Seven Serious Ways That You Can Simplify Your Life
Life can seem so complicated, especially if you are a burgeoning infoprenuer or enterprising entrepreneur. There are so many demands on your time and energy that you’re not able to get everything you want to get done in your day.
We all have the same 24 hours in our days, but some people seem to get so much more done. What’s their secret? Well, one secret is to stop making life so complicated in the first place and learn how you can simplify your life so that you can have time for what’s important.
Have you ever heard of Ockham’s Razor? It’s the premise that all other things being equal, the simplest solution is the best. Look into your own life for the simplest solutions so that you un-complicate your life.
Here are Seven Serious Ways That You Can Simplify Your Life
1. Simplify your work
If you have so much clutter in your work environment, designate one day per week to clear everything up and keep to that schedule. Get rid of notes, papers, and extraneous things that are just distracting you from doing your best work. Develop one system that works for you and give it time to work. Have an inbox folder and an outbox folder and use them. Don’t have work scattered at different places throughout your home. Consolidate everything you need to do your best work in one spot.
You can also simplify your work projects themselves. If you are feeling pulled in too many ways and have too many ongoing projects, simply so that you have one project that you are committed to completing. This is better than having 10 projects in various stages – focus on one until it’s finished and then move onto the next project. Are you overwhelmed posting 5 times a day, then simply and only post 3 times a week. Are you making your info products too complicated by trying an ebook, DVD, audio and video format? Take one format and finish it to completion. Don’t try everything at once.
The key is to simplify your work and work environment so that you are not distracted and overwhelmed. Don’t make work overly complicated when it doesn’t have to be.
2. Simply your relationships
Don’t make your relationships with others so complicated. If you have people in your life that are causing you a lot of drama, then stop associating with them. Tell them that you need some time to yourself and then concentrate on your own life. Some people just suck out all our energy and don’t give anything back. Stop trying to solve everyone else’s problems and concentrate on your own. Simplify your relationships so that everyone who is in your life is there because you want them there. They serve a positive purpose in your life. Do you really need 5 BBF? That’s an unnecessary complication that you can do without. Stop contacting people needlessly and initiate contact when you want to, not when people feel like interrupting you. Be the initiator – work on your schedule and not someone else’s.
3. Simply your home environment
If you look around at your home and all you see are knickknacks, things to dust, keep clean, and nothing really inspires you, then maybe it’s time to examine your home environment to see if it’s over-complicating your life. Go through each room and see what you can sell, give away or donate so that you are surrounded by things that you truly love. You don’t have to go crazy and exist on only 50 things, which is taking it a bit extreme. But, having a simple home environment that gives you a feeling of joy and happiness can make a huge difference in your life. Don’t make things so complicated – you don’t need all the latest home entertainment gadgets and doodads. Save your money and stop buying ‘things’ for your home.
4. Simply your thought-processes
Life doesn’t have to be so complicated and taken so seriously. Take it easy on yourself and just do the best that you can, with what you have, and where you are. Not every decision has life or death consequences. In fact, there are very few decisions that have such serious consequences. Develop the mindset that you are going to try new things in life and accept what happens. Have some fun. If you want to create an ebook, create it. If you want to make a crazy video mix, then do that. Don’t complicate things needlessly as everything in life can be a learning opportunity. Accept failure and rejection as part of life. Be optimistic and hopeful. Take the simple route in life and just be happy.
5. Simply your online self
I know the gurus say that you need to be everywhere online and have accounts in every single online social medium that exists in order to build your online brand, but you really don’t have to. Use one program to manage your online presence or better yet, get rid of accounts that don’t serve you. Think of the 80/20 principle here and concentrate on the 20% of your online activities that give you 80% of your results and let the others go. Filter your Twitter followers and keep those ones that you want to continue to have a relationship with. Do you subscribe to the belief that the one with most followers win? What about quality? Studies show that we can only sustain a relationship with 150 people in our lives anyways. If your online self is complicating your real life, then look at various ways to simply your online presence so that it works for you.
