Less Doing, More Living

Do you feel there’s never enough time for what you love? Learn how optimizing your tasks and life can change that.

1. Understanding the 80-20 Rule to Focus Your Efforts

The 80-20 rule, or Pareto Principle, highlights how a majority of results – 80% – come from only 20% of your efforts. This idea applies broadly, from work to hobbies. By identifying the critical 20%, you can maximize productivity and minimize wasted time. Rather than juggling unimportant details, prioritizing the 20% ensures you're getting the most from your energy.

To start, track how you spend your time. Tools like RescueTime monitor your online activity, helping pinpoint productivity killers like social media or games. Similarly, keeping a health log – tracking your steps, meals, or daily weight – reveals patterns contributing to or detracting from your well-being. By analyzing these insights, you can eliminate distractions and focus effectively.

Life becomes smoother when tasks operate like IKEA instructions – reduced, simplified, and executed step by step. Whether it's how you handle emails or design exercise routines, aim for clarity and conciseness in every process. Like assembling optimized IKEA furniture, this practice reduces chaos and increases order in daily life.

Examples

• RescueTime shows where online time gets wasted and blocks distracting websites.
• A food journal identifies unhealthy eating patterns for improvement.
• Simplifying email writing saves hours each week.

2. Free Your Brain With External Tools

Our brains aren’t limitless. They aren’t designed to juggle everything we try to remember, which often leaves us overwhelmed. That's where external tools come in handy, like Evernote – an app that stores notes like a digital brain. It organizes your daily to-do lists, ideas, or work materials in one spot, so your mental capacity isn't drained.

Evernote’s designed to mimic the way humans connect thoughts, making it intuitive. Think of it as your brain’s backup plan. You can even use virtual assistants, which have become affordable and accessible online. These assistants – available on platforms like Fancy Hands and Chatterboss – tackle your smaller tasks, such as creating slide decks or ordering groceries.

Having an external brain or assistant spares your attention for what truly matters. Whether it’s work reports or planning a vacation, these tools help others handle minutiae, freeing up time and mental energy to focus on meaningful goals.

Examples

• Evernote organizes work through its limitless note storage and smart sorting system.
• Fancy Hands offers help with tasks like proofreading within minutes.
• Dedicated assistants from Chatterboss can personalize ongoing task management.

3. Tailoring Products and Services to Your Needs Saves Time

Customization isn’t just creative; it minimizes effort and maximizes output. For instance, 3D printing platforms like Shapeways allow you to create highly specific items, saving the time and expense of traditional crafting or DIY projects. Whether it’s a custom bracket or a personalized shelf, this approach avoids unnecessary preparation and mess.

Beyond objects, services like Vitamins on Demand simplify logistics. They organize pills or supplements into daily packets, eliminating the hassle of managing bulky bottles. Even clothing can benefit – Indochino’s tailored suits ensure perfect measurements that can be reused, allowing you to shop less often.

By investing in personalization, you cut down recurring complications. It leads to a smoother lifestyle where tailored solutions replace one-size-fits-all frustrations. The goal isn’t just convenience; it’s regaining time.

Examples

• Shapeways allowed the author to create and sell a custom MacMini bracket profitably.
• Vitamins on Demand provided neatly arranged daily supplements for travel.
• Indochino helped streamline suit shopping with re-usable digital measurements.

4. Take Charge of Your Workweek

Owning your workweek begins with identifying when you function best. Whether you’re sharpest at sunrise or late at night, tailoring your schedule around your peak hours ensures maximum efficiency. By planning heavier tasks during these windows, you accomplish more with less strain.

External distractions are productivity hazards too. Suppliers or slow clients can sap time unnecessarily. Narrowing client communication windows nudges others toward efficiency while keeping your day manageable. Similarly, apps like Calendly simplify scheduling by making mutual availability transparent, cutting down endless email chains.

Making purposeful adjustments lets you work smarter, not harder. Define your preferred times, streamline interactions, and adopt automated tools for scheduling to regain control over your week.

Examples

• Morning-focused people can handle tasks like budgeting early, during enhanced alertness.
• Calendly created productive schedules without wasting seven emails per meeting.
• Limiting supplier interaction times improved overall project timelines.

