(Click to see it bigger :D)

I'm reading Richard Koch's "The 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Achieving More with Less". It's a book about how 80% of your successes / achievement / profit / etc comes from 20% of your input / effort / investment / etc.

The principle, then, is to focus on the 20% that gives us the 80% result rather than focus on the full 100%. The idea being that you can work less and achieve more when you apply this principle.

I've been applying this sort of thinking with my work with great results. This month, for example, I've doubled my income by refusing to do any new work and focusing on the 20% of work/clients that pay me the 80% of my income.

I'm less stressed, less overwhelmed and also, richer :)

Here's a cool tidbit of things to do to put the principle in practise. (From page 39 in the book)

- Celebrate exceptional productivity, rather than raise average efforts.

- Look for the short cut, rather than run the full course.

- Be selective, not exhaustive.

- Strive for excellence in few things, rather than good performance in many.

- Delegate or outsource as much as possible.

- Choose careers and employers with extra care and, if possible, employ others rather than be employed.

- Only do the thing we are best at doing and enjoy most.

- Work out where 20 percent of effort can lead to 80 percent of returns.

- Calm down, work less and target a limited number of very valuable goals where the 80/20 principle can work, rather than pursuing every available opportunity.

- Make the most of those few "lucky streaks" in life where our creativity peaks and the stars line up to guarantee success.

If you're feeling overwhelmed, over-worked and under-paid, read through this every day until you can find reasonable ways (or even drastic ways) to make these bits of advice work for you.

Buy it here:

The thing is huge but it beats the crap out of most things out there. I'm talking about tufat.com's html2ps and html2pdf PHP library. Check it out here:
http://www.tufat.com/s_html2ps_html2pdf.htm

I took the HTML output from Ubercart's invoice system and fed it to this library and, voila, PDF invoices. Lovely stuff :) Especially when you consider that I've been struggling with this PDF stuff all day long.

Make sure you give html2Fpdf a skip. It's quite a waste of time. Enjoy!

Jim Rohn was an amazing mentor. I never met him but his MP3s did wonders for me. From helping me "Kick the Worry Habit" to "Setting and Achieving Goals" to "Attaining Financial Independence". The man was a legend. His message was balanced and direct. There was no fluff, no hype, just really really good advice based on his own life and experiences. Rest in Peace Jim, your messages will never be forgotten.

Resolve says, “I will.” The man says, “I will climb this mountain. They told me it is too high, too far, too steep, too rocky and too difficult. But it’s my mountain. I will climb it. You will soon see me waving from the top or dead on the side from trying.”

Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time.

If you learn to set a good sail, the wind that blows will always take you to the dreams you want, the income you want, and the treasures of mind, purse, and soul you want.

I used to say, “Things cost too much.” Then my teacher straightened me out on that by saying, “The problem isn’t that things cost too much. The problem is that you can’t afford it.” That’s when I finally understood that the problem wasn’t “it” – the problem was “me.”

If you don’t like how things are, change it! You’re not a tree. You must get good at one of two things: sowing in the spring or begging in the fall. The soil says, “Don’t bring me your need, bring me your seed.”

Walk away from the 97% crowd. Don’t use their excuses. Take charge of your own life. You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself.

Your paycheck is not your employer’s responsibility, it’s your responsibility. Your employer has no control over your value, but you do.

If you wish to find, you must search. Rarely does a good idea interrupt you.

I find it fascinating that most people plan their vacations with better care than they plan their lives. Perhaps that is because escape is easier than change. If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they may have planned for you? Not much.

I have some REALLY funny friends who, in turn, have some REALLY funny friends. Here's what they came up with one otherwise boring Monday afternoon...

Got this in an email and absolutely love it!

I actually DO enjoy my work. I nearly fell off my chair when I realised this today. I've been bored and miserable most of this weekend (my wife is away on business) and then... I sat down to work!

Some good music (everything ranging from Jazz to Hard Rock and Metal), a good coding challenge and some hot beverage (coffee/tea) and I'm happy and feeling good again. Weird. I was convinced I didn't like this stuff :P

For maximum enjoyment, I should be working on one of my personal projects (of which there are many) or working with a nice-guy client who pays on time and doing something a little different to what I've done before.

Perhaps another contributor to enjoyment is the knowledge that there will be a reward for my efforts somewhere down the line. It's very depressing to work on a personal project that flops but clients pay, whether or not they make money. (I'd rather they make money but the point remains the same.)

There's a philosophical point to be made here and that is: As long as we're achieving something, depression and boredom have nothing to hold onto.

And another: Work with clients who value you enough to pay enough and to pay on time.

And yet another: Work on personal projects and businesses where you've DONE the market research and figured out what it will REALLY take to make a success of it.

And lastly: Have patience with your own projects. Nothing guarantees success like persistence.

About 1 or maybe even 2 years ago, I created a site about guitar modes. At the time, I was just coming to grips with the concept so creating a blog in which I taught people what I learned made good sense and helped cement the ideas in my head.

Along with my blog, I also created a little widget which gives you a bit of a shortcut to remembering the formulas for the modes and also gives you basic tips on when and where to use them. Check it out:

If you'd also like this on your blog, go to my guitar modes blog post where I show you the code. Copy and paste the code into your blog and you're done! Enjoy :)

Imaginet.co.za is cooking with gas. I signed up online and had connection login details within a minute. I phoned their support team 3 times and, each time, a knowledgeable techie helped me as far as he could. The problem finally turned out to be Telkom-related but, to be fair, Telkom sorted it out in 3 minutes as well.

So I'm a happy camper.

iBurst has been giving me headaches for quite some time. I suppose I delayed the move to ADSL because I thought it would be painful and take forever but, boy, was I wrong!

I opted for a 384kb line and, I have to admit, it feels on-par (or perhaps slightly slower) than iBurst. When it comes to downloads, the speed difference is quite noticeable but, for normal browsing, Gmail, Google Calendars, etc, it's fast! And, best of all, consistent.

iBurst really lives up to its name - you get "bursts" of speed. With ADSL - it seems to be one fairly constant stream of decent speed.

However, the real test will come tomorrow, when I try and work using this connection. I'm confident it'll be fine but I'll try to avoid counting these chickens before that hatch. (Whoops - too late!)

Fear has robbed me of many achievements. I don't get started on things because they look boring or difficult to do. And I tend to blow things WAY out of proportion. And I know I'm not the only one - we all do it at some stage.

Sometimes when we're faced with something we don't feel like doing, we create excuses for ourselves that make the task seem impossible.

For example, I had 3 things to do for a client this afternoon. I was supposed to have done this last week already but I didn't feel like it and I made it seem like a huge task. After sitting down for 45 minutes, I've completed 2 out of the 3 tasks and it took WAY less time and energy than I'd imagined.

In fact, fixing the 1st problem automatically fixed the 2nd. The 3rd will probably take me another 15 mins so we're talking about ONE hour of work that I've put off for over a week.

It's always easier than it seems! But I get fooled every time. I end up having to kick myself in the nuts (not literally!) and remind myself that it's NEVER as hard as it looks. Then, eventually, I find the courage to give it a shot.

Once I manage that, I get a lot done and, miraculously, discover that it really was way easier than I thought ;) Go figure!