Choose to Take the Journey

The past 2 weeks, due to a confluence of various factors, have been hectic for me. I have had to eat dinner at 11pm on a few nights each week and work out at 2am on at least a couple of nights. Obviously I know that doing this along with the consequent sleep deprivation is not the healthiest thing to do to my body, but I do so to maintain consistency in my evening ritual. The upshot has been a constant search for better time-management strategies.

The most useful item I found was a very interesting habit that Tim Ferriss, author of “The Four Hour Workweek,” espouses. Twice a week, he does something called an 80/20 analysis in which he minimizes time-wasters. The idea is based on the 80/20 principle discussed in a book by the same name. It is simply this:

80% of the people and activities in your life contribute to only 20% of its value, while a select 20% of people and activities contribute to 80% of its value.

So every 2 weeks, Tim reevaluates his life to reduce the time and energy spent on the 80% while dedicating more to the 20%. You can also approach the issue in reverse by thinking in terms of keeping out the 20% of people and activities that create 80% of your stress.

I did my first 80/20 analysis and it has made me acutely aware of time-wasters like “recommended” youtube videos, junk e-mail lists, and even talking to a few coworkers who I don’t even like very much! I have also identified a few key activities like working out, writing, and meditation as well as the few special people in my life that contribute a great deal to my reservoir of positive emotions.

I have now scheduled an 80/20 analysis for the 15th and 30th day of each month (the 28th in February). I don’t know the details of how Tim Ferriss does it, but I do it by dividing a piece fo paper into 4 sections as follows:

+People: The 20% that contribute 80% value.

+Activities: The 20% that contribute 80% value.

-People: The 80% that give only 20% value.

-Activities: The 80% that give only 20% value.

This activity is not meant to reduce people into percentage values, but rather to help you understand that you should be devoting more time and energy to the people you most care about while minimizing the effort spent on relationships that are fruitless, stressful, or even downright toxic. Because life is constantly shifting and changing, an 80/20 analysis is meant to be repeated every 2 weeks. It takes no more than 15 minutes, which averages out to about a minute per day. Try it out at least once. I think you’ll like it.