What the 10–80–10 Rule Is All About
Most people fall in love with the first 10% of a journey. They buy the books, sign up for the course, post about their “new chapter”. Energy is high, motivation feels endless. Then they fantasise about the last 10%, the moment of glory, the recognition, the photo finish where everyone suddenly pays attention. But between those two peaks lies the desert: the middle 80%. And that’s where 99% of people die.
The 10–80–10 Rule is my way of mapping reality without sugar-coating it. The first 10% is excitement, a spark that gets you moving. The last 10% is reward, momentum, recognition, what outsiders call “overnight success”. But the middle 80% is the grind. Repetition. Systems. Boring drills. Showing up when nobody is watching. That’s where success is actually built. And that’s why almost everyone quits.
“Most people love the beginning of a journey and fantasise about the finish. But success is built in the middle. That’s what I call The 10–80–10 Rule.” – Jake Smolarek
This isn’t about talent, luck or shortcuts. It’s about sequence. You don’t get to claim the final 10 unless you survive the 80. That’s the law. This framework gives you an honest map of the journey: spark, grind, reward. Once you see it, the whole process makes sense. Motivation fading? That’s normal. Feeling bored? That’s the signal you’re doing the right reps. The middle 80 is not failure, it’s the proving ground where legends are made.
The Rule You Can’t Cheat
“You don’t earn the final 10 without surviving the middle 80. Most people love the start and fantasise about the finish. Real success is built in the middle.”
You don’t rise by accident. You rise because you didn’t quit in the 80%.
The rule is brutal but simple: protect the 80. Show up when it’s boring. Show up when your numbers are flat. Show up when nobody claps. Pick one metric, stick with it for weeks, and only change when it’s been dead for two weeks straight. Ship weekly. Review weekly. Progress beats perfection.
Boredom isn’t a problem; it’s proof. It’s the green light that tells you you’re finally doing the right reps. Momentum always comes late. Recognition is always last. If you understand that, you stop chasing fireworks. You stop quitting early. You just keep stacking reps until the tide turns.
Think cooking. The first 10% is the spark, that rush when you find a new recipe, picture how it will look, imagine the taste. You’re excited, you’re motivated, you’re already seeing the compliments. Then comes the 80%. Endless chopping, measuring, simmering, stirring, cleaning pans. It feels slow, repetitive, sometimes even boring. That’s the grind. Only after all of it do you get the final 10%: plating the dish, serving it, and watching people praise the result. The applause is real, but it only came because you survived the messy middle.
Same with a marathon. The first 10% is the start gun. The crowd roars, the music’s pumping, and you feel like you could run forever. But then the real race begins. Miles 4 to 23, the stretch where nothing feels glamorous. Just you, your breath, your legs screaming, your mind negotiating with itself. That’s the 80%. And it’s there that most runners drop out. Only if you hold the line do you get the final 10%: the stadium, the finish tape, the medal, the photo that makes it all look easy.
The First 10%: The Excitement Phase
The first 10% is intoxicating. You’re all in. You tell everyone. You buy the books, sign up for the courses, maybe even post about your “new chapter”. It feels like a rocket launch, pure energy, endless motivation. But rockets burn most of their fuel in the first few minutes. And just like that, your motivation will run out. That’s not failure. That’s how it’s designed.
The first 10% is meant to light the fire, not keep it burning. It gives you a spark, not a strategy. This is the window where you learn the basics, gather fresh ideas, sketch your first goals. But don’t confuse learning with progress. If you stay here, consuming content and chasing the high of “starting”, you’re already dead. Motivation is a sugar rush. Discipline is the meal.
What actually matters in this phase is distilling the noise into clarity. Ten core insights. Three models you’ll test. One single-page plan. That’s your exit ticket from the honeymoon. Skip it, and you’ll stay addicted to novelty, chasing books, podcasts, and hacks, instead of moving forward.
“Knowledge without reps is just trivia.”
When the spark fades, you need something stronger. That’s when discipline takes over. And that’s when you enter the middle 80, the part almost everyone avoids, and the only place where mastery is built.
