UNDERSTANDING OF LIFE PRESPECTIVE
There is no doubt that for many people, life is simply too overwhelming. Everyone is given the same 24 hours in a day, but everything you do takes time.
To fit it all in, it’s imperative to prioritize, organize, and delegate. We live in a hectic and complex world. It’s natural to want to get a lot done and to be able to point to your accomplishments. However, if you don’t slow down and set some goals for your life, personally and work wise, things won’t go as planned and will feel a lot more complicated.
When
you want to simplify your life, the first thing that must happen is to set your priorities. This works for both your personal life and your work
life.
Whether it’s a large project
or a small one doesn’t
matter. Knowing how to
choose where to start, how to organize it, and
what’s most important is essential to your success.
List Every Task You Need to Do
When you have things to do, it’s essential to know what you are doing at any given time in the day.
Listing out all the tasks you need to
do on any given day is an excellent way to figure out how to organize each task and get it done the right way.
Think of this just like Marie Kondo’s method of organizing your bedroom.
You need to be able to see everything you have before
you can organize it and classify it.
Put Each Task in the Right Category
Try to put each task into a category that lets you know what it’s for: personal or work. Then also
identify whether this task is important,
urgent, or something else. This is going to help you identify tasks that you can let someone
else do, as well as identify tasks that you’re
doing that you can simply let go.
Move Urgent Tasks to the Top
When you notice that some of
the tasks are urgent, put them up at the top. For some people, it helps
to separate work from personal, but
others prefer to just list tasks in the order by which they’ll take care of them. You can make two lists, or you can put it all in one if you have
correctly identified whether it’s urgent or not.
Determine the Value of the Task
One of the things you must look
at for each task is its value.
This is easier to identify if it’s a work thing. You know
that putting an item that people can
buy up for sale is going to make you
money, so it has a high value. But you also know that taking your
child to piano lessons
is a high value task.
Know the Effort the Task Will Take
This is another important thing to note when you are organizing your tasks. It also helps to look at
effort versus value to help classify
a task. How long does something really take you to do? How much money does it cost you to outsource it? Identify all the resources any one task takes - whether
it’s you, someone else, money, or a
product that helps with it (like maybe to do
this task you have to use specialized software that is expensive to buy and hard to understand). In the
last case, after studying the situation
you may determine to outsource, for example.
Determine Which Tasks to Cut or Outsource
Now that you have it all out in the open, it’s important to look at the tasks and determine which tasks you
don’t even need to do at all, or
that you can let someone
else do.
It doesn’t matter whether it’s cleaning your house, cooking
your dinner, doing your laundry or outsourcing something at work or in your business if you have one – the important point is
to let go of the things you do not need to do yourself when it’s feasible to do so.
Don’t skip this step for simplifying your life. You can separate it up if you want to, doing personal
and work separately. But whether we like it or not, work and life are inextricably connected for most people today. Knowing
how to prioritize at home and work will make your life much more straightforward.
HEBEING
WELL-ORGANIZ
There are clear benefits to being organized. Several studies point
to disorganization as being one of the main reasons
people suffer from anxiety at work and at home. When people feel so busy, they feel as if they cannot
function and that it is not suitable
for them - for their home life or for their jobs. As you simplify your life and become more organized, you’ll reap all these benefits.
· You’ll Be Able to Focus More – When you
are organized, focusing on a task at
hand is always more comfortable because
you’re giving yourself the time to focus. No one is good at multitasking. Studies have proved time and again that people just think they’re good at
multitasking, but no one is.
· You’ll Become More Productive –
When you plan, organize,
and systemize every aspect of your life, you’ll become super-productive. You’ll get more done than most people because most people don’t plan or
organize in a way that makes them more
productive.
· You’ll Have More Power over Your Time – While
you’re given the same 24 hours in a
day as every other human being is
given, the fact that you know how to use the time given is going to be a huge advantage. You’re going to feel as if you have more time even though you don’t, due to the organization of the time you have.
