In this article, you’ll discover how to simplify your life so that you have time and energy to enjoy your life to the fullest.
Did you notice how some people complain about how hard life is and, in the next sentence how short it is?
What would be the point of living if not being happy, feeling free, and enjoying the great gift of life? Life is as hard or as easy as you make it be. If you believe that your success and happiness are conditioned by working hard, putting all you can give into it, then, yes, life feels and seems hard because you don’t allow yourself to do things in any other way.
If you’re willing to make your life comfortable and more pleasant, check out these
Five ways of how to simplify your life, make it easier, and more fulfilled:
1. Give yourself fewer choices
The more options you give yourself, the more confused, overwhelmed and bewildered you can get. You risk getting stuck in a never-ending search for the “right” one.
Salespeople know that fact, and that is the reason why they give you one to four choices and not more.
Plus, having too many choices can make you unsatisfied with your final decision because you might wonder “What if I have made another choice? The other one seems better now.”
As a magpie (bird) likes all shiny objects, we like all new things, and that can drive you insane! Whatever you chose, by the time you make you chose, something else (brand new and shiny) pops up on your radar.
To simplify your life, give yourself a maximum of four choices regardless of the decision you ought to make (life decisions or otherwise). Once you made your choice, learn to live with it and relax about the fact that, 10 minutes later, it might not seem the best choice.
Certain decisions you make are reversible; others are not. However, getting lost in the quest for the perfect decision can take to much of your precious time (that’s, definitely irreversible!).
2. Don’t change things that work as they are
Advertising, media, peer pressure and a bit of envy can lure you into desiring to change things that don’t need changing.
I’m not suggesting that you shouldn’t want more or better. Yet, don’t allow yourself to be mesmerized by the “new” when the “old” serves you just fine. Apart from the fact that the “new” takes time from you (to readjust and learn how it works), it has no history, no sentimental value, no memories.
Value more what you already have rather than jumping blindly into convincing yourself how much better your life could be in different circumstances, having different things and different people around. Don’t take things for granted and don’t wait to appreciate them only when you lose them.
Learn how to find simple solutions to complex problems and make your life easier.
For example, I had this complicated problem: I wanted (badly) to change my apartment to a house with a big garden. For many different reasons, that was not possible. The most straightforward solution I found is to visit my friends living in a house with a big garden.
After few of such visits, my desire died because I’ve realized how much simpler and comfortable life is living into an apartment (even though the garden is small…not small, but tiny – doesn’t ask for much to be pretty).
Did you know this inspiring story?
Once upon a time, a man goes to the rabbi:
“Rabbi, please help me. I have a small cold house and six children. We need to move, but I don’t have money, and we like where we live now because all our friend and family are nearby.”
The Rabbi, after a few moments of thinking:
“Your problem has a simple solution, but you must do what I say the whole winter. Do you have small animals around the house? Like ships, dogs, rabbits?”
“Yes, we do.”
“Good. When the winter starts and gets colder outside, move into the house few of those small animals you have.”
“What?! We don’t have enough space as it is…plus, living with animals in the house?”
“Just do what I said, come back to me in spring, and we’ll find a better solution for you.”
The man goes home and does what the rabbi said. In spring goes back to the rabbi. “This winter wasn’t that cold in the house…Now, what?”
“Now, move the animals back in the stable, and, then, we’ll talk again.”
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A few weeks pas and the man doesn’t come back to the rabbi, so the rabbi visits him.
“You didn’t come back to talk.”
“Yes. It wasn’t necessary. The house seems huge now.”
I love this story, and I’m using it every time it feels like I don’t have enough space.
Just by placing a few empty cardboard boxes around the house for two weeks, I increase my space by a third, and the effect lasts for four to five months.
Plus, we (my family, including the dog) are healthier from all the jumping and going around the boxes. (Ok, you may laugh now; but, let me tell you this: you know that big box from the flat screen tv that you have? It can be even more useful than the TV…)
Leaving jokes aside, life is easier when you keep, appreciate, and accept most things as they are. Don’t keep up with the Joneses, keep up with what you feel and believe to be the right thing for you.
3. Avoid squeezing something to do in every spare second
Relax, allow yourself a little boredom now and then.
When I was a child, my mother used to get angry and complained when I wasn’t doing something: “Don’t you have anything to do? Go do [that] and when you finish, do [the other one].” She was like a military sergeant with all of us: “Don’t sit, move, move, move, move…do something!”
Doing something every second doesn’t make you more productive, diligent or successful. It makes you feel tired, anxious and frustrated. Not to mention that, if you get used doing something all the time, you might feel guilty when you stop, when you take a break.
Even if you don’t have a “sergeant” (mom/spouse/boss) to push you around, perhaps you allow technology to do it.
Make life easier for yourself; put everything down, relax, enjoy moments of peace and get bored sometimes.
Why?
- People who don’t need to be entertained all the time are more creative,
- Accept themselves and others as they are,
- Don’t need company (socializing) to feel good,
- Are more self-confident and self-reliant.
Find your balance in life. Stop using every bit and second of it by doing things that others consider productive. Discover your ways of being productive by doing nothing.
What could be those ways? For example:
- Thinking,
- Dreaming,
- Talking to people,
- Listening to your deeper self,
- Enjoying nature.
How to simplify your life? Avoid squeezing something to do in every spare second.
4. Simplify your wardrobe.
You can’t take good decisions when you have to make 1 million decision every day. Can you?
There are many daily good habits to improve your life; and allow me to tell that getting lost in your closet for many minutes or hours every single day, it’s not one of them. Do you agree?
If you’ve seen my youtube channel, you’ve probably notice that I use the same type of blouse (different colors) in almost any video. The logic of it is to simplify my life and cut down the time I spend to prepare for recording so that I have more time for improving my presentation. (Priorities, priorities, priorities.)
Plus, a simplified wardrobe, ensures that people pay more attention to you as a person, rather than getting lost in analyzing how you look.
Yes, there are jobs and situations when you need to present yourself more “fancy”. Yet, no matter what you do for a living, you can find ways to simplify your wardrobe and cut down the number of decisions you HAVE to make every day.
5. Unclutter your life of things you’re supposed to abstain and give you a hard time.
Willpower is an efficient way to get what you want in life when combined with other tools, but it’s short-lived (preferably, don’t use it for longer than 20 minutes at the time). Therefore, make your life easier by limiting the situations when you have to use it.
Improve your mental strength, so that you don’t have to use willpower to the point that becomes a struggle and a pain.
A few examples:
- Don’t keep in the house foods that you can’t “decline” and shouldn’t eat;
- Erase the contact information of those people you want to stay away but struggle to do it;
- Delete addictive games from your computer.
Useless things (like an addiction, for example) that force you to exercise willpower are taking too much of your precious energy and time. That can make you feel unsatisfied with yourself and life in general.
How to simplify your life? Discipline yourself to, wisely write and follow your priorities list.
Life is meant to be loved, enjoyed, and cherished. Make things easier for yourself. Remember that your life belongs to you and it’s in your power to make it as you please.