97% Rule
Treat resistance as a scarce resource: accept most unfairness that you cannot change or that costs too much to contest, and save serious effort for the small fraction where action can alter the outcome.
The unsettling lesson attached to a cow on a golf course is numerical: accept 97% of what feels unfair. Fight only the remaining 3%.
E1Resistance has an opportunity cost
Unfairness and actionability are different judgments. Something can be genuinely wrong yet remain outside your control—or be so minor that contesting it consumes more time, attention, and energy than any victory would return. The rule separates the emotional signal, “this should not have happened,” from the strategic question, “can my effort materially change what happens next?” Acceptance protects your capacity; selective resistance concentrates it.
E1Three percent is a filter, not a statistic
The ratio is not a measured law, and acceptance is not proof that an outcome is fair. Nor should “97%” become an excuse for avoiding difficult action. The model breaks when the apparent cost is small but the harm is cumulative, repeated, or likely to spread to others; then letting one incident pass may enlarge the problem.
E1Price the fight before entering it
For the next unfair demand you encounter, write down the outcome you could realistically change, the specific action required, and the maximum time you will spend. If you cannot name a plausible changed outcome, release the dispute. If you can, stop rehearsing the unfairness and take that action.
E1Episodes that teach this
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A cow on a golf course taught me how to deal with unfairness in life - Future IQ
· explained at 7:55
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"97% of the things are the things that you should accept... only 3% are things that you can change and that you should fight for."