When we hear talk about simplifying our lives, there is more to it than just simply removing tangible clutter. There is an emotional aspect to this way of living as well. There is nothing like simplifying your life and getting back to the basics. Doing so will free up your time and help contribute to a stress-free lifestyle. Here are 5 things you can begin working on right now that will help you simplify your life.
1. Declutter
Go through your possessions and be judicious about what you keep. Tackle one room at a time. Make three piles: Keep, Throw Out and Donate. Do you really need two t.v.'s? What about all those old cell phones you still have hanging about? Before we moved (to a houseboat), we had wedding gifts from 15 years ago that were sitting in boxes in our attic. We got rid of the things we did not use and have not thought about it since. A lot of the things we accumulate we don't even use anymore.
It is time to get rid of the clutter. If you spend the time to do this, you will feel like a weight has been lifted off. Decluttering your life goes a long way to contributing to decluttering your brain too.
2. Alternative Housing
Think about where you currently live. Are you living in an expensive home or condo in the middle of a city? Do you really need to live there? The cost of living is always more expensive in the city than in the country, or even a small town. Consider moving or downsizing at least. More and more people are buying smaller houses and smaller condos. In fact the demand for smaller spaces has encouraged many contractors to provide compact apartment options for sale.
There are alternatives to living in traditional housing as well. Perhaps some places that you had not considered for yourself before. Living in a trailer or camper has the benefit of mobility as well as cheaper accomodation. Living on a boat is another growing trend among families. We have been doing so for the past 5 years. Modern houseboats have all the conveniences you would expect from living in a home. It is substantially cheaper to be a liveaboard than a ground-dweller.
Most of us feel tied down to our place of residence because of our jobs. The next tip will help you see that a new job may be in the cards for you.
3. A New Job
We as humans will naturally strive towards getting a higher paying job. One thing we tend to forget about is that with a higher pay comes more responsibility. More responsibility = stress and it also means that more of your time has been loaned out to someone else. If possible, take a renewed look at your job and decide if it is worth it. Is it worth the stress this puts on you? Is it worth spending all that time away from your family and friends? What about the effect it is having on your health? Spend the time on you instead. If you have found cheaper accommodation, then you can afford to take a lower paying job. Perhaps your employer will allow you to telecommute for your job. It's worth asking? If you can avoid the commute to work, then you'll be on your way to living simpler.
Invest some time in your future. Take a little time to start your own business. Writing articles for Word Wolf is a great way to get started on making an income that will lead to a simpler life. One of the best aspects of this idea is that you can do it from anywhere, from your own home, at the beach, etc. You have the freedom to work from anywhere. You can therefore afford to lead a simpler life and move to a smaller town or a place in the country away from the hustle and bustle of city life.
4. Plant a Garden
Urban gardens are becoming a very popular trend. A lot of this is due to the popularity of living an eco-friendly lifestyle. At the same time, having a garden can save you money and make grocery shopping much simpler. Do you eat a lot of salads and vegetables? Think of the fresh tomatoes and lettuce you can pick daily for a fresh salad for your lunch. You can be sure they are pesticide free!
If you live in a city, there should be nothing stopping you from having a garden also. Pot gardening and container gardening can be done pretty much anywhere. If you live in an apartment building or condo, you can put them out on your balcony or ask the superintendent for some rooftop space. There are many houseboats with container gardens on their roofs as well. There are also plots available in many inner city areas for people to plant a community garden. You will get much satisfaction in planting a garden and seeing the 'fruits' of your labor. If you end up with too much of a harvest, don't waste it. Can it and use it!
5. Learn to Say No
A lot of us tend to say yes way to often and end up over committing ourselves to things that we wish we weren't doing. It is hard to say no to family and friends, but if you can work up the courage to do it a few times, they will stop asking. Don't feel guilty about it. Pick and choose to do only the important things and back away from everything else. Living a simpler life does not mean filling up all your extra time. Learn to sit back and enjoy the quiet.
