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Back in the day ... way back before the Internet came along ... when I worked a normal job this time of year was usually spent tidying up all the loose ends that had accumulated over the previous 12 months.

Management seemed to think that it was something important that we should do so we could start the new year fresh and ready to create even more loose ends. Well ... maybe they didn't exactly want to give us more room for more half-done jobs but that was usually the way it worked out in the department where I worked.

At least it gave me a chance to sit at my desk and look as though I was working as I caught up with reports and filing and other stuff that was neither exciting nor urgent.

Of course, working here in adult online doesn't give us the same opportunity to sit back and gradually wind down to Christmas week. If we want to make money here we have to hustle regardless of what time of year it is, but I wonder if you might not be hustling a little too much.

No matter what you do you always reach a point where working harder no longer produces better results. That point is often hard for us to see because we are always hustling and if we want to get ahead then we know that we have to hustle more.

You know that if you work hard you make money so you assume that if you work 10 times harder then you will make 10 times the amount of money that you're making now ... but that's never the case. As we increase our effort we always reach a point where we stop making more money.

So if this year has been a bit tough and your income has dropped have you tried working harder just to make more money? Did that plan work or have you reached the point where working harder does not add much more to your bottom line?

Perhaps now is a good time of year for you to look back and see what you have been doing all year. What has made you the most money for the least cost? What has taken the most input to produce the least amount of income? Remember to factor your time into those calculations and value your time at a realistic hourly rate.

What do you see when you do those calculations? Don't be surprised if you suddenly realize that you are spending a lot of time on things that aren't actually adding much ... if anything ... to your bottom line.

If you are seeing that imbalance between effort and income, then you've just seen the 80/20 rule at work in your business. We've known about that 80/20 rule for years but it hasn't been mentioned much lately so you may have forgotten about it.

The 80/20 rule basically says that 20 per cent of the things you do will produce 80 per cent of your income. The other 80 per cent of the time you spend working will produce only 20 per cent of your income so you spend a lot of your time doing nothing that will produce money.

Now look at your time and your output and you will begin to see what is worth focusing on and what is worth dropping. You will see what things you should be doing more of and what things you should just let slide.

You should expect to see that at least some of the things you really enjoy doing are really just a waste of time. You should also expect to see that some of the things you really don't like doing are the things that are producing real money.

Are you going to be strong enough to ditch those things that you enjoy doing and spend more time on things you don't like doing? It can be a challenge and you are always going to be tempted to try and make those enjoyable things add more to your bottom line but you will almost certainly not succeed.

So, even though work in this industry never slows down just because it's this time of year, do take a little time to see what is really producing an income for you and what is just wasting your time. It's a good time to throw out the rubbish and focus on the important things.