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:

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 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.

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!

My new catch word is WORM. Write once, read many. You do the work once and earn from it multiple times.

Like writing an article, and then tweeting about it, and then Google picks it up and you start getting a steady stream of traffic to that article and you continuously earn money from the AdSense ads (or affiliate links) on that page - it's WORM.

I don't say passive income any more because it's not actually passive - you have to work at least once for it. But it can definitely be WORM. You do the work once and earn from it many times.

Or maybe it should be WOEM - write once, earn many!

Or even DOEM - Do once, earn many. I'm DOEM'ed ;)

This post is in both "Self Development" and "Wealth Creation" and I'll tell you why. Checklists are one very powerful way to ensure you cut the crap and get on with the important stuff.

I've just created a checklist called "Site a Day". It's designed to guide me through the process of creating a very small, very effective, keyword-focused web site - every day. By reducing the steps involved to a simple 7-step checklist, I keep myself focused and the process of ticking each step off is a great motivator.

If you're a Michael Gerber fan, you will already have learned about checklists. You may even have a few checklists for important processes in your business, that you require your employees to tick off. Good on you!

If you're looking for a faster way to make printable checklists, then look no further than the awesomeness that is http://printablechecklist.org. It's intuitive, lightning-fast, doesn't require registration and, when you're done, you can just print to PDF. With your new PDF, you can print as many copies as you like as often as you like. More recent versions of Firefox support printing to PDF so this really couldn't be simpler! Enjoy :)

I've unsubscribed from just about every newsletter I received in the past 2 weeks. Even if I really LOVE a particular newsletter, I dropped it.

I also now close Skype and Google Talk during the day. And I keep Gmail closed more often than it's open.

All this LACK of reading has resulted in a far more productive Norio.

Yes, it's a Tim Ferriss idea. The guy reckons you should cut everything out (just about) and only pick something up to read when a) it's for pleasure and b) you're going to learn something quickly for the task at hand. If you can't use it immediately, leave it alone!

That's changed my daily process quite a bit. I simply get a lot more done and, every time something new lands on my desk/screen, I ask myself if I can use this RIGHT NOW. If not, I chuck it.

The nature of the internet is that ANY time I need something in the future, I can just Google it. So I'm wasting a lot less time reading stuff I "might need to know" sometime in the future and now I just get things done.

It takes me maybe 5 minutes to research something I need to know. I do that 5 minutes of researching/reading, and then get back to my life.

Reading is great. Don't stop. But do it wisely. Read what you need or read for pleasure. Don't fill ALL your time with reading or you'll get nothing else done.

I didn't think I'd agree with Ferriss on this one but I do - the increase in my productivity speaks for itself. And the increase in my cashflow (once I get paid for this work I'm doing) will also speak for itself. Give it a shot :)

There was a guy called C. Northcote Parkinson who said something very useful and profound. He said:

Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.

Which means that a task you give yourself 1 hour to do will, by virtue of the time assigned to it, be simpler to do than the SAME task, if you give yourself 1 week to do it in.

As Tim Ferriss puts it in his book, The 4-Hour Work Week, you then have 6 days of turning a molehill into a mountain.

Ferriss also says that, to be more effective in your work, you should set out to do the same work in MUCH less time.

So I decided to test this theory out this weekend and here's what happened...

On Saturday, I spent 1 hour and 15 minutes finishing some work that I thought would take at least 2-3 hours. I simply set the tight deadline and then did the work. The shorter timeframe forced me to focus on the bare essentials and I got the work done!

I spent the rest of Saturday chilling and relaxing. (I had planned to work most of Saturday)

On Sunday, I spent 1 hour and 4 minutes finishing some work that I thought would take 2-4 hours. I spent the rest of the time with my family. (Yes, I had planned to work most of the day!) Are we seeing a pattern yet?

In short: I achieved in 2 hours and 19 minutes what I would normally dedicate 4-7 hours to do.

And, in short, I had a really great weekend.

The most important part of this all is that I normally procrastinate on any task that will take more than an hour to complete. Now I don't need to because the shorter timeframe forces me to simplify and focus which means that things get done and I don't procrastinate.

Next, I'm going to try this during the week. My goal is to achieve in 2-4 hours what I would normally spend the whole day doing. And then I'm going to play guitar, watch TV and spend time with my wife.

Yes, Parkinson's Law is my new best friend!

I just read this article about energy redirection and realised that I already do it. I could do it a lot more but I already do it.

When faced with a bad situation – think of a way to turn it into a CHALLENGE.

Yesterday, we went to the doctor for Tanya. We had a 14h00 appointment and I figured I'd be back by 14h30. We were only seen sometime after 16h00! I got highly peeved but, instead of going on an emotional rollercoaster, I resolved to upgrade our medical aid to something other than "KeyCare" as it greatly limits the doctors we can go to.