Most families I know have a crazy busy schedule. They are over committing themselves to functions and activities that when it boils down to it are not really necessary. Do you drive your kids all over the place to way too many activities? Sure, it is great to get kids involved in extra-curricular activities, but there comes a time when too much is too much. Kids don't need to be in everything. Pick a couple of activities, not half a dozen. Thirty years ago we didn't have all the opportunities we do now and we all turned out fine (so we think!). The point is, I think that many parents are worried their kids are going to miss out on an opportunity and are trying to keep up with the Jones'. Pick a couple of activities that your kids are truly interested in and do those. Not all of them.
Now is the time to do something to simplify your life. It is time to free up time for yourself. Stop wasting your life away working for someone else. Spend your time building up a business for yourself and at the same time, do what you want to do. Living a simple life will go a long way to making you more fulfilled and a happier and healthier person. Listen. Do you hear that? That is the solitude and quiet life that you have created for yourself!
There are only 24 hours in any given day. However, there are days when we want to achieve more and days when we can afford the luxury to just let go of everything, grab a beer and lay down on a beach, read a book, relax, daydream, do nothing, just be. But how can we enjoy such days more often when we have so many urgent and important things to do, most of them being needed immediately and some of then even yesterday?
Self growth has emerged into a multi-billion industry, with hundreds of stress management, anger management, time management and many other similar programs that promise individuals to become better after graduating the respective training. In reality, such courses usually have a “honeymoon effect” which makes their visible benefits to last for maximum 6 months, period after which, the students usually go back to where they were prior to attending the course. Yet, they usually feel good about participating in these programs, so they’d repeat the experience whenever they have another chance. Companies are speculating on this human behavior, and pay their employees expensive personal growth trainings as part of the remuneration package for the job. Thus, employees are happy, business owners are happy, training companies are happy, so why not going on with new programs year after year?
Time management systems are part of this madness of self improvement. We all want to be more effective, to achieve more in the same given time, so we try to find new and better ways of cutting corners and getting mountains of things done, if possible at the speed of light.
I’m asking you now: why do you strive to get all those things done today? Why is it so important for you to neglect yourself, your pleasures and your wellbeing only for fulfilling some tasks and actions you may not even care about? What if some of them will be done tomorrow? Or after tomorrow? Or never, perhaps? This brings us to the first step in putting together your customized time management program:
Prioritize
If you ask yourself what could be the worst that would happen if you don’t finish a task before its deadline, you’ll be able to see if it’s urgent or not, if it deserves a top position on your to do list, or it can even be omitted. Going through all things you want to get done for the day will lead you to putting together a prioritized to do list to help you get organized. This being done, you can take the next step which is the “doing” itself. Now it’s important to remember that one of the points of making the list was prioritizing things. Why then would you start working on several of them at once? That’s the second rule for a successful time management program:
Forget Multitasking
If you still insist you can take care of multiple things in the same time and do them all well, think a little bit of Windows, the famous multitasking computer operating system. If you’re a Windows user, you may be aware of the “blue screen or death” and of other errors which occur often enough to upset you. Besides, even if errors don’t occur, there’s a limit on how many programs can run in the same time without affecting the system performance. For a better time management, try to tackle your assignments one at a time. It’s faster. If you don’t believe this, try to monitor two days of your life: one day do things as you use to, ten at a time, and the other day do them one by one. Measure the time needed to complete all tasks then compare the results. You’ll be amazed. So, supposing you’re now convinced and you take the bullets on your to do list one by one, you may see it’s getting late and you still can’t finish everything you thought you needed to get done. Now what? Now remember:
Change Your To Do List
If your list was really long, probably the last items on it will have been done so late that it wouldn’t have mattered anymore if they were pushed for the next day. So, just push them! And remember that any item that’s being postponed for more than 5-6 days is probably not essential and it might just be skipped without consequences for you.
These are only three basic ingredients for a good time management program. However, the recipe could include more, depending on your specific situation and sometimes depending on a certain day or a certain event that might make you suddenly change your priorities. There’s nothing wrong with change, if it’s for the better, so don’t be afraid of it. Yet, if you’re afraid of change, you can always follow a change management program. That’s if you don’t want to make and pursue your own.