6. Simply your inputs
I have a friend who doesn’t worry about too much in life and lives a very uncomplicated life? How does he do it? His priorities are his wife and son and that’s it. He doesn’t spend time reading the latest news or gossip, nor does he concern himself with the latest bestsellers. He doesn’t know the hottest new reality show, nor does he care. He has a low information diet and guards really well what enters his life. Everything that enters your life is a choice and you can choose to simplify your life by limiting those inputs. Spend time evaluating your daily activities to see which inputs are wasting your time and that are making things more complicated for you. Don’t watch TV mindlessly – watch your favorite 1-2 programs per week. Don’t subscribe to so many feeds in your reader that you can’t read them all and it takes you forever to get through the ones you have. Filter your feeds so that you can concentrate on the ones that bring the most value for your time and energy. Don’t waste time reading the newspaper since all they ever report on is the worst news of the day.
7. Simply your finances
If your finances are driving you crazy because you don’t know exactly what’s coming into your account and what’s going out, then simplify. Automation is your best friend when you are trying to simplify your finances. Automate everything you can – automate your savings, monthly contributions, bill payments, etc. If you are still receiving paper cheques per payday, talk to your HR department to see if you can get direct deposit. Don’t make your finances complicated by having so many investment, chequing, and savings accounts spread out over several financial institutions. Simplify and consolidate your finances. Remember the simplest financial advice of spending less money than you earn and investing the difference. Don’t make your finances more complicated than that – just spend less than you earn. If you have the money and inclination, hire the best people you possibly can to simplify your finances so that they take care of you. All you need to do it read your statements and know that your money is working for you.
If something is working for you, then continue with it. If it’s no longer working for you and is complicating your life, then change things so that you can simplify your life.
These are just seven ways that you can simplify your life so it’s a lot less complicated. Examine your life and see what other ways that you can do to have less complications in your life.
Karen writes at A Meaningful Existence, a blog devoted to helping others put meaning into their existence through practical personal development strategies. You can subscribe to her RSS Feed and also find her on Twitter at @kruby.
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Tagged with: simplify life • simplifying your life
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Twitter: chriscducker
says:
Great start to the week, Karen.
I can whole-heartedly agree and back you up on the ONLINE side of things.
I did have accounts everywhere. I wasnt managing them myself, my assistant was. But, at the beginning of the year we looked at pretty much all of them and discovered she was wasting sooooo much of her time playing around with them all.
Since that moment we focused on the TWO that bring in the most convertible traffic as well as the most ‘shares’, so to speak. Facebook and Twitter.
I now have over 11,000 followers on Twitter and over 1,000 ‘fans’ for my blogs’ fan page on Facebook. Enough said.
Chris
Twitter: kruby
says:
Hi Chris,
I know! I started to create the accounts that everyone tells you that you *must* have to stake your presence online and then figured it was a waste of my time. There’s only me so I have to parse my time according to what will give me the best ROI.
Congrats on the numbers – way to go!
Thanks,
Karen
Karen´s last blog ..Warning- These Emotions May Be Affecting You More Than You Think
Twitter: Bigredtomato
says:
I did the same Karen.Now I just focus on commenting, Facebook and Twitter.
Great points, simplification is the key to productivity.
Matthew Needham´s last blog ..Book Review- Rework
Twitter: tnsblog
says:
Hey karen,
Hmm.. Great Post girl. There are some great points karen.
I think “Simplify your online Self” is most important part for any online business.
Anyways, Thanks for sharing this great Post girl. Really awesome article.
~Dev
Dev | Technshare´s last blog ..13 Powerful Ways To Effectively Improve Your SEO
Twitter: kruby
says:
Glad that you liked the article, Dev and thanks for the comment.
Karen´s last blog ..Warning- These Emotions May Be Affecting You More Than You Think
Twitter: jeansarauer
says:
Simple is good
My calendar is a whole lot clearer than it used to be, yet my life is richer and fuller. I rarely watch t.v., and that’s made a huge difference in the quality of my life. This article is a heck of a good resource for anyone who wants to declutter their life.
Jean Sarauer´s last blog ..Newbie Interview Tips From My Virgin Interview
Twitter: kruby
says:
Hi Jean,
I can appreciate a clearer calendar, too
I think we tend to make things more complicated than what they need to be. It’s not only a chance to declutter your life, but also to go back to simpler times where you know what was important and what wasn’t.
