“If I just work harder, I should get better results.”

Many people believe this somewhere in their hearts.

I used to think the same way.
If I increase the amount of effort, the results will rise in proportion.
That’s what I believed.

But in reality, if you push in the wrong way, your results can actually decline.

You work longer hours, but the outcomes don’t follow.
Maybe you’ve been through a time like that.

(I myself spent a long period in exactly that state—
“working hard but not getting anywhere.”
I still remember how the anxiety and impatience kept growing.)

There is a clear reason for this kind of “effort that goes nowhere.”
It’s because we’re not focusing on the most effective 20% of our abilities.

Summary: How to Get “Twice the Results in Half the Time”

I’ll unpack each of these points below.

The 80/20 Rule: 80% of Results Come from Just 20% of Your Actions

You may already know the Pareto principle.
“Eighty percent of the results are generated by twenty percent of the causes.”
It’s a well-known idea.

Business is no exception.

Only about 20% of your actions are truly responsible for your outcomes.
Put differently, the remaining 80% is made up of activities that don’t significantly affect the result, whether you do them or not.

Imagine you have ten tasks.
In reality, only two of them are directly tied to meaningful results.
If you can invest most of your time and energy into those two, your workload shrinks while your outcomes grow.

So, what exactly is this “top 20% of actions”?

The answer lies in work that is based on your natural talent—your “gift.”

How Forced Effort Kills Results: Laozi’s Idea of “無為自然：Mui shizen”

Let’s bring in a bit of Eastern thought.

老子（Laozi） left us the phrase “無為自然：Mui shizen.”
“無為：Mui” is often misunderstood as “doing nothing,” but that’s not the original meaning.

“無為：Mui” means “not acting against your nature.”

In other words: stop doing what is unnatural for you.

You don’t need to force yourself to copy someone else’s method.
You don’t have to keep pushing yourself to overcome every weakness by brute force.

When we move in the direction of our inherent character and talent, we can produce results in a natural way.
When we walk in the opposite direction of who we are, the results lag behind no matter how hard we try.

This way of thinking aligns beautifully with the Pareto principle.

The 20% that produces 80% of your results is precisely
the work you can do in a natural state.

“明珠在掌：Myōju tanagokoro ni ari” – The Treasure You Seek Is Already in Your Hand

When we want better results, we tend to search for answers “outside” ourselves:

• New skills
• Certifications
• Latest techniques
• Successful people’s methods

Learning is valuable, of course.
But there is something we should notice before we head outside.

Zen has a saying:

“明珠在掌：Myōju tanagokoro ni ari” –
The bright jewel you seek is already in the palm of your hand.

When I first read this, it struck me deeply.
Many people assume that the key to success lies “somewhere out there.”

But in reality, the talent that generates your top 20% of results is not something you acquire later—
it is something you already have.

• What you can do almost effortlessly
• Things people have often praised you for
• Things you were appreciated for without trying hard
• Activities you naturally did as a child

These are your “bright jewels.”

And when you work in a way that makes use of that jewel, results begin to accumulate naturally.

My Own Season of Forced, Unnatural Effort

I’ve also gone through a long period of “unnatural effort.”

I’m not good at sales.
I was always worried: “Will they dislike me?” “Can I really meet their expectations?”
Every time I stood in a sales situation, my heart felt heavy.

Even so, I told myself:

“If I can’t sell, sales will never grow.”
“Sales skills are essential for a CEO.”

With that belief, I invested over one million yen in sales trainings I didn’t even enjoy.

The results? Almost nothing changed.

Now I understand why.
Sales was never part of my “20% zone.”

When I Let Go of Sales, Revenue Stabilized

After struggling with sales and seeing no results, I finally made a decision:

“I’ll let go of sales.
Instead, I’ll go all in on what feels natural to me.”

What I chose was “sharing information.”

YouTube, blogs, and podcasts.
I’ve always enjoyed explaining things and teaching in a clear way.

At the time, I never thought of that as a talent.

But looking back, that was exactly “明珠在掌：Myōju tanagokoro ni ari”—
the jewel I’d been holding all along.

As I focused on sharing information, something interesting began to happen:

• Through articles and videos, I could communicate my values and ways of thinking.
• People who resonated with that content began to trust me, even before we spoke.
• Those who contacted me already understood who I was and what I stood for.

As a result, I found myself in a situation where I could receive work with essentially zero sales activity.

This wasn’t just good luck.

It was the result of letting go of unnatural effort
and concentrating on my natural 20%.

Your Talent—the 20%—Is Hidden in “Small Success Experiences”

So how can you find your own 20%?

When we hear the word “talent,” we often imagine big achievements:
winning competitions, creating huge success stories, getting notable awards.

But the kind of talent I’m talking about here is much quieter.

Talent is found in:

• Things that made others happy, even though you didn’t feel you were trying hard
• Things you just kept doing naturally, almost without noticing
• Things that feel easier to you than to most people

It lives in these “tiny success experiences.”

For example:

• People naturally come to you for advice
• You’re often told you explain things clearly
• You can handle detailed work without stress
• You’re good at connecting with new people
• You enjoy steady, consistent work
• You quickly see the path to solving a problem

All of these “things you naturally do”
are your treasures—your bright jewels.

Because they come so naturally, we tend not to notice them.
Many people think, “Anybody could do this.”

But that “anybody” is, in most cases, your talent.

Talent is often something you’re unaware of.
That’s why we need to pause and deliberately dig up those small success experiences.

When You Focus on What Comes Naturally, Time Works for You

Time spent forcing yourself to do what you’re bad at is “draining time.”
The more you do it, the more your energy runs out.

In contrast, when you focus on what you can do naturally, something different happens:

• You get tired less easily
• You lose track of time
• Ideas for improvement keep coming
• Continuing doesn’t feel like a burden
• As a result, your skills deepen almost automatically

This is what psychology calls the “flow state.”
In that state, the quality of each hour increases dramatically.

In other words,
when you concentrate on your 20% talent, time itself starts working in your favor.

You move from
“the harder I push, the more results I get”
to
“the more naturally I work, the more results accumulate.”

For many people, this shift can completely change their underlying assumptions about work.

The More You Let Go, the Better the Results

In my own case, I stopped doing sales, quit social media, and let go of the urge to expand my company at all costs.
I’ve repeated this process of “letting go” many times.

From that, I realized something:

Results are determined not by the amount of effort,
but by the direction of that effort.

If the direction is right, even modest effort produces results.
If the direction is wrong, huge effort still doesn’t pay off.

That’s why the first question is not
“What should I add?”
but “What should I let go of?”

Release the 80% of activities that drain you.
Focus on the 20% that you can do naturally.

Then not only does your work feel lighter,
but your day-to-day sense of fulfillment changes as well.

Which 20% Will You Let Go Of?

What are the “unnatural 80%” you could let go of?

And where is your natural “20% talent”—your bright jewel—hidden?

When you find that treasure,
your way of working, your results, and your daily life become much lighter.

Getting twice the results in half the time
is not about some special trick or elite skill.

It’s about noticing the talent you already have,
and using it to do work you genuinely enjoy.

That’s all.

May you find your own gift.