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Hi friend! Today I want to share with you some tips and ways to simplify your life so you can have more balance and happiness in your life. Because, let’s face it – sometimes, life can be very complicated. And it’s easy to feel overwhelmed at times.
From your 7-hour job or business to your home, it’s one activity or another. The tasks you embark on every day are a testament to how hectic this life can be!
Moreover, apart from your daily activities, the mental work you do, the anxieties and worries over uncertainties, the thought of how to secure your daily food, get yourself clothes, and pay your house rent or mortgage on time… These things can all make you feel overwhelmed at times.
But many times, we actually contribute to the cause of our complexities! Why?
Because we aggravate things that can actually be simplified. We go extreme, we hold on to things we should let go of, we are too conservative and hardly try to be flexible and hence, life becomes so rigid for us.
Ways to simplify your life
Now, are you willing to make things simpler for yourself? Are you wondering what steps to take in order to make things more straightforward?
Well, in this article, the core focus will be on simple ways to simplify your life. So just relax, grab yourself a cup of mocha (yum!) while you read, because it’s going to be a pretty fun ride.
But before I go on, I’d like to make you understand that simplifying things might not necessarily be an easy process. This is because it involves conscious effort towards adjusting certain aspects of your life. But then again, with time, you’ll realize just how better your life has become. So, let’s dive right in!
1. Learn From One Life Coach
Most of us have highly rated people who we learn from on regularly. For example, a life coach or a mentor.
You don’t have to depend on many such special teachers. You should restrict your life to just one coach or mentor at a time. This will lessen the burden of accumulating contrasting ideas (from totally different personalities) which can be very complex to implement.
The best thing you can do for yourself is learn from one person at a time, and implement what you’ve learned. Don’t try and learn from multiple people at the same time and get so stuck on the learning part that you never actually apply what you’ve learned. It’s too easy to fall into this trap.
2. Set One Goal At A Given Time
It’s very important to set goals in life in order to give your life a sense of purpose and direction.
But then it should be one goal at a time. If there must be two goals, then they should all head towards a certain direction.
You shouldn’t set multi-faceted goals which will obviously be difficult to pursue or accomplish.
Related: Goal Setting Mistakes You Might Be Making
3. Get Clear With Your Values
Being clear on your values will help you set your life goals in terms of your core values. Of course, when your goals are in line with your values, achieving them will be less complicated.
Write out your values based on these 8 life categories;
- Health
- Relationship
- Money
- Career
- Personal/Spiritual Development
- Environment/Space
- Recreation/Fun
- Service work.
These life categories will serve as a guide to ensure your goals are value-based and comprehensive.
4. Get Into Work Mode
It’s very important to switch your body to work mode every morning, depending on the kind of work you do. You can do this by adopting a particular routine(s) to get your body active.
For example, if your job requires mental strength, you can meditate, reflect, or read books every morning before you commence with your tasks. On the other hand, if your job requires physical strength, a little exercise will do.
Related: How To Stop Procrastinating And Get Things Done
5. Adopt Simpler Morning Tasks
Taking up simpler tasks in the morning (instead of more complex tasks) is one of the basic ways to simplify your life.
The simpler the task, the faster you can accomplish it. And of course, by executing such activities earlier, you’ll have more time at your disposal to engage in more intricate activities.
Related: Morning Routine Habits For A Productive Day
6. Start A Capsule Wardrobe
A capsule wardrobe is basically a simplified wardrobe made up of only the few clothes you love. This will ensure you shop less; thereby reducing the amount of money to be spent on clothes.
Moreover, with this kind of wardrobe, you will spend less time trying to choose what to wear!
7. Ready Your Travelling Kit
Are you wondering how to do this?
Just get a travelling kit ready; put all the little items you will need when travelling inside that kit. Then keep it somewhere you can easily grab it from.
This is in case of an emergency journey.
It’s quite simple. All you’re required to do is grab your well-arranged travelling kit and take off. No further arrangements.
8. Budget Your Money
Sadly, many of us don’t know how to go about our budgeting.
If you are in this category of people then you can start by implementing the 50-30-20 policy.
This rule entails that you only spend 50% of your income on your everyday living expenses, 30% is to be invested and 20% must be saved.
This sort of budgeting is obviously a great way to simplify your life. This is because you already have a basic plan on how to manage any money you make.
9. Plan Your Investments
If there is anything that really needs to be planned out before executing, it’s your investment.
It is important to sort out all the modalities involved in whatever you’re to invest in. This will give you a clue on exactly how to go about it. And hence, things will be simple.
10. Declutter
You have to tidy up and have some fresh air within your environment.
To make this simpler, you can schedule the days and periods to do this (that is if you are mostly occupied). But on the norm, it’s ideal to declutter every morning and/or evening.
11. Prepare Lunch The Night Before Work
While breakfast can be served very quickly in the morning before work, the time might not be enough to prepare lunch along with breakfast.
Moreover, during work hours, you are most likely not to have the time to step out and get yourself lunch. That’s why it’s important you prepare your lunch the day before, and carry it to work (after simmering of course).
