How to do more with less
Every year starts with the same articles on New Year’s resolutions: How to kick bad habits and become a better version of oneself.
I guess there’s nothing wrong with that: Better to think about one’s life once a year than never.
So, we make plans and try to execute those and fail – at least in part – and fall back into old habits. And next year it’s the same old story all over.
So, I have one suggestion for this year: Don’t think about what you should do more. Because that is really difficult, and you will probably not achieve that. Simply because life’s short and there’s too much to do and never enough time.
I am convinced that we don’t do too little. It’s rather that we try to do too much. And that leads us to doing everything a little and nothing much.
Think instead about what you want to do less – in five easy steps:
- Make a list of all the things you do and think you should be doing.
- Then prioritize them: The most important things on top, the least important to the bottom. Don’t overthink this step. Follow your intuition.
- Then apply the old 20/80 rule but upside down: Draw a dash separating the top 80% from the bottom 20%. Scrap the to do’s at the bottom. You will not plan to do these anymore. You might not stop doing them altogether, but they will always be last. Only when you’ve done everything else, will you turn to these. So probably you will never get to them. But don’t worry. The time you save on those low-priority items will be free for the things that are really important. And this is how you will do more with less!
To help you with that, you can use this simple document: Print it out and have fun with it!
Good luck!
