The 80/20 Principle Library

[GregDott]

Great thread. Thanks.

He has his own writing style for sure. I really like it.

I'd never heard of this guy before. Purely the contention around his style made me curious so I checked him out. While I'm sure he must have a brain to back such a writing style, it does sound a tad pompous.

 

[MTF]

I was re-reading Living the 80/20 Way by Richard Koch and this part resonated with me a lot (the part in bold was put in bold by me, not the author):

• What’s the route to your 80/20 destination that you would normally pursue? This is not the answer — instead, it’s the standard against which you judge a possible 80/20 route. Unless you conjure up an approach that is hugely better than your habitual answer, you don’t yet have your 80/20 route.
• Now ask, how can you make a vast improvement on your habitual answer, by unreasonably demanding more with less?
• Divide the improvement into two parts. First, how could you get more? What would be a much better way for you? What would you enjoy more, and what would get you to your 80/20 destination more quickly? Brainstorm all possible routes. If you’re short of ideas, ask a friend or three to help — it’s always easier to solve someone else’s puzzle.
• Second, ask how the route could be made easier for you. Dream up many ideas. Then, put them together, until you have a way that might work and definitely offers more with less. Even if you’re not sure it will work, try it. If it fails, move on to your second choice of route — but only if it too offers more with less.

The part in bold - Unless you conjure up an approach that is hugely better than your habitual answer, you don’t yet have your 80/20 route - is very interesting because it will uncover how often you turn toward the same old ideas. I just caught myself doing it and realized that what I thought could be my 80/20 thing is actually just a rehash of an old idea (my "habitual answer" that is very unlikely to bring different, "hugely better" results).

 

[MTF]

I see soooooo many people struggling to have time. For example, I talked with a friend who doesn't have time for deep, satisfying conversations with his wife and they can only do that on special occasions. That's so sad.

No matter how busy you are, you have to find time to study the 80/20 principle. This is your way out of this prison.

 

[MTF]

I started a blog where I post my brief (300 words or less) thoughts on the 80/20 principle in various aspects of life:

Blog - Think 80/20

Do you want a simpler life? Learn how to use the 80/20 principle to get more from less.

www.think8020.com

Hope it's fine to post it here. There's nothing to sell. It's just a side project to improve my writing craft and pretend I know what I'm talking about.

Took a page from @Andy Black's book and just decided to do it, hoping it will interest and help people.

 

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[Andy Black]

I've got one project that's promising and interesting, but it's in the beginning stages, and requires a lot of hours to test, iterate, sell, get feedback, etc. How else would you bring something to market without actually putting in the hours?

Does this not beg the question:

1. How early can you get feedback?
2. How would you bring it to market without actually putting in the hours?

 

[Andy Black]

Love that Henry Ford quote.

 

[Ronak]

Imagine it like this. For simplicity, let's take 10 tasks:

A - makes you $3/hour
B - makes you $3/hour
C - makes you $7/hour
D - makes you $10/hour
E - makes you $12/hour
F - makes you $15/hour
G -makes you $20/hour
H -makes you $25/hour
I - makes you $100/hour
J -makes you $300/hour

Non 80/20 "massive action": 10 hours a day on each task equally, so one hour per task. You make $495 that day. Your average hourly rate ends up being $49.5.

80/20 smart action: you analyze very carefully every task and its output. Yes, this takes time and it's often not that obvious and easy. But once you figure out that tasks I and J together (20%) generate 80.8% of results, here's what happens:

1. You figure out a way to eliminate or delegate other tasks.
2. You focus on tasks I and J for 5 hours a day
3. You make $990 a day. That's double the amount in half the time. Your average hourly rate is $198. You make much more and work much less.

Of course, it's nice in theory but in practice you need to spend a lot of time identifying what works best. But nobody said that cultivating the 80/20 mindset is easy, particularly in the beginning when you have to go against your basic instincts.



As above, you put in the hours but you're very judicious with how you invest time. I believe it comes down to better research and really thinking through what you plan to do instead of doing whatever and seeing what sticks. Also, 80/20 is about dedicating yourself to creative tasks and thinking instead of menial jobs that usually don't give much leverage and big results.