Besides, preparing your own lunch ahead of time will help you make healthier dietary decisions. You will definitely avoid junk. Moreover, you’ll save more!
12. Set Out A Time To Be Alone
You have to set out a time to be alone every day, let’s say 15 minutes. Depending on how busy you are, 15 minutes might be too much or too little.
Regardless, it’s important you spend up to that amount of time in solitude. This will give you the opportunity to clear some things off your mind and re-strategize on other ways to simplify your life.
13. Journal For 10 Minutes
Journaling is the process of keeping a record of your daily experiences. And there is no better way to organize your thoughts than to write journals.
When you seem mentally stressed, you can ease up by writing down those thoughts of yours. As a matter of fact, your thoughts get clearer the more you write them down! As a result, your problems will be easier to solve.
Related: How To Start A Journal: The Best Guide For Beginners
14. Have a Maximum Time-Frame For Each Activity
This is especially important when you have lots of important tasks to accomplish each day. And you seem to have limited time to finish up each and every activity.
At this point, to make things easier, you need to assign a specific time frame for each activity. For instance, instead of reading for 2 hours, you can reduce it to an hour. You can always continue the next day. Remember, it’s all about simplifying your life.
15. Unsubscribe From Email Channels That Are Not Useful To You
Accumulating lots of email messages that are not in line with your lifestyle or business is crazy. I mean, what’s the point of receiving lots of emails that you will not read?
Kindly unsubscribe from those channels that don’t feed you with what you require!
16. Get A New Email Address
If the emails get too much that you can’t possibly delete or unsubscribe from all of them, then you can possibly get a new email address and start all over again.
Then, you can easily organize your inbox (in terms of folders) for different kinds of emails. This will make it less complex to locate and access your messages.
17. Reduce Your Screen Time
Yes, this is another way to simplify your life and you shouldn’t ignore it (seriously, don’t).
A lot of times, we get so carried away with the amount of time we spend on our laptops or TVs that we end up having very limited time to accomplish important tasks, thereby making things more complex.
To avoid this, you have to make it a point of duty to spend less time on these screens.
18. Get Intentional About Your Relationships
It’s very important to choose your relationships wisely.
For instance, Instead of having 1000 friends who add no value to your life, and who tend to make you feel miserable, you should instead have just 3 quality friends who add value to your life.
19. Prioritize Three Activities For The Next Day
It will be easier for you to use the previous night to map out 3 important tasks you wish to accomplish the next day.
With that, you’ll focus on more important activities each day. And hence, things will generally be less complicated.
20. Have A Specific Time For Recurring Tasks
If there is a particular activity you do, let’s say once every week, then scheduling it for a particular time will be proper.
For instance, if you write blog posts once every week, you can simply decide to give it a specific time on Saturdays.
21. Select Your Clothes The Night Before
Instead of getting stuck in the morning trying to select the perfect outfit for the day, why not do that the previous night? It will save you so much more time and energy.
22. Use Your Dead-time For Learning
You can listen to podcasts while driving, or listen to educational programs over the radio while cooking. This will allow you the extra time to engage in other activities that require your full attention, e.g. reading.
23. Only Keep Things That You Value
If you really want to feel better, there shouldn’t be room for unimportant items or properties around your home. You need the space!
24. Plan With Your Google Calendar
You can take advantage of your Google calendar to plan your activities. It will help you organize different tasks based on date and time. And yes, it’s easy!
25. Learn To Say No At Times
Based on research findings, when you say “yes” every time, you accumulate unwanted responsibilities. Surely, that will make life more difficult. Now, for the fact that you’re seeking ways to simplify your life, you must learn to say “No” at times.
26. Read One Book At A Time
Your life will be less complex if you read one book at a time. You should only move to the next book after you’ve completed one and acquired the necessary knowledge. This will not only reduce stress but will eventually save you time. It will also encourage effective learning.
27. Fix Your Financial Issues
If you feel overwhelmed with your financial responsibilities, try the following:
- Adopting the right money mindset
- Adopting a minimalist budget
- Paying off your debts
- Creating multiple streams of income
- Generating more money
- Investing
28. Automate Certain Things
There are tasks that involve quite a lot of processes. But one way to simplify your life is by seeking automated means of accomplishing such tasks.
29. Learn To Subtract
Simplification has a lot more to do with subtraction than addition.
Learn to eliminate those things that you can do without. Or those things that cause you pain or troubles. It’s a sure way to live a less complex life.
30. Examine Your Life
An examined life is a life that is accountable. And once you can account for your everyday life, then you will know yourself better; you will know your strengths, weaknesses, or limitations.
With that, you can ascertain exactly what works for you and what doesn’t. And hence, your life will be simplified!
Related: How To Find Your Purpose And Passion In Life
Final thoughts
The truth is, when you diligently implement such ways to simplify your life, you will definitely feel better as a person. That being said, why not strive to execute what you’ve learned so far? What have you got to lose? You guessed it – only what you don’t need.