For example, if you take a shopping
list to the store, you’re less likely to have
to waste time going back
again.
· You’ll Experience Less Stress –
The appearance of less clutter around your environment, at home
and at work, will automatically
reduce your stress. The main reason is that you’re avoiding time wasters looking
for things.
· You’ll Experience More Work-Life Balance – It’s easy
to be overworked these days. Most
jobs don’t have as rigid work times
as they used to have. In fact, a lot of jobs want you there as much as possible.
However, when you get organized
and increase your productivity over everyone else’s, no one is going to complain when
you go to your son’s ball game instead
of working.
·
You’ll Get
Better at Setting and Achieving Goals – When you are organized, it helps you notice what is important and what is not
as important.
That means that you can set better goals because
you know what is most
valuable to you and your life. Plus, due to
your organization, you will be able to implement and take action better.
· You’ll Feel More Positive Every Day –
A funny thing happens when
your life is organized; you just start feeling
happy. The main reason is that you have fewer stress hormones
running through your veins. The other thing that
happens is that you begin to feel successful in life. That makes everyone
happy.
· Your Creativity Will Increase –
It might seem counterproductive at first glance that organization and planning can make
you more creative, but it’s true. Your mind cannot get into a creative
flow if you are being interrupted
all the time by other things. By setting up your environment to be creative, you will succeed.
·
You’ll Have
More Energy and Excitement for Each Day –
Waking up and knowing that you can get through your day and feel accomplished is going to make you feel more excitement
and energy for your life. You’ll want to tackle the day because
you know you will win.
· You’ll Experience More
Freedom – If you are
currently feeling as if all you do is
work without any fun in your life, and
then you set up a plan to simplify your life, you will automatically experience more freedom. Time freedom is a great thing because
once you realize
you have time freedom,
the next thing you will realize is that you have money freedom too. That’s powerful
stuff.
Just think about how your mornings will be different if you’ve organized
everything the night before. Think about how different
dinnertime will be if you’ve organized and planned. How fun will it be to take a Sunday to play golf instead of
doing laundry because you decided to
outsource it? Your day may look different from this one, but it will
be simpler when you’ve taken the time to bring
organization into all aspects
of your life.
Mastering
the art of delegation is one of the
skills that can totally change your life. The problem
with most people,
especially women, is that they tend to think they’re the only one who can do something
and do it right. The thing to remember,
though, is that "right" is often subjective. Maybe someone
else can do it perfectly
fine.
Let’s look at some factors that can help you master the art of delegation so that you can simplify your
life by leveraging other people’s time.
Hand Off the Right Type of Tasks
First, get a handle on all the tasks that you do. When you can organize and categorize them, you can look
at ways to make each task easier to accomplish.
In some cases, you can automate them with technology, in other cases,
you’ll need to find a person to handle that task for you.
Give the Tasks to the Right Person
In addition to handing off the right type of tasks, you’ll want to find the right person for that task. If
you know someone who is already good
at that thing you need to be done, they’re the
most natural person to hire because they already know how to do it.
You just give it to them and let them do it. If you find someone who hasn’t done it before, you’ll have to
train them. That is an idea if your budget is lower but hiring an expert will make everything simpler.
Get Out of Their Way
Once you pass the task on to someone else, get out of their way. Don’t micromanage. Sure, give them
some expectations for the task. For
example, if you hire someone to clean your home,
make sure to let them know about the things you deem important for the cleaning to be considered sufficient to you, then let
them do it.
Most service providers already have a specific method for doing that task based on their expertise, so it’s always best after
you’ve agreed on deliverables to let them get on with it.
Use Your New-Found Time Productively
It’s not enough to just delegate a task to someone else, and that’s that. Instead, use the time
you gain to do something productive. If you use that time to do
something important to you such as spend time with your kids, your partner,
friends – or to
do money-making tasks, you’re going to feel so much more productive and enjoy delegating more.