What's the best way to test? How often to iterate? What's the best way to sell? Where can you get the best feedback quickly? If you're burned out because you just work, work, work and don't think, you won't find the answers to these questions easily.

Makes me think of “give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”

The 80/20 guy spends 4 hours sharpening the axe and then two hours chopping down the tree (the actual physical effort). Because he was smart and didn't expend energy needlessly, he'll be able to chop another tree the next day. The other guy spends 6 hours chopping down the tree and can't lift his arm the next day.

Or to give another example: take two climbers wanting to climb a mountain. For the sake of this example, none of them is looking for a challenge and difficulty as climbers often do. They simply want to get to the top using their own legs.

The regular one packs her gear and heads to the mountain. Why waste time studying possible ascent routes? Better to take action now, figure things out along the way and be done as soon as possible. This is how an entrepreneur following the "take action" crowd would behave.

The 80/20 climber studies maps, topography, and reaches out to other climbers who've already scaled the mountain. While the regular climber is already taking action, the 80/20 is still planning.

At this point, using the often preached on this forum message of taking action instead of thinking, you can say: the first climber gets it! Action all the way! Meanwhile, the second one is a wannabe climber. Just talking and no action.

But then the 80/20 climber is done planning and heads to the mountain armed with all the knowledge to scale the mountain in the easiest, safest way possible (that's the difference between a wannabe 80/20 thinker and a real 80/20 thinker: the latter takes action on their plans).

In the end, the regular climber not only struggles a lot to get to the top, but exposes herself to unnecessary danger. "Massive action" business gurus would commend the regular climber for taking massive action. Motivational gurus would commend her for going hard. But there was an easier, more efficient way to save your resources and achieve the same goal! Isn't it silly?



The problem is that if you take 80 hours of action, you don't have time to think. And we don't come up with the greatest ideas when we work. It happens when we're relaxed, when our brains are free to go in random directions and make connections that are impossible to spot in a tense mental state.

Makes me think of yet another quote:

Henry Ford’s reaction to a consultant who questioned why he paid $50,000 a year to someone who spent most of his time with his feet on his desk. “Because a few years ago that man came up with something that saved me $2,000,000,” he replied. “And when he had that idea his feet were exactly where they are now.”



I believe that the way we start something is often the way we'll approach it over the long term. If you decide to to use brute force in the beginning instead of making strategic decisions, when is the moment you transition to the latter? And most importantly, why not think smart from the beginning?

Good stuff.

I think the danger is in the fact that 80/20 thinking and action faking look remarkably similar up until the point that actual action is taken. I have often found myself in the "thinking things to death" scenario of endless planning.

Maybe the difference lies in the fear of execution uncertainty. Focusing on the possible negative results leads to overthinking and inaction. Focusing on the high level inputs required to bring results and then acting on it is 80/20 .

Your point about how you start something is how you end up is pertinent, as I've always struggled with the switch, wanting to wait for the next product, revenue milestone, or some other arbitraty guideline to do so. It is difficult, and you have to be willing to take 5 steps backwards in order to leap 20 steps forward. Meanwhile, the next product, client, etc, brings an immediate increase, but its linear, not geometric.

 

[Andy Black]

My preference is to have a bias towards action, and adjust as I go. I learn best by doing.

My most productive periods are when I also go for long strolls every evening without listening to podcasts or anything. Just a stroll to appreciate the now and let my mind figure stuff out in the background.

 

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[MTF]

@Ing, awesome post. An excellent example of achieving more through doing less. I love how you turned a 50-hour workweek into a 20-30-hour one while increasing your salary.

 

[PureA]

Great post, thanks for taking the time to write this. Don't know how I missed it!

 

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[Olimac21]

I would also add "Deep work" to this list, such a wonderful book on productivity and a less cluttered life in general.

 

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[MTF]

Also in the 80/20 realm...

What you shove in your mouth is 80% of your fitness...
What you do at the gym is 20%...

