Another year has passed. The second half of the year really seemed to fly. Bring on 2009. I don’t know about you but mine will be busy.

This year will see me start some new things and I am excited about them.

I am not one for setting New Years resolutions and goals as such, rather having a rolling list of smaller and medium term goals. This year I am also going to try and put in some work at implementing my own version of time saving using the principles of 80/20 and the 4 Hour Work Week to concentrate on what is important to me.

Tim Ferris really showed everyone that you can eliminate activities that waste time and start experiencing life. I do believe some of his success has to do with a good sense of timing. Simple things like reading email only twice a day is a great way to allow you to focus on the important things.

The 80/20 rule is another good philosophy to try and make more out of your time. To put it simply, 80 percent of what we achieve in life comes from twenty percent of our time spent. In most cases that means we waste more time on minor and unimportant tasks, than we spend on important ones.

This seems to translate through in everything we do. The rule is not strict, it may not be 80/20 in all things, it may be 70/30 etc, but the general rule remains. So to benefit from this stop doing the 80 percent of rubbish and do more of the 20 percent that you enjoy or makes you happy. Obviously there are other aspects you need to consider, like money, but ultimately you can live a better life by actively thinking 80/20.

Leo Babauta of Zen Habits has also been a champion of simplifying life and getting back to basics. His latest book The Power of Less looks to extend some of the principles and practices from Zen Habits into a complete manual for making life more productive and enjoyable. This will have to go on my reading list for 2009.

To be truly successful and achieve in life you need to work it out for yourself. What do I mean by this? If you look at most people who have achieved great wealth or broken the shackles of everyday work they had to hit a rough patch or nearly lose everything before they had their breakthrough.

The things you need to do to try and be successful include:

  • Learn – other peoples experiences and insights give you tools that you may be able to apply to your situation
  • Act – Too many people never act on their great ideas and miss the opportunity
  • Enjoy – enjoy life and your activities, value what you have and your family
  • Strive – as Tim put it in his book, set unrealistic goals. This might sound strange, but it makes sense. Aim high and work towards it. If you fail don’t worry, remember failure is a part of success.

Using these steps you will be able to be more creative and enjoy the positive aspects of your life to a greater extent. What methods or principles do you use for saving time and enjoying life?

Have a great year.