combine belief, intent and trust all rolled into one.

By: George

George — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:45:30 +0000

Wasn’t the prior post all about how statistics lie? How funny that you’d follow it with a post like this ;-)

By: Kevin M

Kevin M — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:20:45 +0000

The fact that the 40/30/30 rule comes from the 99% website cracks me up.

Shouldn’t it be 40/30/29/1 by that logic?

By: Brent

Brent — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:59:46 +0000

Just where exactly do these numbers come from? I agree that we need to improve our skills, take risks and keep going when things get hard, but I feel like these percentages from sports and the like just give bad impressions, we have the 40/30/30 rule, the 80/20 rule the 90/10 rule etc… Which one is real? the fact is that people are just making it up anyways, you want to make a point, at least use anecdotal evidence.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:19:41 +0000

I think that technical skill and experience may be above 30%. From my experiences playing sports in high school, yes some of it came from being in shape and building the muscles I needed to play basketball, but the majority of my success I attributed to the amount I practiced and the amount of time I spent working at it.

Doing the same thing over and over again helps me and gets me more comfortable with skills that I’m learning. Eventually it becomes second nature and you rise above your peers. As I progressed through high school, I found that less depended on my physical skills and more depended on how smart I was and that my experience outmatched many of my opponents.