Definitely. This goes even beyond exercise. Proper diet is by far one of the biggest contributors to performance and general sense of well-being, so one habit alone has a disproportionate impact on many areas of life (much bigger than many other habits combined).

MARKED NOTABLE, almost missed it.

Wow, thank you!

By the way, here's another similar concept that praises strategic laziness:

Learn How to Do Nothing With the Dutch Concept of Niksen

Between hygge , the Danish concept of coziness, and Sweden’s lagom , which encourages living a balanced life, there are plenty of buzzy Nordic lifes

lifehacker.com

Niksen is similar to mindfulness, a word that’s been the subject of countless self-help books and articles over the past few years. But unlike mindfulness, niksen is not about staying in the moment and being conscious of your surroundings; it’s about letting yourself do nothing, about letting your mind go where it will without guilt or expectation. “I think that niksen on [a] regular basis is important to stay healthy,” Hamming says. “It’s a form of mental resting [and] recuperation, while you’re awake.”

The Dutch certainly didn’t invent doing nothing—philosophers and writers have touted the benefits for centuries, and other cultures have phrases for a similar experience (in Italy, dolce far niente means the sweetness of doing nothing). Mecking notes it’s during niksen that she gets her best story ideas, an outcome familiar to anyone who’s had an “aha moment” while in the shower or performing some other monotonous task.

 

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[William Ainslie]

Thank you for writing this, I enjoy Richard Koch's writing. Don't have many of the answers yet - finding the road that is very different from the habitual answer and needed action.

 

[Olimac21]

Big fan of Naval, thanks for sharing!

 

[Deleted50669]

It's been on my mind recently all the time:

Work the Least for It

The quality of our decisions is paramount in the modern age, because we’re all leveraged. You can be leveraged through code, community, media, capital, labor and other ways. If you’re smart, you leverage every decision you make. If Warren Buffett makes the right decision 85% of the time and...

nav.al

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD0IzQhxH_0

That's an interesting perspective. One of the things he leaves out, though, is that in order to be knowledgeable enough to make the high-leverage decisions, you have to work just as hard. The work just looks different, i.e. self-education vs. execution.

 

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[MTF]

That's an interesting perspective. One of the things he leaves out, though, is that in order to be knowledgeable enough to make the high-leverage decisions, you have to work just as hard. The work just looks different, i.e. self-education vs. execution.

That's covered here:

Work As Hard As You Can

Let’s talk about hard work. There’s a battle that happens on Twitter a lot. Should you work hard or should you not? David Heinemeier Hansson says, “It’s like you’re slave-driving people.” Keith Rabois says, “No, all the great founders worked their fingers to the bone.” They’re talking past...

nav.al

Particularly this part:

Nobody really works 80 hours a week

This is where the mythology gets a little crazy. People who say they work 80-hour weeks, or even 120-hour weeks, often are just status signaling. It’s showing off. Nobody really works 80 to 120 hours a week at high output, with mental clarity. Your brain breaks down. You won’t have good ideas.

The way people tend to work most effectively, especially in knowledge work, is to sprint as hard as they can while they feel inspired to work, and then rest. They take long breaks.

It’s more like a lion hunting and less like a marathoner running. You sprint and then you rest. You reassess and then you try again. You end up building a marathon of sprints.

 

[Andy Black]

View attachment 39478

“You can’t break tackles at marathon pace.”
- Blaise Brosnan

It’s not a marathon. It’s a series of sprints.

 

[Consolation]

Imagine it like this. For simplicity, let's take 10 tasks:

A - makes you $3/hour
B - makes you $3/hour
C - makes you $7/hour
D - makes you $10/hour
E - makes you $12/hour
F - makes you $15/hour
G -makes you $20/hour
H -makes you $25/hour
I - makes you $100/hour
J -makes you $300/hour

Non 80/20 "massive action": 10 hours a day on each task equally, so one hour per task. You make $495 that day. Your average hourly rate ends up being $49.5.

