Simplify Your Life – 7 Tips
Looking for ways to be less stressed and more efficient?
This week is National Simply Your Life Week! It is common to clean out our closets and de-clutter our house as the seasons change, but the same approach can be applied to your everyday life! By streamlining and simplifying our lives we can reduce stress and increase our productivity, overall happiness, and wellbeing. And – you don’t have to wait until the seasons start to change! Here are 7 tips for simplifying your life, which can be incorporated as early as today.
1. Set Goals
It is easy to feel overwhelmed and weighed down by the hustle and bustle of daily life. Setting goals is an easy way to streamline your thoughts and to maximize your productivity. Goals could include places you’d like to visit in the next year, getting to the gym twice a week, things you want to accomplish at work, or something as simple as cooking dinner or giving someone a compliment, once a week. Setting goals that you can strive towards, and check off your list once reached, will enable you to track your progress and to feel a sense of accomplishment.
2. Get Organized
When you are surrounded by chaos it is hard to feel calm and productive, so find ways to organize the chaos in your life! From your home to the office, aim to de-clutter. By getting rid of the things that you no longer need or use, you will free up some space and feel more efficient. Studies have shown that having more white space in a room can be very calming, which promotes a healthy enviornment. In addition to de-cluttering, a calendar is a great tool for streamlining your life. You can use the same calendar and assign different colors for work, personal appointments, family vacations, etc, which will enable you to conveniently see all of your plans in once place.
3. Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
With limited numbers of hours in a day and with never ending to-do lists, you’ll likely always feel like there is more to be accomplished. However, this mentality can be very draining and cause extra stress that can result in you feeling less motivated or productive. Rather than focusing on what didn’t get done, allow yourself to acknowledge what did get done! In other words, try to focus on the positives of each day. Additionally, prioritize your to-do lists – this will allow you to focus on important deadlines and tasks first, rather than getting overwhelmed by less urgent assignments. And – last but not least – don’t sweat the small stuff!
4. Spend Time Alone
Do you feel like you are always on the go? From work, to running errands, to doing things around the house, to meeting up with friends, it is common to feel like you never get a moment to rest. However, it is important to have some alone time to re-center and re-charge. So – try to set a specific amount of time aside each day or week to be alone. You can use this time to workout, to meditate, or to just sit and enjoy the silence! By designating even just 30 minutes of “me-time,” you will feel more energize and available in other facets of your busy life. Be sure to block off this time in your calendar or to set a reminder for yourself, so you don’t forget to take the time. And – remember to turn your phone off or on silent until your session is over!
5. Slow Down
We live in an age where almost everyone is multi-tasking at all times. You are not just cooking dinner – you are checking your email, while on the phone with a friend, and listening to music, as you simultaneously cooking dinner. Multi-tasking is almost ingrained in us, but it is not the most efficient way to operate. Rather than rushing through a number of tasks, try to focus all of your attention on one task at a time. By streamlining your focus, you will increase productivity and decrease the chance of errors. Additionally, you will lower your stress level and be able to better enjoy the task at hand.
6. Disconnect
In many ways technology makes our lives much easier, as we can obtain an unlimited amount of information, entertainment, directions, check our emails, and more in seconds. However, it also makes it that much harder to put our phone down and to just live in the moment. While we can connect with numerous people, almost instantaneously, too often we end up short-changing our interactions with the people in front of us, as we remain glued to our phones. Try to keep your phone usage in check, so that you don’t miss out on the here and now. You may even be surprised by how little you miss checking your phone!
7. Fuel Yourself
What you eat plays an important role in your health and overall well being. You may think that eating healthy requires more time and thought, which makes your life more complicated than simplified. But, your food is what fuels you, so make sure you are putting good “fuel” into your system. By incorporating a balance diet and exercise routine into your daily life, you will increase your energy levels and reduce your stress levels. So, by making your health a priority you will be more effective in other areas of your life.
