The 80/20 Rule for Meaningful Success (Production Vs Consumption)
Knowing when to stop "Reading" and start "Building"
Investing won't make you as much money as the production of goods or services.
When I first realised this, it blew my mind.
Regular investments yield 5-15% max, depending on the prevailing interest rates, the investment vehicle and domain.
But you can reap up to 90% Return on Investment when you run a business or deliver a service.
This letter is not really about Money or Investment.
It’s about the ROI from your time and attention.
If you passively consume inspirational content on LinkedIn, TikTok, or YouTube, you’ll only be marginally successful — just like investing.
On the other hand, the real people cashing out of socials are those who invest 70-90% of their time producing, and only 10-30% consuming inspiration.
(That is, if the consumption itself is not a waste.)
Your best chance at lasting success and high ROI for your time and attention is production.
Consume only when you are tired, when you need to relax, when you are stuck, and you probably want to learn a thing or 2 to untangle your path.
Other than that, if you have a clear plan and you are high on physical energy and motivation, keep producing.
Investment can only take you so far; production and holding assets are where the real worth is.
The Production Mindset
I have realised the following:
Reading about entrepreneurship won't make you an entrepreneur the same way watching cooking videos won't make you a chef.
The people making a ton of money from online courses are not the ones buying them.
They are the ones creating and selling them.
The gap between consumer and producer is the gap between dreaming and doing.
Every hour you spend scrolling through "success tips" is an hour you could have spent building something real.
(Every minute you spend reading this is one minute you could have been investing in production.)
The irony is stark — most people consume content about productivity while being unproductive in that very instant.
I know people who spend time researching the perfect morning routine.
Stop it.
Rather, start waking up early to work on your project.
Stop watching videos about time management and start managing your actual time.
Endless Consumption is a Trap
This has happened to me several times.
Most of us fall into consumption because it feels like progress.
Reading business books feels productive.
Watching tutorials feels like learning.
Following influencers feels like networking.
But feeling productive and being productive are two different things entirely.
Consumption is comfortable.
It doesn't require much from you (at the beginning).
But when you consider the opportunity cost of what you have lost, the regret weighs a ton.
Production at first demands all of these things and more, but in the end, pays you rich dividends.
The market doesn't care how many podcasts you've listened to about scaling businesses.
It only cares about what you've actually built, delivered, hosted, or sold.
When Consumption Actually Helps
In my experience, there are exactly three times when consuming makes sense:
When you're genuinely stuck and need specific knowledge to move forward,
When you're physically or mentally exhausted and need to recharge
When you're learning a completely new skill that requires foundational understanding.
Everything else is procrastination dressed up as education.
If you already know what to do but you're still consuming content about how to do it, you're avoiding the work.
The work is scary. The work is uncertain. The work might fail.
But the work is also the only thing that pays.
The 80/20 Rule Applied
If you must consume, make it count.
Spend 80% of your time producing and 20% consuming — and make that 20% laser-focused on solving specific problems you are actually facing.
Don't consume generally.
Be very specific in your consumption.
Don't watch "How to Be Successful".
Rather, watch "how to optimise conversion rates for Substack newsletters" when you're actually building a newsletter whose subscription needs optimisation.
Context makes consumption valuable.
Without context, it's just entertainment masquerading as self-improvement.
The people winning don’t have the most knowledge.
They are the people who consistently apply knowledge to create something more valuable.
Finally, I charge you:
It’s good to invest (you’ll get some returns from there).
But to become the real tycoon or baron, start producing.
Everything else is just noise.
—DrAzu
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I don't know where this came from, but I'm extremely grateful for you sharing this sir. One of the most brilliant pieces I've consumed from you, and now without further ado, let me go and produce something.
Once again, my mind has been successful shifted.
Thanks so much for this sir!
The real ROI comes from Producing!