80/20 smart action: you analyze very carefully every task and its output. Yes, this takes time and it's often not that obvious and easy. But once you figure out that tasks I and J together (20%) generate 80.8% of results, here's what happens:

1. You figure out a way to eliminate or delegate other tasks.
2. You focus on tasks I and J for 5 hours a day
3. You make $990 a day. That's double the amount in half the time. Your average hourly rate is $198. You make much more and work much less.

Of course, it's nice in theory but in practice you need to spend a lot of time identifying what works best. But nobody said that cultivating the 80/20 mindset is easy, particularly in the beginning when you have to go against your basic instincts.



As above, you put in the hours but you're very judicious with how you invest time. I believe it comes down to better research and really thinking through what you plan to do instead of doing whatever and seeing what sticks. Also, 80/20 is about dedicating yourself to creative tasks and thinking instead of menial jobs that usually don't give much leverage and big results.

What's the best way to test? How often to iterate? What's the best way to sell? Where can you get the best feedback quickly? If you're burned out because you just work, work, work and don't think, you won't find the answers to these questions easily.

Makes me think of “give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”

The 80/20 guy spends 4 hours sharpening the axe and then two hours chopping down the tree (the actual physical effort). Because he was smart and didn't expend energy needlessly, he'll be able to chop another tree the next day. The other guy spends 6 hours chopping down the tree and can't lift his arm the next day.

Or to give another example: take two climbers wanting to climb a mountain. For the sake of this example, none of them is looking for a challenge and difficulty as climbers often do. They simply want to get to the top using their own legs.

The regular one packs her gear and heads to the mountain. Why waste time studying possible ascent routes? Better to take action now, figure things out along the way and be done as soon as possible. This is how an entrepreneur following the "take action" crowd would behave.

The 80/20 climber studies maps, topography, and reaches out to other climbers who've already scaled the mountain. While the regular climber is already taking action, the 80/20 is still planning.

At this point, using the often preached on this forum message of taking action instead of thinking, you can say: the first climber gets it! Action all the way! Meanwhile, the second one is a wannabe climber. Just talking and no action.

But then the 80/20 climber is done planning and heads to the mountain armed with all the knowledge to scale the mountain in the easiest, safest way possible (that's the difference between a wannabe 80/20 thinker and a real 80/20 thinker: the latter takes action on their plans).

In the end, the regular climber not only struggles a lot to get to the top, but exposes herself to unnecessary danger. "Massive action" business gurus would commend the regular climber for taking massive action. Motivational gurus would commend her for going hard. But there was an easier, more efficient way to save your resources and achieve the same goal! Isn't it silly?



The problem is that if you take 80 hours of action, you don't have time to think. And we don't come up with the greatest ideas when we work. It happens when we're relaxed, when our brains are free to go in random directions and make connections that are impossible to spot in a tense mental state.

Makes me think of yet another quote:

Henry Ford’s reaction to a consultant who questioned why he paid $50,000 a year to someone who spent most of his time with his feet on his desk. “Because a few years ago that man came up with something that saved me $2,000,000,” he replied. “And when he had that idea his feet were exactly where they are now.”



I believe that the way we start something is often the way we'll approach it over the long term. If you decide to to use brute force in the beginning instead of making strategic decisions, when is the moment you transition to the latter? And most importantly, why not think smart from the beginning?

I'm currently on self-quarantine at home. This makes so much sense. THANK YOU VERY MUCH @MTF

 

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[ADL84]

Wow! I've not found this much value in a two page forum thread ever. Thanks for the insights! After reading Richard Koch's 80/20 Principle I've been eager to learn more and to discuss with other equally inspired individuals. As has been pointed out several times, the hard part is to put the principle to practice. I'll study this thread closer and implement some of the insight you have shared. Thanks again!

One thing that really resonate with me is post about the guilt you feel if you dont "act" during the day. I would appreciate tips on how to overcome this feeling. Even if I manage to free up hours I end up feeling bad if those hours were not put to use. This causes me to be constantly "not present" especially at home when I really should focus on family. Any advice would be welcome!