If someone else can do something faster,
cheaper, and the same
quality (or close) as you, why wouldn’t you delegate? If you are feeling overwhelmed because you are doing too much, there is no point in continuing. Instead,
invest in training and delegating to
others because you’ll not only improve your own life but maybe theirs
too.
One
way to become more productive is to automate the things that you can. Today there is an enormous amount of automation that you can do, both at work
and in your personal life.
Let’s go over a few ideas that might make a massive difference in your day, making it that much more simplified using technology and good habits.
· Set Up Your Computer Properly
– Your computer can maintain itself with the right additions of software.
Set up your computer so that it automatically updates,
automatically checks for viruses, and keeps the computer clean. Whether you have a Mac or a PC,
there are options for you to learn about.
· Pay Your Bills Via Your Bank’s Bill Payment System
– Now, most credit cards and bills today let you set up automatic
payment options directly
through them, but setting
them up via your bank’s system is a better and
more organized way to do it because if you need to change something it’s all in one place. You can automate the payment
process, or you can simply go online and click to pay when you’re ready. Most banks today offer this service free too.
· Automate Meal Planning with a Dinner Kit – If you
find that meal planning and shopping
take too much time, you can automate
much of this by signing up for a meal kit delivery
service. They will then send you an email before each shipment, letting you now the additional things you need to buy. Then you can set up an order via Instacart.com
for your local grocery store too, and even automate
some of that via Amazon’s Subscribe and Save
options.
·
Go Paperless
– If you have a lot of paperwork you’re always
going through, try to find a way to go paperless. Paperless files are easier to find with a search than other types of files. Plus, you can set it up to
do some of this automatically if you learn how
to use your computer.
On Mac, it’s called "Automator on the Mac," and on Windows, it’s called "Actions on
Windows." You can also learn how
to use Zapier.com to automate a lot of filing
functions, both at home and at work.
· Learn to Use Your Smartphone – Everyone has this wonderful
device today called a "smartphone" that has more computing power than the computer that sent people to the moon the first time. If you
learn to use the tools such as list
keeping, shut on, and shutoffs, and so forth, you’ll
be more productive.
· Record Shows –
If you like to watch shows on your television, get a DVR or other system that
enables you to automatically record
the shows you want so that you can watch
them on your down day instead of when they come out.
· Habituate Organization – Once you
spend time organizing to simplify
your life, you can make it feel automated if you just turn organization and cleaning into a habit. This is how most people learned
to brush their teeth. It became a habit.
Throwing away your trash each time you get a fresh cup of coffee
can become a habit
too.
Incorporate little
habits into your day, and it’ll feel as if everything is happening automatically.
· Make Your House Smarter – Today you
can have a house that unlocks the
door for you, turns on the light, preheats the
oven and so forth – all from a distance and at your command. If you can afford to invest in this time-saving technology, it is a great way to ensure that things
get done. You can even water
your lawn or house plants using automation technology.
· Hire Household Help – Even if you can’t technically outsource some of your tasks at work to automate
something, you can at home. Automate your household chores by
hiring someone to do it for you every single week the same day.
· Create Systems – Anything that you know must be
done regularly needs a system.
Whether that’s paying bills, bookkeeping, or taking a bath, it all happens
regularly. Setting up
systems that use a combination of technology,
delegation, and habit creation will go far in getting more organized
through automation.
When you look at new opportunities to automate something, first think about the time that it takes you to accomplish it, what your opportunity cost is for
continuing to do something manually
that can be automated in some way, and the value of that task. Even if you only shave an hour off your day through automation, remember that’s 365 hours a year. That’s over fifteen
days. You can accomplish a lot
in fifteen days.
One
of the most critical aspects of your life to simplify is your finances. Taking control of the money that
comes in and goes out of your
household is imperative. Many people believe that their lack of money contributes to their complicated and overwhelming
lives, but what if you’re just not keeping your money organized so that it works as hard as it can for you?
Let’s look at ways that you can
take control of your finances to make your life simpler.
