Have you ever won­dered how some peo­ple seem to have it all?  They work a lot less than we do and some­how make more and have time for more than the rest of us do?

In his book, Liv­ing the 80/20 Way, Richard Koch shares one of sev­er­al impor­tant con­cepts: Hap­pi­ness Islands.

What do you spend 80 per­cent of your time doing that only con­tributes to 20 per­cent of your hap­pi­ness?  For me, it is doing unful­fill­ing work.  Yes, we all need to work, for dif­fer­ent rea­sons.

But like Oprah says, “Do what you have to do until you can do what you want to do.”

I’m cur­rent­ly on mater­ni­ty leave.  I appre­ci­ate hav­ing a well-pay­ing job and my awe­some col­leagues, but I’m not inspired.  In fact, some­times the work that I have to per­form makes me feel mild­ly depressed.  This is a prob­lem.

I am of the belief that doing inspir­ing work is the only way to live.  So what have I done recent­ly that has made me so hap­py?

Well, I am writ­ing this post; I am re-read­ing a mas­ter­piece, Liv­ing the 80/20 Way, I also just pub­lished my first YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYsaxQNYzRc and I’ve revived an old project that I plan to ful­ly exe­cute by year’s end.

Here are some ques­tions Koch asks us to con­sid­er:

1. When was the last time you were tru­ly hap­py?
2. What were you doing?
3. Who were you with?  Were you alone or in a group?
4. Can you do more of it — can you turn said activ­i­ty into a career?
5. When was the last time you felt unhap­py or dare I say, depressed?
6. What were you doing?
7. Can you cut those activ­i­ties or quit them in order to free time up for things that make you hap­py?

For most of us, the activ­i­ty that makes us unhap­py is usu­al­ly the work that we get paid to do.  But, have you thought about activ­i­ties or hob­bies that you enjoy doing–that you already do the moment you have free time and that could even­tu­al­ly turn into a career?  We live in an age when this is more pos­si­ble than ever.  So think, my friend.  Think long and hard.

The first step is to iden­ti­fy what makes you hap­py.  For me, I love to read, learn and bor­row new ideas from books and arti­cles I’ve con­sumed.  I also love to write.  I enjoy cre­ative work, social media, and the feel­ing I get when I accom­plish a goal or exe­cute an idea or project.

I would do all of these for free.  This is when I have reached utopia.  I am 100% hap­py doing these things.  I am so into these activ­i­ties that I often for­get the time or to eat.  This, my friends, is pure bliss.

If I spent 80 per­cent of my time doing more of these activ­i­ties, I’d be both rich and incred­i­bly hap­py.  I’m cur­rent­ly tap­ping my fore­head and will rub my chin next in com­plete and utter awe.

I work with peo­ple who are con­stant­ly rush­ing and run­ning from meet­ing to meet­ing. They are lead­ers in their posi­tions and high­ly intel­li­gent human beings, but they fail to embrace the idea that doing a lot less and focus­ing on those very few activ­i­ties that will yield the high­est return will pro­duce more of what they want.

I can attest that I can and I do my job in a frac­tion of the time allot­ted.  I can get an entire week’s worth of work in under a day.  How­ev­er, I can’t say this proud­ly because pro­fes­sion­als cor­re­late being busy with pro­duc­tiv­i­ty and suc­cess.  And so I put on a smile, nod and agree, against every fiber of my being, that I, too am real­ly busy.

“I’m very busy.”

So, my dear read­ers, spend time work­ing on your “Hap­pi­ness Islands” by answer­ing the ques­tions above.  Work out a plan right now that will allow you to do more of what makes you hap­py.

And if it isn’t too much to ask, please gift me with your feed­back.  Tell me what’s on your mind.  If you dis­agree with me or would like to pro­vide an alter­na­tive per­spec­tive, please do so.  I am a life­long stu­dent and in per­ma­nent beta; edu­cate me.  I’d love to hear your thoughts, so please do not hes­i­tate to share.

As always, I look for­ward to hear­ing about your suc­cess.

Xoxo,

Irís