 

[Antifragile]

The 80/20 principle, also known as the Pareto principle or the 80/20 rule, states that 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. The rule applies to many aspects of life, including economics, business, sports, etc. For a quick overview, read Wikipedia's page on it: Pareto principle - Wikipedia

I started this thread to share useful resources about this principle to help you accomplish your goals more easily - or just enjoy your life more - thanks to simplifying it via the 80/20 rule.

This isn't just a little stupid rule stating the obvious fact - there are countless, sometimes weird, applications of it that can help achieve better results in less time and with less energy.

1. Books

By far the best author on the topic is British multimillionaire Richard Koch. He has written several books on the topic. The best ones are:

The 80/20 Principle - the original book, with the first part going deep into how to apply it in business and then other parts addressing personal life and other things. Ignore the negative reviews - there's a lot of thought-provoking, and for some probably controversial, stuff in there.

Living the 80/20 Way - offers additional insights on how to apply the principle to live better.

After Richard Koch, the best books are:

80/20 Sales and Marketing by Perry Marshall - some very powerful 80/20 concepts applied to sales and marketing. A must-read.

Essentialism by Greg McKeown - I consider Richard's books better because they're written in a less philosophical and more practical style. Greg's book is still pretty good, but IMO it's better to start with Koch.

The One Thing by Gary Keller - extremely solid concept of The One Thing, but with some unnecessary chapters which are related to the main topic, but not really talk about simplicity.

2. Articles

Richard Koch's blog is really good, though sometimes he gets too philosophical there: Blog

Some of his best articles:
HOW TO WORK LESS AND MAKE MORE
ARE YOU A HAMSTER?
HOW TO STOP BEING A HAMSTER
TIME REVOLUTION
http://richardkoch.net/2013/01/how-much-is-an-hour-of-your-time-worth/
http://richardkoch.net/2014/09/how-to-do-nothing-achieve-everything/
http://richardkoch.net/2018/11/liberate-yourself-from-the-protestant-work-ethic/

A good interview with Richard:
Don’t waste your time on the trivial

3. Quotes

Here are some various thought-provoking quotes:

“We should act less. Action drives out thought. It is because we have so much time that we squander it.” – Richard Koch

“Slow down and remember this: Most things make no difference. Being busy is a form of laziness—lazy thinking and indiscriminate action.” – Tim Ferriss

“Most people who become rich through business do so by using other people’s ideas, not their own.” – Richard Koch

“Identify the times you are most happy, and expand them as much as possible. Identify the times you are least happy, and reduce them as much as possible.” – Richard Koch

“Generally, the most profitable customers have been customers for a long time. Gaining new customers is very expensive.” – Richard Koch

“Make the most of those few ‘lucky streaks’ in our life where we are at our creative peak and the stars line up to guarantee success.” – Richard Koch

“Time is like that: cussed when we try to speed up, a dear friend when we slow down.” – Richard Koch

4. Exercises

Some exercises I regularly do, particularly when I find myself losing focus and no longer religiously following the 80/20 principle in my life. It's important to emphasize that 80/20 is a mindset that needs to be cultivated, just like you need to go to the gym regularly if you want to stay in shape.

• 80/20 analysis - analyze what produces best results and what the biggest waste of resources is. How can you double down on what works best and eliminate the unessential stuff?
• The One Thing question - ask yourself the main question from Gary Keller's book: What's the ONE Thing you can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?
• Eliminate something from your life - it sounds stupid, but even throwing away an article of clothing you no longer wear is a good way to remind yourself to focus on what's most important.
• Fast for a full day - it's good for your health, and it gives you some additional clarity and a lot of time to think how to simplify your life.
• Stop taking action - if possible, take a few days off and occupy your mind with something else. Sometimes we're too close to the challenges we're facing and we fail to see an obvious, simple solution. Your subconscious will still work on the problem in the background while you do something else, ideally something enjoyable so you can recharge.
• Let go of control and ego - the number one obstacle preventing you from achieving more while doing less is yourself. If you want to control everything, you'll never be able to delegate effectively. If you think that you're the only person who can do something well, you'll never delegate at all - so you'll be stuck doing everything yourself. Even if you're a solopreneur and nobody can do your job, at least simplify other aspects of your life (for example, hire a maid).
• Think of long-term profitability - focus on projects and business models that are repeatable and produce consistent, long-term income over projects that produce a one-off result. The latter makes you a hamster, stuck on the wheel of work and unable to slow down because you always need to seek a new source of income. Always have in mind your hourly rate and resist the temptation to think short-term. For example, you can spend 100 hours on a project that generates $10,000 once (your hourly rate is $100), or you can spend 100 hours on a project that generates $1000 a month forever (your hourly rate is just $10 the first month, but after 10 months reaches $100 and then still continues growing without any additional work).
• Destroy and rebuild everything from the ground up (in your mind) - if you lost everything you have now, how would you rebuild it? This is an useful exercise to review the most important fundamentals as well as open yourself to new ideas or maybe even discover that what you're doing now is just no longer working anymore and you're stuck in the past. It's often hard to see these obvious things due to the status quo bias (in which any change from the baseline is considered a loss).