·
Define Your Financial Values and Establish
Goals – Knowing what is important to you about money can help you make the best goals. It doesn’t matter
how "pie in the sky" your
goals seem right now; having those goals and
then developing a plan to get there is what’s going to make it simple.
· Assess Where You Are – Once
again, you have to make a mess before
you can streamline and simplify. Go through your entire
financial life and find out where you are.
What are your debts, what are your expenses, what is coming
in, and what do you have saved? Don’t judge yourself
when you go through this; just get it all down in writing.
· Keep Fewer Accounts
– Now that you know what you have, notice if you have several
checking and saving accounts.
There are few reasons to have a lot of accounts unless you need to spread the money around due to banking insurance. But if you’re like most
people, you can get by with one
checking account and one savings account. The
exception is if you have your own business, because then you need a separate
account for business.
Fewer accounts mean less time maintaining them and less opportunism for criminals.
· Go Paperless – Many offices are proud of being
paperless today, and you can do that
at home too. Set up all your bills
for paperless billing, which means they’ll go to your email inbox. The other option is that if your bank has bill paying options, they often also have
e-bill options that you can easily set up with a few clicks online.
· Drop the Credit Cards – If you
have more than one credit card, put all
but one of them on
ice.
Use the card with no fee and the lowest interest rates and pay it off each time you get the bill. Or
use the card with the most points for travel so you
can get free travel just for paying
bills. The point is, pick one and use only that one.
· Pay Off Your Consumer Debt – If you are currently carrying
consumer debt balances
on revolving credit
accounts, find a way to pay them off quickly. If you can consolidate them onto one card while
paying it off, that will make things a lot
easier.
· Invest in Funds Over Individual Stocks – It takes
a lot of time and research to invest
in individual stocks. You can instead
save time and make it simple by investing in funds. For example, they might be called something
like "the 2045 fund" if that is about the time
you expect to retire. The fund
automatically adjusts its stock ratio based on the year of the fund to help you avoid risk.
· Use Cash More Often – Instead of using cards to
pay for stuff when you go out, use cash. Cash helps stick
to a budget; plus you don’t have to worry about balancing your account, card number theft, or receipts.
· Let Go of Services You Don’t Need – Look at any automatic
payments coming out of your accounts. Think about
whether you really need them or not. Are you using them as you thought you would? When is the last time you used it? For example, you may be surprised to find out that now
that Game of Thrones is over, you never use your HBO GO subscription. Those few bucks can add up.
· Know How to Make Goals – Learn the
right process for goal making when it
comes to money. Goals need to be SMART, which means that they should be specific,
measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-based. Also, write
down your goals and set up steps to reach the goal that you put into
your calendar.
· Know If Renting or Owning Is Right for You – It might shock you to know that home ownership
really isn’t financially best for everyone. For some
people, renting is a lot better. This
is especially true if you’re not sure where you
want to live for the next five to ten years. You can simplify your life by renting too, because you won’t be responsible for unexpected repairs.
· Add Passive Streams of Income – Studies
show that most rich people
have multiple streams
of income.
Even if you don’t care about the word "rich," the fact is that adding a passive income stream can
really help you with your financial life. There are many ways to earn passive
income today, from rental investments to selling digital and affiliate
products online.
· Stop Learning and Start Implementing – If you’ve
read a lot about finances in the past
but have yet to do any of the things you’ve
learned, take this advice and run with it. Implement something. Pick one thing and
just go for it. When you have success on that, you’re going to want
to do the next thing.
· Learn the 50/30/20
Budgeting Model –
If you don’t have any experience creating
budgets yet and tend to live by the seat of your pants, check
out this budget
model for your personal finances. It’s an excellent
way to start out because
it will ensure that you always really have enough.
Here is a 50/30/20 spreadsheet you can use: https://www.tillerhq.com/snapshot-spreadsheet-spend- and-save
Taking control of your finances is less about doing without, and more about doing more with what you have. The truth is, money problems
are often just a lack of attention
to the topic.
