Issue number #003
02 February 2023
Reading time: 4 minutes
I was a ‘random thing’ guy.
Most of the time, I would randomly choose what I would do based on how I felt at that moment.
I didn’t do it at work. At work, I prioritized tasks by importance and urgency. But in my personal life, I wasn’t bothered to think about the importance of things. I wanted to relax and do whatever took my fancy.
Enter the crash.
I was broken
I questioned everything. My life was messed up. I lost all self-confidence. I wasn’t sure if I would ever make the right decision again. Everything I did until then seemed to lead to a disaster. This was five years ago.
I made many small changes during the last few years.
Most of them resulted from ideas I came across while searching for how to live a meaningful life. Jim Rohn might be the one whose ideas had the highest impact on my life. His no-nonsense, up-to-the-point style resonated with me.
In one lecture, Jim Rohn said:
“There’s usually about half a dozen things that make 80% of the difference.”
When I heard this quote, it made me think.
“Six things? Only six things to make a difference? I CAN learn six things. That’s doable.”
Suddenly, the possibility of making good decisions wasn’t a fairytale anymore. If six things can change my life, I can build a life worth living. I have to figure out which six things to focus on. Learn everything I can about them and apply them in my life. Done. Life fixed.
Start of the quest
Long story short, I did figure out which six things make that 80% difference in how our life turns out. They became the foundations of my Tree of Life Quest philosophy.
But they are not the focus of this newsletter.
The ‘half a dozen’ principle is.
There is a second part to it. You probably heard about the Pareto principle.
The Pareto principle says that roughly 80% of consequences come from 20% of causes.
Most people focus on the business side of this principle.
20% of customers bringing in 80% of revenue? That’s a gold mine right here. Find out what those customers have in common. Focus marketing on that segment. And you’re laughing all the way to the bank. Right?
But this principle works the same way in our personal life.
20% of actions we take make an 80% difference in everything. In our relationships, financial stability, happiness, etc.
Now combine these two things.
There are usually six things which make up 80% of the difference.
We often focus on those six things only 20% of the time.
Here comes my today’s actionable tip.
When you need to make a fast and impactful change in any area of your life, take two steps.
Find out which six things have the biggest impact on results
When it’s time to take action, focus on one of those big six.
Example:
The six most important things to keep your body and mind healthy are:
~ Nutrition and Hydration
~ Rest and Sleep
~ Sun exposure
~ Physical activity
~ Mental hygiene
~ Minimise exposure to health hazards
Focus on those six and –apart from accidents etc.– you will keep healthy.
This can be taken further.
The six most important things in mental hygiene are:
~ Mindfulness
~ Self-talk
~ Gratitude
~ Social interactions
~ Future outlook
~ Integrity with your values
How you approach those six things will determine your mental state.
So here’s my tip:
This simple hack gives you a threefold increase in results.
Here’s the math:
20% time = 80% results
80% time (4×20%) = 320% results (4×80%)
That’s a wrap for today.
See you next Thursday.
Stay awesome and have a great week.
Lubo
action time
What you can do next:
- Did you find the content valuable?
Do you know someone who could benefit from information like this?
Please forward the email to them. - Someone forwarded this email to you? Would you like to get tips like this every week?
Here is the link you can use to subscribe.
The Growing Tree of Life newsletter is sent out every Thursday. Reading time is usually 4 minutes or less. - Check out the Tree of Life Quest website.
- Do you have questions, comments, suggestions or complaints? I would LOVE to hear from you.
You can reply to this email or use the Contact Me Form. - Follow me on X (Twitter) for posts about personal growth, life improvement and occasional threads with tips and tools you can use.
(Note: I don’t post on other platforms too much. Yet.) - If you want to unsubscribe from the Growing Tree of Life newsletter, the link is at the bottom of the newsletter.
Thank you for reading. See you next week.
Lubo
Image sources:
- Tree-of-Life-GROW-600×456: Image by Nasah Rwafa from Pixabay | Pixabay License