Oh how much I love this. Pure gold.
Thanks for the reminder. I’m taking this all in.

 

[Andy Black]

Bump by linking to a related thread:

• Perry Marshall's Espresso Machine Principle

 

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[Ing]

Years ago the beginning of my morning rotine was making a coffee, going to the toilet and calculating my life for 20/80 for maybe 20 minutes.
Beside the other things I took care of in these 20 minutes, this 20/80 thing made me taking the biggest, best steps in my life.

Just my daily 2 cents...

 

[Andy Black]

View attachment 55288

Yep. On those business development courses I attended years ago with Blaise Brosnan he'd tell us to change how we replied to people.

When asked "How's business going?"

He said we're NOT to say "Oh, we're really busy" as if that's the goal.

"You can't invoice for busyness."

 

[LuckyPup]

Also listening to podcasts or music while walking/running doesn't kill the creative effect but I find it does dull it significantly.

Was that a finding of the study, too, or was that in your experience only? (Yes, I'm too lazy to read the study right now.)

 

[Deleted50669]

Chris Anderson's The Long Tail deserves a mention.

For those that don't mind some heavier thinking and eccentric Lebanese egotism, at least one of Nassim Taleb's Fooled by Randomness, The Black Swan, or Antifragile are worldview-flippers.

Fooled By Randomness is one of my faves

 

[eugenberzani]

The 80/20 principle, also known as the Pareto principle or the 80/20 rule, states that 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. The rule applies to many aspects of life, including economics, business, sports, etc. For a quick overview, read Wikipedia's page on it: Pareto principle - Wikipedia

I started this thread to share useful resources about this principle to help you accomplish your goals more easily - or just enjoy your life more - thanks to simplifying it via the 80/20 rule.

This isn't just a little stupid rule stating the obvious fact - there are countless, sometimes weird, applications of it that can help achieve better results in less time and with less energy.

1. Books

By far the best author on the topic is British multimillionaire Richard Koch. He has written several books on the topic. The best ones are:

The 80/20 Principle - the original book, with the first part going deep into how to apply it in business and then other parts addressing personal life and other things. Ignore the negative reviews - there's a lot of thought-provoking, and for some probably controversial, stuff in there.

Living the 80/20 Way - offers additional insights on how to apply the principle to live better.

After Richard Koch, the best books are:

80/20 Sales and Marketing by Perry Marshall - some very powerful 80/20 concepts applied to sales and marketing. A must-read.

Essentialism by Greg McKeown - I consider Richard's books better because they're written in a less philosophical and more practical style. Greg's book is still pretty good, but IMO it's better to start with Koch.

The One Thing by Gary Keller - extremely solid concept of The One Thing, but with some unnecessary chapters which are related to the main topic, but not really talk about simplicity.