If you tend to buy coffee at the shop daily, go out to dinner without a plan, and have no idea how much
you owe or earn, it’s going to be
much harder to simplify your life. But when you know what you have, what’s coming in, what’s going out, and why and how, it’s going to make everything
that much simpler to manage.
One
reason people often feel overwhelmed
at home and at work is their
inability to say no.
Part of this is well-planned-out socialization that is designed to create amazing worker bees in society, but
in reality, all this does is cause
people to do more than they need to and become
overwhelmed with life. You really can (and probably should) say no more
than you do. Here’s how.
First, ask yourself
three questions:
1. Does it align with my values?
2. Do I really have the time?
3. Do I really want to
do it?
If any of these questions is no, then you should simply say no. It doesn’t have to be no on all three
counts. It can just be no because you
don’t want to say yes. However, often, there are other reasons.
No Reason
Needed
You don’t have to give any reason at all. You can just say no. No is a full and complete
sentence by itself.
If you do want to give a reason,
then you can, but it’s not necessary to do it. Here are a few "no sentences" that you can use if you
want to.
> "Oh,
thank you for asking, but there is no way I can make it work right now."
> "I’m
sorry, but I can't do that because it
goes against my religious world view, but thanks for asking."
> "Thank
you for asking, but I am not the right person for this job. Have you thought of asking Amy, this is really in her wheelhouse?"
> "Not
right now. I already have priorities scheduled for that day and time. Thank
you."
> "I
can’t do that, but if you can do this, then I can do it this way at this time."
Practice saying these sentences and add some of your own that you can use.
You probably already have some
experience with being asked to do
things. You may have said yes when you wish you said no. Practice saying no for
the next time.
Let Go of Guilt
Remember that your upbringing may have caused you to feel bad when you say no. It’s just natural
because when you were two every time you tried to touch that pretty vase, Momma said "NO!" and you may
associate no with something terrible. It happens
to all of us. However, like Momma had to say no to you for a good reason, you can say no to anyone about anything without feeling guilty.
If you say no in a respectful way, there is never a reason to feel bad about it. You must protect your time because
it’s precious. Do things you really
believe in, that you have time for doing, and that you really want to do.
Just
like saying no simplifies things, as you assess your life, you may find that you also have toxic people
in your life that you need to let go
of. Toxic people tend to create tons of drama in their lives and those who associate with them. Less drama in your life is always a good thing.
· Give Yourself Permission to Say Goodbye
– When you realize
someone is toxic and causing unnecessary drama or issues in your life, you need to give yourself permission to say goodbye
to them. You are not obliged to stay in
a relationship that is only painful, whether
blood or not. There are no
prizes at the end of life for doing
so.
· Reduce or Eliminate Contact – The
moment you accept in your mind that the person is toxic, try to reduce or eliminate your contact with them. For some
people, this is as far as you’re
going to get to go if they are someone you must
see, such as a co-worker or boss. For others, this is the start of getting them out
of your life.
· Don’t Ask for or Give an Apology – There is
likely no real reason to discuss
anything with the person. Doing so often doesn’t solve a problem,
and they’re not going to say they’re sorry unless they feel they can
manipulate you. You’ve had enough
experience with the person to realize that
you don’t need this type of closure. It’s not happening anyway.
· Put More Time in Your Healthy Relationships – Now that you have some time freed up, not just in
reality but in also your mind space,
start putting more time into your healthy relationships.
Think more about them, do something for them,
and let them do something for you.
· Experience Your Emotions but Move On – It’s okay
to feel sad, and even bitter for a
little bit. Let yourself feel the emotions, but it’s
important to move on from the
past. The entire point of eliminating
a person from your life who is
toxic is not to let them take up any space in your life that will affect future
actions, including in your
mind.
· Learn from the Experience – One thing that is important to do if you face this issue is to figure out how the person got into your life
to start with.