The Middle 80%: The Grind Phase
This is where 99% of people quit. The hype is gone. The applause is gone. The results aren’t here yet. Every day feels like a copy-paste of the last. You wake up thinking, “Is this even working?” Doubt gets louder. Excuses multiply. The temptation to quit is constant. And yet, this is the exact phase where mastery is forged.
The 80% is where practice turns into mastery. It’s where systems, rituals, and discipline make the work automatic. It’s where you say no to every distraction and yes to the boring reps that nobody claps for. Motivation is dead by now. Good. It was never going to carry you anyway. What’s left is discipline.
“The Middle 80% is where 99% of people quit.”
Daily practice becomes non-negotiable. No 0% days. Even if all you do is ship something tiny, you show up. One metric, four to six weeks. No changing lanes until the data is flat for two weeks straight. That’s how compounding happens.
Systems are your life-support here. Time blocks. Environment design. Weekly reviews. Boring rituals that make quitting harder than continuing. Mastery isn’t built on hype. It’s built on the scaffolding of discipline.
Deliberate practice cuts deeper. You don’t just repeat, you attack weak points. You drill what hurts. You measure, you adjust, one variable at a time. First 50 reps, then tweaks. That’s how grown-ups win.
Obsession multiplies everything. Not the toxic kind, the healthy kind. Obsession is doing the drills when no one is watching. Obsession is recovery, nutrition, film study, saying no to anything that isn’t the metric. Talent sets the ceiling. Obsession smashes it.
I’ve seen it play out. An entrepreneur eating sandwiches in his car, laptop balanced on the steering wheel, squeezing in reps during breaks. Years later, he’s running an eight-figure business. An athlete who lost both his coach and his father, but trusted the system and hit world number one in two months. A client of mine who posted on LinkedIn every single week and took every speaking gig he could, no matter how small. Today he earns £350k and dominates his niche. That’s not magic. That’s the 80%.
“Consistency beats intensity. Reps build reality.”
The grind isn’t glamorous. It’s brutal. It’s boring. And it’s the only bridge from beginner to legend.
The Final 10%: The Reward Phase
After the grind comes the surge. Momentum compounds. Recognition finally catches up. Suddenly the people who ignored you are now chasing you. Invitations land in your inbox. Waitlists form. Articles get written. Your name starts circulating in rooms you’re not even in. Outsiders call it “overnight success”.
But you know the truth.
“People call it ‘overnight success.’ But you know what it really took.”
The final 10% is harvest season. This is when you become a category leader. Your name becomes a reference point. Your framework gets quoted. You’re no longer knocking on doors, doors open for you. That’s when the word legend shows up.
But legend isn’t something you declare. It’s the verdict the market returns after you’ve paid your dues in the 80.
“You don’t rise by accident. You rise because you didn’t quit in the 80%.”
The final 10% feels explosive, but it’s never an accident. It’s the delayed recognition of thousands of invisible reps. It’s the world finally seeing what you’ve known all along: you didn’t stop. And that’s why you won.
Start Late? Start Now.
There’s no expiry date on the 10–80–10 Rule. The sequence is the same whether you’re 20 or 50. The only difference is what you bring to the table.
If you’re 20, your advantage is speed. Learn faster, make more mistakes, and recover quickly.
If you’re 30, you already know the game is serious. Practise harder, cut the bullshit, and build discipline while your peers are still talking.
If you’re 40, you’ve got perspective. Master smarter. Use the lessons you’ve already paid for and stop repeating old mistakes.
If you’re 50 or beyond, you’re carrying scar tissue. That’s an asset. Leverage it. You’ve survived things younger players haven’t even seen. Use that resilience and go build your legend.
You’re not behind. You’re not late. The only thing holding you back is the story you keep telling yourself. The 10–80–10 Rule doesn’t care about your age. It only cares about reps.
Obsession Clause
Obsession is the hidden fuel of the 80%. It’s what separates the people who dabble from the people who dominate. Systems and rituals will keep you alive, but obsession is what turns you into a weapon.