Many people would have blown up and allowed the (very frustrating) afternoon spoil the rest of their evening and even the rest of their week. That's fine but I've found it's a lot more useful to change that energy into something I can use and grow from.

Read this article for another example of energy redirection.

Time to recap on my goals for 2009.

First, my business goals...

1. Get FreeArticles.co.za back over the R5,000 hump.

FreeArticles.co.za stayed earning under the R5,000 mark but I sold it for R50,000. Less than it's worth but I'm investing it and it does free up my time for other things, so I still feel like this is a win :)

2. Push GuitarForum.co.za over the R5,000 hump as well.

Not doing good in this regard. The site makes maybe R300-R500 a month. Maybe. However, I have a BIG plan in the works to transform the site into a Drupal site which will give me a lot more freedom in offering more/better/cooler features which also translates into easier monetisation.

Even though I feel off-target with this goal, I'm having fun with this site. I love it so I'm not concerned about the cash I'm not making with it ;)

3. Go under debt review and stop getting calls from banks and things ;)

Win + fail. Went under debt review, couldn't make payments. Creditors likely to be on my butt again soon.

4. Push SpotOnForex.com over the R20,000 hump.

On-target here. We've got an affiliate who is promoting us like crazy and we're about to start offering a managed-trading option where we do ALL the hard work for our clients. They seem very happy with this so far and it should boost their income in a very BIG way. So affiliate signups should skyrocket. Definitely feel on-target here :)

5. Push IconFarm.co.za over the R1,000 hump.

I've gotten the ball just barely rolling along on this one. We need to get more icons and designers on the site then I can push the SEO into top-gear and achieve this goal quite easily, I'm sure.

So far I'm getting the feeling that I should review these goals every 3 months, not 6 months. Reviewing every 3 months would probably inspire me to get back on course a lot faster. Not impressed with how I basically "forgot" about these goals! Moving on...

6. Push iThank.co.za over the 1,000 users hump.

Not even close. Haven't put any effort into this site at all. It has so much potential. Seriously off course here :/

7. Revive JogMyMemory.co.za and push it over the R1,000 hump.

Good things happening here. Got an investor involved who has funded some development in a new direction. Still lots of work to do but this one might surprise me and go over the R10,000 mark this year.

8. Develop semi-confidential projects that are potentially worth over R100,000 per month.

This is (if I recall correctly) related to JogMyMemory.co.za. Headed in the right direction but need to pay a bit more attention to this to get to R100,000 per month!

9. Get R1m funding so I can get other people to do the work necessary for some of these and so I can finally realise my vision of Maxiware CC being a solid web development and internet technology research house.

Way off-course but also not entirely convinced I still want this. The past few months have made me wonder if I would rather like to keep things very small, tight & easy. ie: Build sites over 3-24 months and then sell them. Rinse, repeat.

Having sold FreeArticles.co.za, I know what it takes to build a site I can sell and I know how to find a buyer. With bandwidth prices coming down, we should see more buyers entering the market, so there's a good chance I can make a very, very happy living out of this sort of web site flipping biz.

On to my personal goals...

1. Reach my 100 pushups goal and stay there or do better.

Fell off the wagon here. Stopped doing the pushups altogether. Not happy about this and would like to get back on track but not sure how to motivate myself to stick with the program.

2. Take at least one week-long holiday somewhere pretty. Can even be up the road, as long as it's pretty.

Took a weekend off in Mpumalanga. Was really nice but still not quite the week I was aiming for.

3. Pay everyone on time.

Rent has been on time every month. Quite a change from last year. Quite a relief. Other things have been a little less on-time :P

4. Help my mom, dad & sisters in some significant way.

No idea if I've achieved anything here. We've been doing little bits here and there for them but nothing I would label "significant".

5. Help other family as well.

Probably also a few very minor things here.

6. Build a repertoire of really awesome songs I can play on guitar. (Learn them first, duh :P)

A little bit of success here. I'm currently working on "Ten Words" by Joe Satriani and, also, a jazzy composition of my own. Not sure how many songs I need before I can call it a "repertoire" but I'm making a little headway here, which is good :)

A couple of disappointments in some areas while other things are progressing at an acceptable rate. One thing's for sure, I don't have the same energy as what I had in the beginning of the year, when I wrote this post. I need to revive that energy as it is, most likely, what is needed in order for me to achieve all these goals in the next 6 months.

One thing I've noticed is that, each time we move houses (we moved to Kempton Park in March), I lose all my motivational stuff, goals, quotes, affirmations, etc, that I had stuck around the house. That's pretty sucky as I lose focus and get beat down a whole lot faster. I'd like to pay some attention to having a more permanent way of reminding myself of my goals & aspirations.

Perhaps a wooden notice board? I'm not sure but I need to address that before I lose any more steam!