If it’s work or a relative, that’s understandable, but if you picked this person as your friend (or
spouse) - why? And how can you avoid doing that in the future?
Even if the toxic person is your parent or a relative,
the experience of letting go
of them will be a blessing in your life more
than you may think. When someone is genuinely toxic, they won’t change no matter how much you beg, so letting them go will help you make your life less
stressful and a lot more successful.
One
thing that can take up a lot of time is social media. If you really want to simplify your life, you can
use social media in a way that
doesn’t cause more chaos. Let’s look at the different ways to use social media more effectively, whether for work or play. Simplifying your online life can really make a huge difference in your overall
happiness and success
level.
· Pick Just One – If you must use social media,
choose the platform that you like
best and stick to that one. Maintain profiles
on the others without updating them just in case something ever happens, but most of the time you’ll be able to
use just one for what you need to
stay connected.
· Use Automation Tools – If you do
need to use more than one account
(for work or business, for example), find the
right tools that enable automation and consolidation of accounts into one dashboard to make it
faster to check up on the accounts.
· Create Your Own Dashboard – If you
need to use more than one social account
and you don’t want to pay a monthly
fee for automation, you can create a dashboard
on your computer that enables you to click into your social media
faster and more easily than one at a time.
· Organize Connections –
Differentiate your connections by organizing
them into groups or lists depending
on what the platform allows. When you
organize your connections, it’s
easier to send messages to update them or check their updates when you have it on your schedule.
· Train Your Friends – It’s not very productive
to be chatting with your friends or
family all day. If you’re working, turn off notifications other than emergencies. If you stop answering
your friends and family during the day when it’s not an emergency, they’ll stop bothering you.
· Turn It Off When Not in Use – When you
are not actively on your social media
platforms, turn them off so that you aren’t
checking constantly. For some people who like using PCs still, one way to do this is to get social media off your phone and keep it only on
your home PC.
· Choose Your Time Window – Don’t
check social media continuously. Even
if you use it for work, don’t check it all the
time. Pick times during the day to check it, set a timer, and stick to that. This way it won’t get out of hand, especially when you are trying to be productive.
When you train yourself to turn off distractions so that you can focus on what you’re doing at that time,
you’ll realize that you don’t need
social media to be on all the time. A few minutes of focused connection is a lot better than random interruptions to your workflow or your time with your family and friends.
Simplifying
your life is all about finding what works best for you to ensure that you are at your most productive while also being as stress-free as possible. You should not feel overwhelmed often in your life. It’s normal during times of transition to
be overwhelmed, but it should
not be a permanent condition.
If you find that you are more overwhelmed than not, it’s time to find a way to simplify your life.
What are you waiting for? What is the
one way you plan to make your life simpler in the next twenty-four
hours?
There is no doubt that for many people, life is simply too overwhelming. Everyone is given the same
24 hours in a day, but everything you do takes time.
To fit it all in, it’s imperative to prioritize, organize,
and delegate. We live in a
hectic and complex world. It’s natural to want to get a lot done and to be able to point to your accomplishments. However,
if you don’t slow down and set some
goals for your life, personally and work wise, things won’t go as
planned and will feel a lot
more complicated.
When
you want to simplify your life, the first thing that must happen is to set your priorities. This works for both your personal life and your work
life.
Whether it’s a large project
or a small one doesn’t
matter. Knowing how to
choose where to start, how to organize it, and
what’s most important is essential to your success.
List Every Task You Need to Do
When you have things to do, it’s essential to know what you are doing at any given time in the day.
Listing out all the tasks you need to
do on any given day is an excellent way to figure out how to organize each task and get it done the right way.
Think of this just like Marie Kondo’s method of organizing your bedroom.
You need to be able to see everything you have before
you can organize it and classify it.
Put Each Task in the Right Category
Try to put each task into a category that lets you know what it’s for: personal or work. Then also
identify whether this task is important,
urgent, or something else. This is going to help you identify tasks that you can let someone
else do, as well as identify tasks that you’re
doing that you can simply let go.
