80/20 Your Life! How to Get More Done With Less Effort and Change Your Life in the Process!

First, when you attend networking events, focus on the 20% of individuals you know are able to help you. Nurture those relationships.

Second, spend only 20% of your time talking about yourself. Spend 80% of your time listening to others. You’ll make a better impression.

Third, invert the 80/20 rule when following up with new people you’ve met. Spend the majority of your time following up with the small number of high-value contacts.

First, limit the number of items on your daily to-do list to seven. If you can get away with five, do so. It’s okay to maintain a brain-dump list. But your daily to-do list is something entirely different.

Second, only include high-value tasks on your daily list. Eighty percent of the tasks you’ll be tempted to put on your list won’t contribute to your goals. Focus on the 20% that will.

First, before you accept a project, make sure it aligns with your strengths. You don’t want to waste time learning new skills just so you’ll be able to deliver. You should only take on projects you’re qualified to handle.

I’ve mentioned Parkinson’s law in a couple of my other books. It dovetails nicely with the 80/20 rule. This law states that “work expands to fill the time available for its completion.” So if you give yourself five hours to clean your home, you’ll take five hours. If you shorten the available time frame to two hours, you’ll get everything done in two hours.

According to the Pareto principle, we derive most of our enjoyment from a small proportion of our possessions.

Third, whenever you’re about to purchase something, consider whether it’ll become one of the possessions you use 80% of the time. If not, resist the temptation to buy it. It’ll only clutter your home.

First, make a list of every activity you enjoy. Once you’ve completed this list, pick the five you enjoy the most.

Second, think about roadblocks that might prevent you from pursuing the five favored activities on your list.

Pick the two hobbies for which there are the fewest roadblocks.

First, make a list of hobbies you can do on your own. These are activities you can enjoy without needing other people to participate.

Second, brainstorm products and services you can deliver while pursuing these hobbies (e.g. handmade jewelry, baked goods, family portraits, etc.).

Third, identify the hobby that offers the simplest and easiest path to the market.

Personally, I want to spend my free time in ways that maximize my quality of life. It’s not just about relaxing after a tough day. I want to get as much mileage as possible from the leisure activities I pursue.

life is too short to read books I don’t enjoy.

commit to jumping ship at the 25% mark if a book fails to engage you. If you don’t find a book engaging after a quarter of the way, you’re unlikely to find it engaging later. You might, but you’re better off cutting your losses and moving on.

when you find a novelist you enjoy, stick with him or her. Read everything written by that author. I’ve found that if I love one novel by a particular author, I’ll probably enjoy his or her other novels.

Unfortunately, many people have allowed their most significant relationships to erode due to inattention. Social media has bamboozled folks into believing their online relationships are just as rich and textured as those they enjoy in person.

Our online friends can keep us company, entertain us with gossip, and chat about popular movies and TV shows. But they don’t truly know us. At least, not in the way our real-life friends know us.

Perhaps you’ve heard friends complain that they feel as if their spouses have become like roommates and their children like tenants. That’s what happens when we fail to give our loved ones the purposeful attention they deserve.

We seem unable to resist the impulse to check our phones, much like Pavlov’s dogs were unable to resist drooling at the sound of a dinner bell.

Second, based on the above, commit to turning your phone off whenever you spend quality time with your family. The odds of receiving a truly urgent message that warrants interrupting this time are infinitesimal. Play the odds.

First, figure out why you get annoyed. Often, the reasons have little to do with the person whose actions annoy us. Much of our irritation stems from our immediate circumstances.

Third, remind yourself that “this too shall pass.” This practice may seem silly, but consider this: we usually become annoyed in the heat of the moment. Something happens that we dislike, and we immediately get upset. This is an emotional response, not one born of rational thought. When you tell yourself “this too shall pass,” you recognize the temporary nature of whatever is irking you. Most of the things that irk us are trivial, short-lived, and therefore not worth our irritation.

When our friendships align with our values, needs, experiences, and expectations, we feel more satisfied. Yet, many of us have a tendency to focus our time and attention on situational friendships - those stemming from circumstance.

This isn’t about seeking “perfect” friends. There are no perfect friends. Rather, it’s about evaluating the people you meet and identifying those who are most likely to have a positive, rewarding, and long-term impact in your life.

We tend to get along best with people who have personalities that complement our own. That’s not to say they’re mirror images of us. Nor is it to suggest they have the same personalities. Rather, their dominant traits dovetail nicely with ours.

Successful dating isn’t about finding the perfect partner. It’s about identifying and spending your time with the ones who show the greatest potential. To do that, you must have a way to filter the majority.

You don’t need to stick to a 100% healthy diet to be healthy. The body is a wondrous machine that can metabolize a great variety of foods. Give yourself permission to indulge now and then.

You’ll find that eating an 80% healthy diet is ten times easier than trying to maintain a perfect diet.

Third, create a short workout routine based on these compound exercises. I’m an advocate of making slow, incremental progress. That being the case, I recommend limiting your workout to 10 minutes a day for the first two weeks. Don’t over do it. Focus on building the habit. You can extend the duration of your workout later.

For example, 80% of your grocery bill probably stems from 20% of the products you purchase. In fact, 80% of the money you spend each month probably goes toward 20% of the items you spend it on.

These days, there’s no reason to maintain several cards. Use the 80/20 rule. Put the majority of your purchases on a single card. Keep a second card for emergencies. Discard the rest.

For some people, learning new things is its own reward. The discovery of new concepts and ideas, or the mastery of new skills, is, by itself, reason to celebrate.

For others, learning stems from purpose. These individuals learn to accomplish a specific goal. It’s a step toward advancing their careers, earning more money, increasing their productivity, or boosting their value to others.

Third, remind yourself that your ultimate goal in learning new things is to become more effective, more productive, and ultimately more valuable. Perfectionism has nothing to do with these outcomes.

I’ve found that being open to criticism allows me to get more mileage out of everything I learn.