Chapter 10: Your 8020 Happiness Plan | Living The 80/20 Way: Work Less, Worry Less, Succeed More, Enjoy More

Overview

Just Do It

Nike slogan

There is a true story about a troop of young Hungarian soldiers lost in the Alps during training. In abysmal weather, with no food or supplies , they were cut off from their colleagues. After two days of snow and sleet, they were frozen and weak from hunger. They had no idea how to get back to base. They lost the will to live.

Then a miracle happened . Searching for a cigarette in the lining of his tunic, one of the soldiers suddenly found an old map. The soldiers confidently used the map to march through the mountains back to safety.

It was only when they were warm and fed at base camp that they discovered it was a map of the Pyrenees, some 2,000 kilometers away.

This story has two valuable lessons:

It is better to act constructively than to have the right answer and not act.
Each of us has to find our own answer, or adapt someone else s answer to our own circumstances. The soldiers got home safely because they made sense of the map for them selves and related it to their immediate surroundings.

Now is the time for you to act, to adapt the insights from the 80/20 Way to suit your own desires, inclinations, and needs. You can make your life very much better, without fuss, bother, or superhuman effort.

But this does require action :

Set aside a regular time and day to spend an hour a week on your 80/20 happiness plan ” for example, 4 pm Sunday. Any time slot will do, but stick to it.
Ideally, get a friend to be your mutual mentor ” another reader of Living the 80/20 Way who wants to change their life. Compare notes on your progress, perhaps meeting for your weekly 80/20 happiness plan hour.
Complete your 80/20 happiness plan. This is easy, a summary of what you ve already decided and written down in Part II. Figure 18 gives an example and Figure 19 is blank for you to complete. ^[1]

Figure 18: Caroline s 80/20 happiness plan

Figure 19: Your 80/20 happiness plan

Hints for completing your 80/20 happiness plan

Refer back to the notes you made in Chapters 4 “8.
Make your 80/20 destination very specific. Once you have arrived at the destination, choose another specific one.
Select the 80/20 route(s) that you will enjoy and that will take you to your destination. Choose a route that offers more with less: that is both more rewarding and easier than what you would normally do. You must believe that you are capable of traveling the route successfully; if not, pick an easier route.
Always write down one, two, or three 80/20 happiness actions. List them in the order you will take them.
Pick one of the five areas (your self; work and success; money; relationships; the simple, good life) to start with. The area to pick is the one uppermost in your mind at the moment ”where you most want things to improve ” or the area where it will be easiest for you to act successfully. Sequence means the order in which you will tackle all five areas ” you can review the sequence later, after success in the first area.
Date to start action should be a particular week, month, or year. Write in the actual date (e.g. January 2005).
Finish one 80/20 action before you move on to another.
If any 80/20 route or action is not working, choose another. But give it a chance before you switch.

Use your weekly 80/20 happiness plan hour to track progress, using your 80/20 happiness plan progress chart. Caroline s chart (Figure 20) gives you the idea, and Figures 21 “32 are progress charts to last you 12 months.

Figure 20: Caroline s 80/20 happiness plan progress chart

Caroline has decided to attack the money area first. The left side of Figure 20 comes straight from the money section of Figure 18. The right side lists the weeks.

Caroline enters her first 80/20 action. She completes it the first week. She then inserts the second 80/20 action, noting her headway each week. By week 4 she has found a Christmas vacation job. Having taken care of the money area, she advances the following week to the work and success area.

Hints for completing your 80/20 happiness plan progress chart

Under area, put the one you ve chosen to tackle first. On the left-hand side, repeat what you ve written under that area in Figure 19.
On the right, enter the dates for the week ends this month, then write the first 80/20 action. Note your progress on the right at the end of each week.
When the first 80/20 action is completed, enter the second 80/20 action, and so on.
If all 80/20 actions are achieved within the month, celebrate ” take the rest of the month off. Next month, move on to the second area.

On the way to and from work each day, remind yourself of your 80/20 action. Write it in your diary or on postcard- size index cards placed in your purse or wallet. Even better, make the 80/20 action so simple and clear that you remember it all the time. Visualize yourself taking your 80/20 action to help make it reality.

Don t set deadlines for your 80/20 actions. Deadlines turn out either too easy or, more often, too hard. As long as you re making headway, continue your 80/20 action until it s done.

Some 80/20 actions will take a day; others may take several months or years . If you don t feel that you are moving along nicely , choose another action or route and start again. Be your own judge of progress ” you re the beneficiary !