Move Urgent Tasks to the Top
When you notice that some of
the tasks are urgent, put them up at the top. For some people, it helps
to separate work from personal, but
others prefer to just list tasks in the order by which they’ll take care of them. You can make two lists, or you can put it all in one if you have
correctly identified whether it’s urgent or not.
Determine the Value of the Task
One of the things you must look
at for each task is its value.
This is easier to identify if it’s a work thing. You know
that putting an item that people can
buy up for sale is going to make you
money, so it has a high value. But you also know that taking your
child to piano lessons
is a high value task.
Know the Effort the Task Will Take
This is another important thing to note when you are organizing your tasks. It also helps to look at
effort versus value to help classify
a task. How long does something really take you to do? How much money does it cost you to outsource it? Identify all the resources any one task takes - whether
it’s you, someone else, money, or a
product that helps with it (like maybe to do
this task you have to use specialized software that is expensive to buy and hard to understand). In the
last case, after studying the situation
you may determine to outsource, for example.
Determine Which Tasks to Cut or Outsource
Now that you have it all out in the open, it’s important to look at the tasks and determine which tasks you
don’t even need to do at all, or
that you can let someone
else do.
It doesn’t matter whether it’s cleaning your house, cooking
your dinner, doing your laundry or outsourcing something at work or in your business if you have one – the important point is
to let go of the things you do not need to do yourself when it’s feasible to do so.
Don’t skip this step for simplifying your life. You can separate it up if you want to, doing personal
and work separately. But whether we like it or not, work and life are inextricably connected for most people today. Knowing
how to prioritize at home and work will make your life much more straightforward.
THE POWER OF BEING
WELL-ORGANIZED
There are clear benefits to being organized. Several studies point
to disorganization as being one of the main reasons
people suffer from anxiety at work and at home. When people feel so busy, they feel as if they cannot
function and that it is not suitable
for them - for their home life or for their jobs. As you simplify your life and become more organized, you’ll reap all these benefits.
· You’ll Be Able to Focus More – When you
are organized, focusing on a task at
hand is always more comfortable because
you’re giving yourself the time to focus. No one is good at multitasking. Studies have proved time and again that people just think they’re good at
multitasking, but no one is.
· You’ll Become More Productive –
When you plan, organize,
and systemize every aspect of your life, you’ll become super-productive. You’ll get more done than most people because most people don’t plan or
organize in a way that makes them more
productive.
· You’ll Have More Power over Your Time – While
you’re given the same 24 hours in a
day as every other human being is
given, the fact that you know how to use the time given is going to be a huge advantage. You’re going to feel as if you have more time even though you don’t, due to the organization of the time you have.
For example, if you take a shopping
list to the store, you’re less likely to have
to waste time going back
again.
· You’ll Experience Less Stress –
The appearance of less clutter around your environment, at home
and at work, will automatically
reduce your stress. The main reason is that you’re avoiding time wasters looking
for things.
· You’ll Experience More Work-Life Balance – It’s easy
to be overworked these days. Most
jobs don’t have as rigid work times
as they used to have. In fact, a lot of jobs want you there as much as possible.
However, when you get organized
and increase your productivity over everyone else’s, no one is going to complain when
you go to your son’s ball game instead
of working.
·
You’ll Get
Better at Setting and Achieving Goals – When you are organized, it helps you notice what is important and what is not
as important.
That means that you can set better goals because
you know what is most
valuable to you and your life. Plus, due to
your organization, you will be able to implement and take action better.
· You’ll Feel More Positive Every Day –
A funny thing happens when
your life is organized; you just start feeling
happy. The main reason is that you have fewer stress hormones
running through your veins. The other thing that
happens is that you begin to feel successful in life. That makes everyone
happy.
· Your Creativity Will Increase –
It might seem counterproductive at first glance that organization and planning can make
you more creative, but it’s true. Your mind cannot get into a creative
flow if you are being interrupted
all the time by other things. By setting up your environment to be creative, you will succeed.
