You know the 80/20 rule. You even know the formal designation for it: the Pareto principle. 80 percent of the best results, or most meaningful changes, come from 20 percent of your actions, and so on and so forth.

80/20. Eighty-twenty. 80/20. Eighty-twenty.80/20. 80/20. 80/20. 80/20. 80/20.  Bored now?

You see 80/20, you get it instantly -- then you move on. Just flipping the deal to 20/80 made you stop, didn't it? So by now you know that there hasn't been any new discovery to the Pareto principle, only a restatement of the issue. In this case, restating a problem also re-frames it.

When you put the focus on the 20 percent, you put the weight on the actionable parts, not on their most probable outcomes. Yes, you also lay the groundwork towards getting "the most beneficial results," etc. etc, but putting the onus on the acting gets things in motion. You look at what you're going to do, the changes you're going to make, and the things you'll have to release to get the results you want. You don't get the results without the action. 20/80 shifts the focus to just that.

The first step into this discussion is thorny: Do you want a new computer, or do you need a new computer? The second step sets the limits to the discussion: How much money do you have for it?

Your answers define what comes next: 1) what are your options = wide range of possibilities 2) what are your needs = narrower range of options.

Maybe in the past there have been times when it was easier and faster for you to use money to solve an issue. That was your choice then and it still is now.  Of course, it's still up to you to decide how to make the best use of your funds and get the best value out of your money. No one else will be as invested in the outcome as you, so  if you don't want to make time to think about your purchase, whatever happens, you deal with the consequence.

If you've been debating with yourself for a while now on whether to get a new computer or stay with what you've got and just go for upgrades, the discussions in the comments section of the following articles (all from The Simple Dollar) are fertile ground, showing an in-depth decision process of getting a new computer, or  exploring other options to improve the performance of the equipment you already have. Whether you need a laptop or a desktop, there's good advice on what factors to consider, and what you can do to make your computer future-resistant.

There are several flavors of KISS available, aside from the tartly traditional "Keep it simple, stupid!"

There's the sweeter "Keep it short and simple," for people who want less attitude, and the more eloquent "Keep it short and straightforward," for the more precise among us.

As an example, The KISS Principle as applied to coding embodies the very essence of the entire idea. It's short, straightforward and gets to the point: helping you apply KISS to your work.

In KISS, the fewer things and factors to consider, the fewer things can go wrong. When you factor out the non-essentials, you leave more focus on the vital 20% (of the 80/20 principle, a supportive, close cousin to KISS) and  make more time for the essentials, so you have a leg up on what needs to be accomplished to actually getting it done.

 Like the circles on a dart board which successively narrow down your focus to the bull's-eye, keeping things simple asks you to marrow down on the heart of the matter, what is essential to its success -- and then taking action to get to that point. If you know that this needs to happen so that that gets to become a reality -- you move to make this happen so that you can have that. Plain and simple.

When you're truly intent on making your site successful, you need to define your terms of success. There's nothing crazier than running after something when you're not sure you want it -- but since it's there anyway, why the heck not?-- and getting it, then not knowing what you want it for. What can be crazier is getting it and not knowing what you want to do with it, or where you want to go with it. Action for action's sake gets you nowhere. You want to be successful, fine. What is success to you?

To flesh out the big picture, first we need the broad strokes to outline the issues.

"Why do you have a website?" 
The answer to this determines the intent. A website is a place on the internet, one that establishes your presence on the world-wide web. There are no geographical boundaries, and you are only limited by the language you use. In any case, English being a global medium, even that is a weak barrier to communication.

So, presence. Presence means communication. Presence says, "I AM HERE." Thus, a burning second question:

"Now that you're here, what do you have to say?"

When you talk investing, you're talking money. Common advice is not to put all your eggs in one basket. That's called diversification. Diversification does several things:

• It spread the risk across several groups of investments so that no one group controls all the outcome. While the ideal is that all the investments are working to get you closer to your goal amount, it isn't always possible, so you diversify.That way, if something happens to affect one type of your investment, the other types can still provide the support you're investing for.
• It spreads the risk according your tolerance level and goals. If safety is your concern, low-risk investment can help. If you want to get out of the country at least once in your life, by golly, you can start saving up for it and let the money grow while you're working on other stuff (like learning a new language -- which is also an investment--and getting your passport processed).
• It spread the risks across your personal time-line, according to your short-term plans and more immediate needs, and long term plans and more distant (but still vital) goals.  If you're a new parent and looking ahead, you can already start investing for college even before the baby starts teething.  If you plan for a relatively stress-free retirement, money-wise, the earlier you start, the better.

When you're an entrepreneur, the principle of diversification can take on a whole different aspect in its application.

There are two steps to breaking down big projects. Just like in the most basic math, or beginning chemistry, the way to solve complicated equations -- which big projects basically are -- is by first reducing complex tasks to their most basic elements. The second step is to finish each stage before going onto the next, keeping on until the project is finished.

Break the big project into little projects. That's how you tackle a big project: You break it down to its simplest elements, and you solve each combination of elements until you're done.

