Law of the Vital Few

The 80/20 Rule (Pareto Principle) loosely states that 80 percent of the effects come from 20 percent of the causes.  This concept was influenced by world business economics back in the early 1900’s pointing out that 80% of a country’s wealth was controlled by 20% of the population.  Another example, related to marketing sales indicates that 80% of a company’s sales come from 20% of a company’s client base.  Of course, you can’t fit everything into an 80/20 split, but it is the general concept that we are looking to establish here.

Pareto- Italian Economist and Philosopher

Related to Street Survival, the 80/20 Rule has several implications.  One aspect relates closely to the subject of Tools, Targets and Plans.

Tools:  There are only 12 vital tools on the body that you need for Street Survival that spans over all of the four ranges of combat.  Of course, once you enter into CQC range (the range where an average person can defeat a larger and more skilled opponent), the number of tools diminish significantly.  Therefore, 20% of your arsenal yields 80% of your success for Street Survival.  This is what is often referred to as “High Percentage Moves.”

Targets:  The same holds true for target acquisition on the human body.  How many times have we seen anatomy diagrams pointing out every pressure point and vulnerable weak spot on the body?  There seems to be hundreds.  Again, by applying the 80/20 Rule we start to understand what matters most when faced with a Street Survival situation: Eyes, Throat, Groin, Shins/Top of the Feet.

Unrealistic anatomy target chart displaying dozens of possibilities

Plans:  One of the common flaws I see consistently with so-called “Reality-Based” fighting systems is the lack of understanding how to train what they are espousing as the “go-to” strategies for Street Survival.  I recently saw on a martial arts talk forum several “Reality Based” instructors who were asked what they teach their students past learning the Fence and Situational Awareness; several of these instructors answered by stating that after their students learned the basic soft skills for a street engagement they just end up teaching them either MMA or traditional martial arts concepts.  So many fighting systems offering solutions for the street end up training material that is disproportional to what would actually happen on the street.  This is why we emphasize starting with the fight and working backwards from there to discover the essence of combat.  One of the common violations is using sport sparring to pressure test what would actually work on the street.

Please remember that the fundamental nature of the 80/20 Rule is being able to recognize that most things in life are not distributed evenly and understanding that you have the option to focus on the most critical 20% and still yield immediate and promising results.  This concept is not to suggest that you will become a better fighter by only putting in 20% of the effort, or even 80% for that matter, because no matter how you look at it quality is defined by the whole 100%.  Beethoven may have written 80% of the Fifth Symphony in 20% of the time required, but it wouldn’t be the classic that it is today without all of the finishing touches.

Dedicated to YOUR Survival

Joe