5. Cut Down on Errands

Errands often scatter chunks of your day into inefficiencies. By automating routine purchases, such as using Amazon's Subscribe & Save for toothpaste or detergent, you eliminate the hassle altogether. Basic needs get delivered on autopilot, leaving you with uninterrupted hours.

Unexpected chores, however, can require outside help. Platforms like TaskRabbit enable delegation, from urgent grocery runs to assembling furniture. These services are especially helpful for tasks you can’t automate but still don’t want to manage personally.

Once you reduce errands, you free up your mental bandwidth and precious hours. This shift ensures your time is spent actively engaging with more fulfilling parts of life.

Examples

• Amazon’s subscription ensured monthly toothpaste deliveries consistently arrived on time.
• Nine-volt batteries delivered bi-annually kept smoke detectors functional with zero hassle.
• TaskRabbit allowed a long-distance birthday gift to arrive assembled onsite.

6. Smarter Tools for Simplified Finances

Organizing finances manually is often stressful and confusing. Tools like TrueBill simplify the process by tracking balances, notifying of major account changes, and suggesting budgets based on past spending. It scans through your expenses so you don't have to.

Another handy option, BillShark, audits your current services and suggests savings opportunities for subscriptions or utilities. Its ability to present savings over set intervals shows the hidden cost gaps in your daily spending.

With these tools managing the heavy lifting, you’ll gain newfound clarity over your finances without sinking endless time into numbers. This simplicity allows focus to return to areas that truly need your attention.

Examples

• TrueBill prevented overdrafts by flagging potential breaches in real-time.
• BillShark uncovered a $14,000 savings potential in current expenses.
• Budget suggestions matched historical patterns for more practical planning.

7. Set Limits for Balance and Order

Clutter – both physical and mental – disrupts clarity. Establishing upper limits helps you maintain an organized workspace or home. For instance, limiting possessions like electronics to one box forces you to prioritize what you truly need, avoiding future messiness.

Lower limits, on the other hand, ensure minimum personal targets. Whether it’s committing to three home-cooked dinners weekly or taking one trip monthly, these guidelines encourage valuable habits that might otherwise be overlooked.

By setting both boundaries and goals, you enhance your surroundings and lifestyle. The key is to define purposeful frameworks that support simplicity and improve focus.

Examples

• Electronics were reduced from a full closet to one manageable box for easy access.
• Lower limits motivated 30 miles of running per week for the author’s fitness.
• Committing to three home-cooked meals weekly promoted healthier eating habits.

8. Batch Similar Tasks to Stay on Track

Interruptions break focus and waste time. Batching allows you to group similar tasks – like emails – into dedicated periods. This decreases wasted energy caused by shifting between unrelated tasks.

To further optimize, minimize time-draining processes like traditional mailing. Services like Postal Methods legally upload, print, and mail your documents without requiring postage trips, keeping the entire process online.

When you batch smoother, uninterrupted workflows follow. It enhances productivity while creating room for deeper focus on challenging tasks, ensuring progress without burnout.

Examples

• Handling bills once weekly compared to multiple times saved several hours monthly.
• Emails answered only in pre-decided windows maintained professional focus.
• Postal Methods eliminated multiple-step mailing processes for convenience.

9. Optimize Energy Through Health

Sleep and nutrition are daily drivers of how productive you can be. Lack of sleep generates overproduction of hormones like ghrelin that weaken metabolism and create fatigue. To improve rest, vitamin D supplements and avoiding screens before bed can help.

Nutrition matters too. Swapping sugar-heavy foods for healthy fats – from avocado to olive oil – boosts brain function and helps absorb key vitamins. Couple that with consistent physical activity, like yoga for flexibility or high-intensity interval training for strength, and you'll see a tremendous rise in energy.

Productivity starts with how well your body supports you. Improving rest, eating better, and exercising all combine to supercharge your capabilities.

Examples

• Limiting blue light devices before sleep upped restful hours significantly.
• Swapping sugary snacks for natural fats improved sustained focus.
• Incorporating yoga as mobility training reduced back pain from desk work.

Takeaways

1. Adopt digital tools like RescueTime and TrueBill to track where time and money are leaking.
2. Batch important but recurring tasks to avoid interruptions and improve your focus.
3. Create lower limits for personal goals to consistently prioritize health, fitness, and joy.