How does your day flow? Where does your time go? Are you aware of how much time you are spending doing which tasks?

A typical day for me consists of my five main activities:

1) Thinking, reading
2) Researching and writing
3) Organizing and planning
4) Working on projects
5) Meditating

Then I also do the following:
6) Connecting with others, volunteering, communicating
7) Exercising and enjoying the outdoors
8) Resting/Sleeping/Eating/Laundry/other Maintenance

I have very mindfully excised any items on my “to-do” list that don’t fit with my core activities. It’s taken some time, but I’ve made the effort and worked hard to get my day into my own control, instead of frittering away time on unnecessary or ineffective tasks.

I’m sure at this point that you’ve heard of the 80/20 rule, or the Pareto Principle: for any event, 80% of the effects comes from 20% of the causes (so, for your business, 80% of your sales will come from 20% of your clients).

In terms of your own happiness with the balance between your work and your life, find a way to integrate the 80/20 rule into your daily routine. For example, within the workday, make sure that you spend at least two hours planning, organizing, doing high-level thinking, and evaluating your current situation: this 20% of your time that you set aside means that the remaining 80% of your day will be spent productively, and you’ll be more satisfied, more serene, and more calm.

As you get better at this, take a bigger look at the way you organize your months or your year. For example, some people work for 9 months and take 3 months “off” as a vacation. Wouldn’t it be nicer to have 9 months of “vacation” and 3 months of “work”? The trick to doing this is make sure that your vacation involves activities that you truly enjoy.

An exercise for you is to truly assess what types of activities you most enjoy, and list them. I call these our Core Activities. These are things that you would do if you were paid or not: these are activities you’d engage in regardless of the season or your mood: doing these activities always awaken your inner child and your sense of purpose and fulfillment.

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What are your core activities?

Now it’s time to find more and more effective ways to increase the time you spend engaging in your core activities. In this way, your typical day will no longer feel like a split between “work” and “play”– instead you’ll be living, and the balance of your life will fit your needs at any given time.

This might mean hiring someone else to do things like housework, gardening, or to assist in your work. There is no need for you to feel like you must do *everything*: in fact, you’ll be happier and healthier when you delegate tasks that are not conducive to your well-being to others who are better and faster at doing those tasks.

Your life is a true gift: make sure that you’re making the most of it and sharing your talents and skills to the highest level you are capable: when you’re in this mode, your work and your life merge to become one ever-present gift that you offer, from yourself to your family, community, and our larger world.

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