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What to do with your 80% tasks (WARNING: this might sting a little)
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Hi Reader, Over the last couple of weeks we’ve looked at: How to identify your 20% tasks How to make sure your 20% tasks actually get done But that leaves us with a bit of a problem… Everything else. All those 80% tasks. The stuff that fills your days but doesn’t really move your blog forward in any meaningful way. So in today’s email, we’re going to look at how to identify and minimize your 80% activities. But first… a quick reality check. 80% tasks pep talkThe truth is, most bloggers spend way too much time on 80% activities... Social media. Email. Routine admin. Backend tweaks. Random “just quickly” tasks that somehow eat an entire afternoon. You know the kind of thing! And I can already hear the objection forming… “But I have to do those tasks! They’re important!” Yes. Some of them are important. But not all of them. And even the important ones don’t need to take up anywhere near as much time as they currently do. Because here’s the uncomfortable truth… Spending most of your time on 80% activities is a huge drain on your time, energy, and focus. And there’s a hidden cost too. Every hour you spend on low-impact work is an hour you’re NOT spending on high-impact work. The work that actually grows your blogging business. That’s the real trade-off. How to identify your 80% tasksThe first step is simple: You need to identify your 80% tasks. Take a moment to think about a typical week. And write down everything you actually spend time on. Not just the “official” tasks. The real ones. The ones that actually fill your day. Now look at that list and ask yourself: Which of these genuinely move my blog forward? And which ones just keep things ticking over? That second category? That’s your 80%. How to minimize your 80% activitiesOnce you can see them clearly, the next step is where things get interesting. Because this is where you need to be a little bit ruthless. Not reckless. But intentional. #1 DeleteStart by asking a simple question: Which of these activities a) have little or no impact on my blog’s results, and b) nothing particularly bad would happen if I stopped doing them? And then… Stop doing them. Completely. No optimization. No tweaking. Just remove them. This is often the most powerful step, because so many bloggers are doing things out of habit, not necessity. #2 Automate, delegate, minimizeOf course, not everything can just be deleted. Some tasks do need to be done. So with the remaining 80% tasks, you have 3 options:
This is so important, because every hour you free up here… Is an hour you can put back into your 20% activities. The ones that actually make the difference. Next week…We’re nearly there. But there’s one final piece that can quietly sabotage all of this if you’re not careful. And it has everything to do with how you structure your day. There’s a simple shift that can completely change your productivity… And almost nobody does it properly. Until then… happy 80/20ing! Eb 😊 P.S. If you want a step-by-step guide (with lots of examples and assignments) on how to apply the 80/20 rule your own blogging business, so you can achieve more while working less, head here: 80/20 Blogging |
Productive Blogging
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