Obsession means doing the boring drills ten thousand times. It means saying no to everything outside the metric. It’s sleep, nutrition, recovery, film study, review. It’s being so locked in on one thing that the world thinks you’ve gone mad, and being okay with that.
Most people flirt with effort. They do enough to feel busy, enough to convince themselves they’re trying. But obsession is different. Obsession is when the craft owns you. When you replay the tape, when you study the detail, when you run the same play again and again until there are grooves burned into your brain.
Bruce Lee is often attributed with the line: “I fear not the man who has practised 10,000 kicks once, but the man who has practised one kick 10,000 times.”
Mike Tyson put it even more bluntly: “Do the things you hate as if you love them.”
That’s obsession. And it’s the multiplier. Talent sets the ceiling. Obsession smashes it.
“Discipline keeps you in the game. Obsession makes you unbeatable.”
Case Studies with 10-80-10 Rule
Case Study 1 – From Sandwiches to £12M
In 2020, a young entrepreneur in London started with nothing but a rough vision and the basics. The first 10% was planning and absorbing ideas, capturing a one-page plan that gave him direction. Then came the brutal 80%. He worked during lunch breaks, eating sandwiches in his car, laptop balanced on the passenger seat, building systems while his colleagues were scrolling Instagram. Day after day, the grind continued, cold calls, rejections, small wins, endless repetition. By 2023, he quit his job. His company crossed £12 million in revenue. Outsiders called it an overnight success. He knew it was years of the 80%, discipline, systems, and obsession, that built the reality.
Case Study 2 – From £75k to £350k
In 2021, a professional in the UK earning £75k a year decided to change gears. The first 10% was clarity: setting the right goals, structuring his time, and committing to one metric. The middle 80% was ruthless consistency, posting on LinkedIn every week, speaking at every event he could get into, designing micro-systems that made it repeatable even when life was chaotic. The grind was invisible, but compounding took over. Today, he earns £350k annually, is recognised in his niche, and is regularly invited to speak as a thought leader. To outsiders, it looks like he “levelled up” in record time. In reality, the legend was built in the 80%.
Bridges to Other Frameworks
The 10–80–10 Rule is the emotional arc of the journey: spark, grind, reward. But it doesn’t stand alone. It connects with the other frameworks I’ve built; together, they form a complete system for performance, belief, and identity.
Vision GPS gives you the map and the destination. It’s about clarity, decision-making, and speed. Without direction, the 10–80–10 Rule is just motion. With Vision GPS, you know where you’re heading while surviving the grind.
Learn → Practise → Master → Become a F*cking Legend is the identity shift that mirrors the 10–80–10 arc. You learn in the first 10%. You practise and master in the 80%. You earn the title of legend in the final 10%.
No 0% Days is the behavioural law that keeps you alive in the 80. It’s the rule that makes sure you don’t quit when motivation dies, because zero progress is never an option.
3 Steps to Winning a Gold Medal adds the performance mindset. Whatever your version of success is, building a business, writing a book, or changing your life, the medal framework reminds you that belief comes first, discipline fuels the grind, and when you show up prepared, the result becomes inevitable. You don’t hope to win. You walk in knowing you’re ready.
These frameworks aren’t isolated ideas. They’re a connected system I use with clients, and they’ve been featured in podcasts and publications like The Times, Yahoo Finance, Gentleman’s Journal, and Business Matters. Together, they give you the map, the arc, the discipline, the identity, and the belief, everything required to cross from beginner to legend.
2-Minute Summary
The 10–80–10 Rule explains how real success is built. The first 10% is the spark, excitement, motivation, and learning that gets you started. The middle 80% is the grind, repetition, systems, discipline, and the boring work that almost everyone avoids. The final 10% is the reward, momentum, recognition, and what outsiders call “overnight success”.
Most people love the beginning and fantasise about the finish. Almost everyone quits in the middle. The ones who don’t, win.
“You don’t rise by accident. You rise because you didn’t quit in the 80%.”
The rule is brutally simple: protect the 80. Show up when it’s boring. Trust the process when motivation dies. Compounding happens late, but it happens. Success is built in the middle.