2. Articles

Richard Koch's blog is really good, though sometimes he gets too philosophical there: Blog

Some of his best articles:
HOW TO WORK LESS AND MAKE MORE
ARE YOU A HAMSTER?
HOW TO STOP BEING A HAMSTER
TIME REVOLUTION
HOW MUCH IS AN HOUR OF YOUR TIME WORTH? | Richard Koch
HOW TO DO NOTHING & ACHIEVE EVERYTHING | Richard Koch
LIBERATE YOURSELF FROM THE PROTESTANT WORK ETHIC | Richard Koch

A good interview with Richard:
Don’t waste your time on the trivial

3. Quotes

Here are some various thought-provoking quotes:

“We should act less. Action drives out thought. It is because we have so much time that we squander it.” – Richard Koch

“Slow down and remember this: Most things make no difference. Being busy is a form of laziness—lazy thinking and indiscriminate action.” – Tim Ferriss

“Most people who become rich through business do so by using other people’s ideas, not their own.” – Richard Koch

“Identify the times you are most happy, and expand them as much as possible. Identify the times you are least happy, and reduce them as much as possible.” – Richard Koch

“Generally, the most profitable customers have been customers for a long time. Gaining new customers is very expensive.” – Richard Koch

“Make the most of those few ‘lucky streaks’ in our life where we are at our creative peak and the stars line up to guarantee success.” – Richard Koch

“Time is like that: cussed when we try to speed up, a dear friend when we slow down.” – Richard Koch

4. Exercises

Some exercises I regularly do, particularly when I find myself losing focus and no longer religiously following the 80/20 principle in my life. It's important to emphasize that 80/20 is a mindset that needs to be cultivated, just like you need to go to the gym regularly if you want to stay in shape.

• 80/20 analysis - analyze what produces best results and what the biggest waste of resources is. How can you double down on what works best and eliminate the unessential stuff?
• The One Thing question - ask yourself the main question from Gary Keller's book: What's the ONE Thing you can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?
• Eliminate something from your life - it sounds stupid, but even throwing away an article of clothing you no longer wear is a good way to remind yourself to focus on what's most important.
• Fast for a full day - it's good for your health, and it gives you some additional clarity and a lot of time to think how to simplify your life.
• Stop taking action - if possible, take a few days off and occupy your mind with something else. Sometimes we're too close to the challenges we're facing and we fail to see an obvious, simple solution. Your subconscious will still work on the problem in the background while you do something else, ideally something enjoyable so you can recharge.
• Let go of control and ego - the number one obstacle preventing you from achieving more while doing less is yourself. If you want to control everything, you'll never be able to delegate effectively. If you think that you're the only person who can do something well, you'll never delegate at all - so you'll be stuck doing everything yourself. Even if you're a solopreneur and nobody can do your job, at least simplify other aspects of your life (for example, hire a maid).
• Think of long-term profitability - focus on projects and business models that are repeatable and produce consistent, long-term income over projects that produce a one-off result. The latter makes you a hamster, stuck on the wheel of work and unable to slow down because you always need to seek a new source of income. Always have in mind your hourly rate and resist the temptation to think short-term. For example, you can spend 100 hours on a project that generates $10,000 once (your hourly rate is $100), or you can spend 100 hours on a project that generates $1000 a month forever (your hourly rate is just $10 the first month, but after 10 months reaches $100 and then still continues growing without any additional work).
• Destroy and rebuild everything from the ground up (in your mind) - if you lost everything you have now, how would you rebuild it? This is an useful exercise to review the most important fundamentals as well as open yourself to new ideas or maybe even discover that what you're doing now is just no longer working anymore and you're stuck in the past. It's often hard to see these obvious things due to the status quo bias (in which any change from the baseline is considered a loss).

You have a wonderful writing style!

Can I ask you one question? What was the name of the real estate software you created to compare prices?I am interested on creating a similar one. It was the SaaS solution that you created and sold in the end.

 

[Andy Black]

I was re-reading Living the 80/20 Way by Richard Koch and this part resonated with me a lot (the part in bold was put in bold by me, not the author):



The part in bold - Unless you conjure up an approach that is hugely better than your habitual answer, you don’t yet have your 80/20 route - is very interesting because it will uncover how often you turn toward the same old ideas. I just caught myself doing it and realized that what I thought could be my 80/20 thing is actually just a rehash of an old idea (my "habitual answer" that is very unlikely to bring different, "hugely better" results).

Nice. I’m currently struggling with this too.

 

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