Escape the 70% Trap - Reallocate Your Effort Toward Ownership, Not Busywork.

There’s a lie sold to generations of workers: if you show up, keep your head down and climb the corporate ladder, security will follow. For many Australians today - especially in Sydney and Melbourne - that promise looks increasingly hollow. Rent and living costs outpace raises. Job titles look good on paper but don’t buy freedom.

This is not an argument to quit. It’s an argument to rethink how you spend the single finite thing you actually control: your effort.

John Amaechi, the organisational psychologist, frames the difference between mediocre and extraordinary as the F.E.E.: Focus, Effort, Execution. Most people live at 70% because it’s comfortable and defensible. That keeps the lights on. It does not build ownership. If your real goal is to own something that compounds for you - an actual business, not a hobby - you must reallocate your best effort to what will one day be yours while still delivering excellence where it matters at work.

This mental model below shows you how - precisely, practically, and without moralising.

The Two Kinds of Compounding: Employee vs Owner

As an employee, compounding is linear. A 3–5% raise compounds slowly; bonuses may add a spike, but your earning ceiling is largely set by your role and the company’s economics. Over a decade, wage growth rarely outpaces asset price inflation.

As an owner, compounding is multiplicative. Skills, systems, reputation and customer relationships stack: one client becomes five, one process multiplies output, one small reinvestment yields bigger returns later. That’s the math of wealth and agency.

The practical decision isn’t "quit or not" - it’s “where do I put my 100% F.E.E.?” If you want ownership in years, spend your best effort on building something that compounds; spend your 70% (or MVE - Minimum Viable Effort) on work that keeps the lights on and preserves reputation.

Your High-School Lesson - Reframed as Strategy

Born and educated in China, when I was in school my Chinese exam plateaued stubbornly at 70%. I chose to stop trying and poured energy into English and Science instead. That choice feels messy in retrospect - part ego protection, part survival tactic. But strategically it was correct: I identified a low-return slot and reallocated scarce resource (time) to higher return slots.

Warren Buffett’s 20-Slot Rule is the same idea: pick the highest conviction investments and protect them. You don’t punish yourself by spreading effort thin. You place it where compounding is realistic.

That logic transfers cleanly from exams to careers: some roles and tasks are low-return for the life you want. Recognise them, don’t moralise them, and apply your best effort where it compounds - your micro-venture.

A Clear, Practical Stance (What I’m Saying and What I’m Not)

• I am not saying: shirk responsibilities, become sloppy, or be a poor colleague.

• I am saying: be surgical with your time and discipline your emotional energy. Deliver excellence on the things that matter (your MVE at work and core tasks in your venture). Drop the time-sapping, low-value rituals (politics, performative busyness, endless non-critical meetings).

Excellence isn’t optional. You must preserve it where it creates momentum - at work (for reputation and cashflow) and in your venture (for growth and ownership). The only discount you give is to the unnecessary, not to quality.

The Operational Playbook

Below is a repeatable routine you can adopt immediately. It’s built to protect your reputation at work while freeing your headspace and discipline for building ownership.

1) Define your Minimum Viable Effort (MVE) at work - the three-task rule

List the 3 tasks that actually move your performance needle (deliverables that directly influence your review, salary, or access to resources). Example: client reports, weekly product demo, and key stakeholder follow-up.

Action: For two weeks, document time spent on work tasks. Identify the 3 tasks that explain 80% of your perceived value. From Day 15, restrict discretionary time to those tasks and an agreed maintenance bucket (e.g., 2 hours/week for communication). Everything else: decline, delegate, or defer.

2) Declare sacred venture time - schedule like a meeting

Block consistent, non-negotiable time: start with 5 hours/week (e.g., 7–9pm Tue/Thu + 3 hours Sat morning). Treat it as work you will be held accountable for.

Action: Put the time in your calendar, set a “do not disturb,” and tell one person you’re accountable to (partner, friend, or a small accountability group).