Thanks,
Karen
Karen´s last blog ..Warning- These Emotions May Be Affecting You More Than You Think
Twitter: Alexwhalley23
says:
Karen,
Another fantastic post! I had heard of what’s his face’s razor but had no idea what it was so thank you for teaching me something new today.
This post is an incredible resource for me to come back to again and again because I NEED the chaos in my life to be organised in order to function (trait of ADD I think) and too often things end up everywhere.I loved number five (need to fix subheadings) because it is something I need to listen to very closely and implement, thanks Karen! The very first point was also particularly helpful because you know what, I think I will set one hour of one day a week to clean and organise the scrambled eggs that is my work desk.
Awesome!
Alex´s last blog ..How to Build a Huge List of Active Twitter Followers
Twitter: kruby
says:
I’m glad that I was able to teach you something new today, Alex
Once you start on the path of making your life less complicated, then you will reap the rewards. You’ll be addicted and won’t want to go back to where you were before. I hope simpifying some things in your life will truly help you.
It doesn’t take very long to simplify your work environment so start there.
Thanks,
Karen
Karen´s last blog ..Warning- These Emotions May Be Affecting You More Than You Think
Twitter: icebluebanana
says:
Hi Karen,
I actually use the last hour of every Friday at work to clean up all of the stuff that has accumulated during the week – this has turned out to be a very effective way to keep myself from getting buried under paper over a weekend.
I also really like the 80/20 idea applied to on-line activities. As so many people have said, it is REALLY easy to get stuck in social media for hours and hours.
I have a feeling that this line will go through my head for the rest of the week – “Accept failure and rejection as part of life. Be optimistic and hopeful. Take the simple route in life and just be happy.” Love it!
BTW, What is a BBF? I admit, I am not really up to date on the terms, but the things that my mind have come up with so far for this are surely not correct.
Have a great day!
mark´s last blog ..The Latest Thing To Solve All of Your Problems
Twitter: kruby
says:
Hi Mark,
Haha, I forgot to spell out what a BFF was. It stands for “Best Friends Forever”. You obviously don’t watch The Simple Life with Paris Hilton
That’s a great idea to clean up your desk area every Friday. That way you will come in on Monday with no obvious distractions.
Yes, I think a lot of people are really examining what it really takes to build your brand and protect your online presence. One thing that no one really talks about is that if you have 300 accounts at social media sites, aren’t you worried about identify theft and what happens if you forget or can’t keep up with that site. What happens to all of your personal information then? Sticking with the 80/20 principle in this case makes more sense. We can’t be all things to all people.
I’m glad that you liked the article and thanks for your tips.
Thanks,
Karen
Karen´s last blog ..Warning- These Emotions May Be Affecting You More Than You Think
Twitter: kruby
says:
I was thinking of Bob Marley’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” song when I wrote that line
Karen´s last blog ..Warning- These Emotions May Be Affecting You More Than You Think
Twitter: bluepop13
says:
Great advice and good tips on how to actually simplify things, Karen.
I have to say that keeping things simple shouldn’t be so hard for people but they make it hard on themselves.
Perfect example from my end: My car is a piece of crap. Seriously. I drives “ok” front point a to point b and I LOVE my sound system and all.
It just has too many problems and there’s too much wrong with it. For about a year now I’ve wondered about where to go and who to ask about getting it fixed and find out what’s all going on with it and how much it would cost.
You may look at my next decision as running away but I look at it as keeping things simple and learning from my own mistakes.
I’ve decided to get rid of my car. Not yet. But once I can afford to buy a new one. Buy a good reliable car and keep it maintained and quit worrying about this car and just get rid of it.
That’s simplifying to me.
Eric´s last blog ..Blogging Better- The Two Simple Ways To Do So
It’s not a knew bit of knowledge but I’ve always found that focusing one one topic (without multitasking) will always help you finish what you’re doing.
And it really builds up from outside influences as well. When your desk is really messy, all the little things catches your eye which derail your thoughts.
Minimal is the way to go
Murlu´s last blog ..How-To Setup A Simple Online Store Using Paypal