The 90/10 Principle

 I am a collector of all sorts of things, so I love hunting all over Trade me. I was recently purchased a piece of memorabilia on Trade Me (an online auction site) that I hade been looking for  a while. I thought I had finally found what I wanted, so bought it for $100. When it arrived it was not at all what I had expected. It was in kitset form. I was unhappy because in place did the advert mention it was a kit, it just showed  a finished product. I was quite disappointed and a little angry when I first got the product.

So I thought about it and politely contacted the seller stating it wasn't what expected and That I didn't have the time or the skills to build this. I also stated that there was no reference to the fact it was a kit in the advertisement, so I felt it was little misleading. The seller said he thought it would have been obvious seeing it was in the kitset section. I  replied that I just named the product I wanted and arrived there without having any notion of what section it was in.

Now the net result of this has been that I got my money back minus his postage , as it had been free delivery . I thought this was a fair process, to which we both amiably and mutually consented to.

So where does the 90/10 come in to this? About the same time I was reading a short article by author Stephen Covey ( 7 Habits of Highly Effective People) he was describing how the 90/10  principle works.

10% of life is made up of  what happens to you. We really have no control over this process. The other 90% you have total control over because it is your reaction to any given situation. No matter what you face there are always alternatives. Some more positive than others. Your immediate reaction determines how the subsequent scenarios may work out and how limited your options are.

So getting back to what happened to me. I first reaction was disappointment and a little anger. My next reaction was to do nothing for while. Then  I assertively, but politely made contact via e-mail with the seller explaining my situation. I felt this was the best option.

1. I could have"thrown my toys out of the cot" and got abusive to the seller....getting the sellers back up.
2. I could of got angry and stomped and raged and ultimately done nothing and said "Oh well it was only $100 dollars" ........................Made every one around me miserable
3. I could have just done nothing at all.....................so achieve nothing at all

                                        or I could have responded the way that I did!

So how did my 90% work for me this time? Well I have managed to find a different item for my collection which is actually better, and it only cost me $12 delivered.  I also found anther item I had wanted for a while for another $12. I have subsequently managed to buy two more items for another collection all under my $96 budge,t so it was a great result!! 4 items for the price of one and I am very pleased with each of them.

I have been able to enjoy some great deals all because of how I was able to react well to the first incident.

Remember you can't change your 10% (stuff happens) but you can change you 90%. So stop. take breath and respond in a level headed way. Don't just react. it can make all the difference to your subsequent options.

Until next time.