3) Apply F.E.E. to both contexts (but differently)

• At work (MVE): Focus on high-impact outcomes. Execute with craftsmanship. Keep status concise; use short weekly updates that demonstrate delivery and reduce political friction.

• In your venture: Focus on customer-facing output and systems that scale (product, funnel, fulfilment). Master the boring work - documentation, fulfilment, metrics - before chasing glamour.

4) Kill low-value drains (with scripts you can use)

• Meetings: ask for agenda and purpose; decline if neither aligns with MVE.

• Political work: document decisions via email; reduce time in discussions by summarising and proposing next steps.

• Email: adopt 2x daily triage windows (e.g., 9–9:30am, 4–4:30pm). Use short, action-oriented replies.

Scripts help:

• “I can’t attend unless we have a clear decision we’re seeking. Please share the agenda and expected outcome.” This is not offensive. Try it!

• “I’ll handle X and will update you on Monday (for example)” (Make sure you update on committed date)

This reduces mental overhead while keeping your reputation as someone who delivers.

5) Deliver fewer but better wins at work - a reputation multiplier

Don’t vanish. Make your work visible via high-quality, finished outcomes: polished reports, predictable metrics, dependable demos. A few highly visible wins build your reputation faster than constant low-quality busyness. That reputation will be a convertible asset in your venture (refs, early customers, partnerships).

Metric: Aim for 1 “high-impact deliverable” per month at work that you can publicise internally (short email + one-pager).

Turning an Idea Into Ownership: a Realistic Micro-Venture Timeline

• Year 0 (Weeks 0–12): Proof of concept

5 hours/week. Validate idea with 3 paying customers, or one pilot partnership. Track revenue, gross margin, time spent. Early goal: $100–$300/month.

• Year 1: Productise & repeat

Increase to 8–12 hours/week. Refine offer, automate fulfilment, build simple website or funnel. Goal: $300–$800/month.

• Year 2: Systemise & hire

Outsource transactional tasks, focus on growth. Goal: $800–$2,000/month.

• Year 3+: Scale or exit

Decide: scale to replace salary (requires larger runway and potentially abandoning job), or keep as compounding side income. Goal ranges widely - $2k–$6k+/month depending on niche.

This is not hype. It’s realistic compounding: slow at first, accelerating once systems, reputation and repeatability exist.

Measuring Progress (simple framework you can copy)

Create a one-line weekly dashboard (spreadsheet or note):

• Hours invested in venture (this week)

• Revenue this week / cumulative revenue

• Customers acquired / churned

• Biggest win this week (work)

• Biggest bottleneck next week

This simple framework keeps your actions accountable and lets you see compounding in numbers - not just feelings.

The Courage to Face Truth (no more excuses)

Your old trick - claiming you “didn’t try” when you fail - will vanish when you give 100% to your venture. That’s the point. The fear of honest failure is what keeps the 70% trap cosy. Give full effort to the venture and keep your MVE at work. If you fail despite 100% F.E.E., you’ll have to accept the result and change the plan. That discipline is how owners iterate toward success.

Final Moral: Quality, Not Busywork

To be crystal clear: do not sacrifice quality. Your work at the job is not the enemy - low-value busywork is. Delivering high-quality results where you choose to apply yourself compounds reputation and capability. That same quality is what customers will pay for when you own something.

You are not abandoning professional standards or ethics. You are prioritising where your highest standards should live: on the outcomes that multiply your future agency.

A Practical Closing Example (micro-venture you can start tonight)

If you want a literal copy-and-paste starter: pick a problem in your circle (friends, neighbours, local small businesses). Offer a small productised service - example: “I’ll audit and post 10 local social posts for your café for $150.” Do it for 3 cafés. That is your pilot. Repeat, refine, and once you have a repeatable offer and two paying customers, raise price and systemise delivery.

That’s ownership in miniature: an offer, customers, delivery, repeatability. Nothing heroic - just compounding.