The 80/20 rule is very much about leverage. When it comes to being at your best not all activities are created equal.

It is my experience that everyone has two or three things they need in their life on a regular basis to be at their best. When we have those things in our life, everything else is in perspective, there is a certain ease or grace to life. When we don’t get those things, we seem to dry up inside. We blow things out of perspective and we get off track more easily.

What’s your recipe for being at your best? What two or three things do you need in your life on a regular basis to be at your best? If you’re not sure, how do you find out?

Memory, learning and behavior are state dependent. The emotional state we’re in when we learn or experience something is the ideal state to be in if we want to remember that information. One’s state is a mixture of what we’re doing in our head (what we’re thinking about) and what we’re doing in our body (our physiology). Let’s look at how to apply this to discover our recipe for being at our best.

• Think of a time when you were at your best, even if it was only for a few moments. Think of a time then there was a sense of ease or grace in your life, a time when things just flowed, a time when you were in the zone.

• Fully associate with that memory, with that time in your life. Put yourself back there. Feel it in your body. Use as many of your senses as possible. Let your body/mind remember. As you fully associate with that time in your life, you are putting yourself back in that state of being at your best. What was it about that time in your life that worked for you? Don’t force things; just allow your body/mind to free associate.

• Notice that your thoughts will start to jump around. You will start to remember other times in your life when you’ve been at your best. When you’re in a “good place” it’s easier to remember other times when you were in a good place. Memory, learning and behavior are state dependent.

As you repeat this exercise you will start to notice what these times in your life have in common. You will start to recognize your recipe for being at your best.

These things not only generate energy for life, but give life its zest.

Once you know what you need, put then at the top of your to-do list—schedule them (daily, weekly, monthly or yearly depending on their nature), make time for them. When you do, everything else in your life will be more in perspective, and you will have much more left over for everyone else and everything else.

This exercise can really drive home the power of the 80/20 principle, and its importance in designing a life.