The 80/20 Rule for Habits: How to Work Less and Win More

“If you want to change your life, change your habits.”

The power of habits on the quality of our lives cannot be understated.

James Clear, the author of Atomic Habits, revolutionised how we think of change.

Instead of it seeming like this complex or abstract concept, we simplified it for ourselves by focusing on habits and habit formation.

And wow, did it go crazy in the self-improvement space.

But that’s when things got messy.

Almost every second or third video that would pop up was:

• “7 habits to change your life”,

• “4 habits to become a more confident person”,

• “5 habits that made me a millionaire”, or

• “8 habits you need for the perfect morning routine.”

Habit formation suddenly becomes a chaotic and overwhelming process.

And more and more people were struggling to change their habits and their lives.

Not because they lacked discipline, but because they were trying to juggle too many habits at once. Habits that don’t matter.

There are over a thousand habits to break and adopt, but you don’t need all of them.

You don’t need all of them because most of the results you want in your life come from a few key behaviours and mental systems.

So if you want to get the most results for the least amount of input, focus on the 80/20 of habits.

Why You’re Burned Out from “Good” Habits

When I began my personal development journey and wanted to get my life in order, there was one thing I wanted to build:

“The perfect morning routine.”

I believed that with the ‘perfect’ morning routine, everything else would fall into place.

So I watched and read and consumed hours of content on morning routines and the best habits to include in them.

I kid you not, my morning routine looked something like this:

• Wake up

• Say 3 things I’m grateful for

• Drink 500 ml of water

• 10-minute stretch

• Read over the vision document (if you want to know more about this, let me know).

• 10 or so minutes of journaling

• 15-minute meditation/ visualisation

• Workout

• Cold shower

By the time I completed my routine and was ‘ready’ to start the day, it had been 2 - 3 hours later.

The days I was tired, woke up late or was short on time were the worst.

I’d be so frustrated because I didn’t do the full morning routine or had to take a step out altogether.

I felt like I was failing before the day had even begun. And if your morning routine sets the tone for your day, it felt like the day was a failure.

This didn’t only happen in the morning. The same thing happened with my evening routine.

I’d select a bunch of habits for my evening routine, and it looks more like a to-do list than a routine.

I couldn’t keep up with it, and I’d often not do it because it overwhelmed and stressed me out.

All because I thought that more meant better.

Sound familiar?

Wanting to change your life is a great thing, but we often invite more anxiety, guilt and inconsistency, which makes it harder.

I had to learn that my intentions weren’t wrong, but my thinking and execution were.

And until I fixed them, I’d be setting myself up for failure each time.

Through that process, I learned some valuable lessons that changed how I build my habits and routines.

There are 3 enemies you may be fighting if you’ve been trying to build better habits for some time:

1. The Dopamine Chase

   This trap is all about following the latest trends.

   You see Monk Mode or Dopamine Detox or 75 Hard or waking up at 5 AM going viral, and think, “I need to do that too.”

   You become addicted to chasing the next best thing, but never adopt or take action on it.

   It’s not that any of these habits or protocols are bad.

   It’s that they give us the illusion of progress without actual progress.

   The constant stimulation of 'better' habits and protocols convinces you that you’re changing your life through consumption.

   But theory isn’t the work.

   And if you keep chasing these quick hits of dopamine, you’ll never get the real dopamine from changing your life.

2. Habit Overload

   Let’s say you make it out of the dopamine chase and you’ve identified the habits you want to build and why.

   Now, as you start to arrange them together, you realise you’ve bit off more than you can chew.

   You have 5 habits for mindlessness, 6 for health and 7 for becoming a millionaire.

   But you try to overcome this with habit stacking.

   Brush your teeth → say your affirmations in the mirror → go journal → meditate → change into your workout clothes, etc.

   This can work, but it can lead to decision fatigue.

   Remember the whole point of habits is for your behaviour to be automated and unconscious.

   But if you have so many habits that you have to consciously remember to do, you’re using the mental energy you’re supposed to be saving.

   When you overload your day with too many habits, even the ones that matter get drowned out.

   Your mind starts associating routines with pressure, not peace.

   You fall into another challenge with this overload of habits because on your worst days, you’ll drop all your habits, even the ones that really matter.

   If that happens, every time you come out of a rut, you have to start all over again.

3. One-Size-Fits-All

   Babies learn through watching and mimicking what the people around them do.

   From words to behaviours to beliefs, we learn by copying what others do.

   And when you are watching someone online who’s changed their life, you believe that if you do what they did, you’ll change your life too.