Many times it's not the project that seems big, but it's you that feels small in comparison. The psychological barriers to attempting to tackle a big project is the distance between experience and expectations. In between this distance lies anticipation and fear.

Problem: High expectations coupled with little experience leads to disappointment.
Statement: "Your bark is bigger than your bite."

What's the purpose of archiving your electronic data?

Preservation. Simply put, archiving, in this sense, is preservation. Of memories (vacation photos, wedding videos, the Family Reunion Of Which You Do Not Speak Of, etc.) and data (like photographs, business documents, scripts, novels, music etc.) that are static and won't change. Revisions and retouching aside, archiving stabilizes and stores a set of information that you can use for reference, proof and perhaps most vital of all, connection.

• Need the very first "final version" of the company handbook before the current set of revisions got too bulky? Here you go.
• A lawsuit is threatening to come down on your company due to what the opposition claims is shoddy work? You pull out the pics to prove it just ain't so.
• A dispute rises over the contract? You got it in writing, and with the digital signatures all in place.
• You have a lifetime's worth of photographs. You want it to last beyond your lifetime, so your great-grands can get to know you even after you're gone.
• Want to show your kids that yes, Mama was a natural blonde before puberty hit and her hair got darker? Sure.
• Your in-laws want to see the ultrasound? You want your as-yet-unbaked bun-in-the-oven to get to see it? You got it.
• You have something you need to say, something you want the world to know. Share it across time.
  

Insurance (as back-up) is secondary (but a close second) in this case. If you've done your back ups according to plan, you're covering those bases. Archiving is simply making sure that any data you have that's important to you is stored, safely, uncorrupted, and available in a way/medium that will survive time and technological changes.

In Protect Your Data, we set-up the basic guidelines in making a back-up plan. In this section, we'll cover a few more things you can do to keeping the your online data safe and synced.

The issues:

• It's definitely simpler to do back up when you only have one computer, but what if you have more? And what if you're not the only user?
• Plus, you probably have other data, on-line, that you want backed up as well.

So, this article will lay out the issues with multiple computers, multiple users and backing up your on-line data.

1. A single user with one PC is the simplest scenario. Maybe two external hard-drives (one back-up is not enough!), a CD/DVD burner, and some high quality blank optical media should be good enough to start with. Pull on-line storage like Mozy, Dropbox and Carbonite into the mix, you can secure your data easily. Flash drives can be life-savers as well.
   
2. Single user, many PCs/devices would require syncing software (Dropbox offers this with its online storage as well), a detailed schedule for back ups, and more thought as to what you need to back up, and where. RAID array, a home server, online storage? The speed of your internet connection will also affect upload and download times.
   
3. Many users, one PC means also backing up various profiles and personal data. You have to hammer out agreements as to what will be backed up and when would the best time to do it for the people involved.
4. Many users, many PCs would involve syncing, and centralizing shared media, as well as customizing information access and flow. For personal units, it would be best if each user takes responsibility for his or her own data and unit.

When it comes to backing up data, there are only 2 groups of people involved. The first group are people who have lost data, like those who have had hard-drives die on them, or were exposed to the Virus that Ate The Internet. The second covers those who haven't had the pleasure of that particular experience. Yet.

But it's only a matter of time, statistically speaking. And you can never predict when, or how it will happen. Brand new drives die a few days out of the box, while older ones faithfully chug on on for years. You bed down for the night, as your laptops purrs on, worry-free. The next morning a howl of disbelief shatters the early morning silence of the dormitory. "I didn't DO anything!"
"Are you sure, dude?"
"YES!"
"Uh, download anything new last night?"
"Nuh--oh?" Then, "Oh, crap."

The drive can't be detected. The laptop falls due to your cat's panicked antics, and you can't get it to boot. Your sippy cup wasn't fastened as tightly as you thought it was. Viruses, trojans, hackers and theft. Lightning strike, fire, water from a leaky pipe...you just don't know.

Thus, back-up. There's something you need to understand about back-up, though:

Back-up is not a guarantee, unless and until you test it (data verification) and even then, stuff happens. Back up is insurance, and as with any kind of insurance, back up comes in handy after a loss of some sort. See the difference now? And as with any kind of insurance, you need a plan that suits your needs.

There's a time for planning and a time for action. But action just to fill the time is mere busy-work. Practicality is the defining line that differentiates busywork from being truly productive. If you want to get Something Done, you have to have solid results in mind when you start, and solid results in hand when you stop.

Practical : the usefulness and applicability of an action. Sure, you saved up for enough money to get new tires, you've been meaning to do so for quite some time, but right now you have a flat. What do you do?

• Based on practice or action rather than theory or hypothesis
• Being likely to be effective and applicable to a real situation; able to be put to use
• Of a person, having skills or knowledge that are practical

Action  - "Something done so as to accomplish a purpose." (emphasis added). So, flat tire. Based on your skills and preparedness, you can change the tire yourself, re-inflate it with a handy tire-inflation kit , call AAA , or call a friend to help you out. When you get home, then you can think about getting the money and going out to buy new tires.

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