   But here lies the problem:

   Their rhythm is not yours.

   You have different responsibilities, goals, and life circumstances.

   And it doesn’t help when some creators tell you, “if you don’t wake up at 5 AM, you don’t want it bad enough”, or “if you don’t work 12 hours a day, you’re not a real entrepreneur.”

   It makes you feel terrible about yourself and think something is wrong with you, which is not the case.

   We copy what led others to success in the hopes that it will rub off and lead us to success.

   But how can it when your lives are so different?

   Your circumstances are different from:

   • The parent with 3 kids and a full-time job

   • The 25-year-old university student with free time to build their side hustle

   • The 22-year-old full-time YouTuber and content creator

   • The 19-year-old who only has school and sports.

   The key is customisation.

   Build your habits and routines around your goals, your current life circumstances, your energy and your reality, not your fantasy.

   You can take INSPIRATION from others, but blindly following someone else’s routine will lead to sabotage, guilt and burnout.

   What works for someone else might not work for you.

   And what works for you might not work for someone else.

   But this is the freedom of living life on your terms. You figure out what works for you and do what's best for you.

Reflect on these 3 enemies and which one you’ve been going against.

What Do High Performers Do Instead?

High performers don’t do more.

They do less, but better.

They identify what works, eliminate what doesn’t, and double down on the vital few.

That’s the 80/20 rule in action.

The Power of the 80/20 Rule

The 80/20 rule says:

It applies to your business.

It applies to your energy.

And it applies to your habits.

When you audit your routines through the lens of the 80/20 rule, you quickly see:

• A few key behaviours are responsible for your best days, best ideas, and best performance.

• Consistency is easier when you focus on what truly matters, instead of everything.

• Most habits don’t move you towards your goals.

What if you stopped trying to “optimise everything”… and instead built your ideal life around the 3–5 habits that fuel you?

What if those few habits became your non-negotiables?

That’s how high performers simplify execution and perform at high levels consistently without burning out.

The 80/20 High-Performance Habit Framework

Here’s how you can use the 80/20 rule in your life:

STEP 1: Audit your habits

List every habit you currently do every day—from morning to night — for a week.

Include:

• Intentional routines (journaling, planning, workouts)

• Auto-pilot behaviours (scrolling, snacking, email checking)

• Emotional triggers and patterns (doomscrolling, people pleasing, overworking)

You can’t change or improve what you aren’t aware of.

STEP 2: Apply the 80/20 rule

Ask yourself:

“Which of these habits directly improve my focus, energy, revenue, or mind?”

Circle the top 20% that make your life noticeably better.

For me, it was:

• Deep work

• Meditation

• Reading my vision document

• Daily movement (walking or a workout)

• Planning and scheduling in my calendar

These habits moved the needle more than everything else combined.

STEP 3: Identify the vital habits

Pick 3-5 high-impact habits that:

• Help you do your most important work

• Give you energy instead of draining it

• Are realistic to maintain daily

Make these your foundation.

Not a wishlist. Not an ideal self.

Just what works now.

STEP 4: Eliminate the noise

Delete or downgrade everything that doesn’t align with your 20%.

Examples:

• Swap a 10-step morning routine for a 2-step version.

• Move your “bonus habits” (like cold plunges) to weekends.

• Stop blindly doing things because someone on YouTube said so.

Your life, your energy, your design.

STEP 5: Make it non-negotiable

Make your vital habits non-negotiable.

A powerful way to think of them is as a ritual. Something meaningful and sacred.

• Start small = stay consistent

• Same time, same place = less resistance

• Celebrate completion = positive reinforcement

Rituals turn habits into anchors.

STEP 6: Reflect weekly

Check in every Sunday:

• At the end of the day, have I stuck to my 20%?

• What’s drifting back in that no longer serves me?

• What felt easy and energising? What felt forced?

• If this habit is automated, what’s a new habit I can stack?

This reflection loop helps you recalibrate before you go off course.

The goal isn’t perfection. It’s alignment.

Build a rhythm that works even on your worst days—and scales with you on your best.

Sometimes your life doesn’t need more and more.

It needs fewer and better habits.

The ones that energise you.

The ones that align with who you want to become.

The ones that make you feel in control.

Focus on the 20% that drives 80% of your results—and let the rest go.

That’s how you create sustainable high performance.

That’s how you win your day—and grow your business—without burning out.

Thank you for reading.

I hope you enjoyed it.

See you in the next one.

— Shana