·
You’ll Have
More Energy and Excitement for Each Day –
Waking up and knowing that you can get through your day and feel accomplished is going to make you feel more excitement
and energy for your life. You’ll want to tackle the day because
you know you will win.
· You’ll Experience More
Freedom – If you are
currently feeling as if all you do is
work without any fun in your life, and
then you set up a plan to simplify your life, you will automatically experience more freedom. Time freedom is a great thing because
once you realize
you have time freedom,
the next thing you will realize is that you have money freedom too. That’s powerful
stuff.
Just think about how your mornings will be different if you’ve organized
everything the night before. Think about how different
dinnertime will be if you’ve organized and planned. How fun will it be to take a Sunday to play golf instead of
doing laundry because you decided to
outsource it? Your day may look different from this one, but it will
be simpler when you’ve taken the time to bring
organization into all aspects
of your life.
Mastering
the art of delegation is one of the
skills that can totally change your life. The problem
with most people,
especially women, is that they tend to think they’re the only one who can do something
and do it right. The thing to remember,
though, is that "right" is often subjective. Maybe someone
else can do it perfectly
fine.
Let’s look at some factors that can help you master the art of delegation so that you can simplify your
life by leveraging other people’s time.
Hand Off the Right Type of Tasks
First, get a handle on all the tasks that you do. When you can organize and categorize them, you can look
at ways to make each task easier to accomplish.
In some cases, you can automate them with technology, in other cases,
you’ll need to find a person to handle that task for you.
Give the Tasks to the Right Person
In addition to handing off the right type of tasks, you’ll want to find the right person for that task. If
you know someone who is already good
at that thing you need to be done, they’re the
most natural person to hire because they already know how to do it.
You just give it to them and let them do it. If you find someone who hasn’t done it before, you’ll have to
train them. That is an idea if your budget is lower but hiring an expert will make everything simpler.
Get Out of Their Way
Once you pass the task on to someone else, get out of their way. Don’t micromanage. Sure, give them
some expectations for the task. For
example, if you hire someone to clean your home,
make sure to let them know about the things you deem important for the cleaning to be considered sufficient to you, then let
them do it.
Most service providers already have a specific method for doing that task based on their expertise, so it’s always best after
you’ve agreed on deliverables to let them get on with it.
Use Your New-Found Time Productively
It’s not enough to just delegate a task to someone else, and that’s that. Instead, use the time
you gain to do something productive. If you use that time to do
something important to you such as spend time with your kids, your partner,
friends – or to
do money-making tasks, you’re going to feel so much more productive and enjoy delegating more.
If someone else can do something faster,
cheaper, and the same
quality (or close) as you, why wouldn’t you delegate? If you are feeling overwhelmed because you are doing too much, there is no point in continuing. Instead,
invest in training and delegating to
others because you’ll not only improve your own life but maybe theirs
too.
One
way to become more productive is to automate the things that you can. Today there is an enormous amount of automation that you can do, both at work
and in your personal life.
Let’s go over a few ideas that might make a massive difference in your day, making it that much more simplified using technology and good habits.
· Set Up Your Computer Properly
– Your computer can maintain itself with the right additions of software.
Set up your computer so that it automatically updates,
automatically checks for viruses, and keeps the computer clean. Whether you have a Mac or a PC,
there are options for you to learn about.
· Pay Your Bills Via Your Bank’s Bill Payment System
– Now, most credit cards and bills today let you set up automatic
payment options directly
through them, but setting
them up via your bank’s system is a better and
more organized way to do it because if you need to change something it’s all in one place. You can automate the payment
process, or you can simply go online and click to pay when you’re ready. Most banks today offer this service free too.
· Automate Meal Planning with a Dinner Kit – If you
find that meal planning and shopping
take too much time, you can automate
much of this by signing up for a meal kit delivery
service. They will then send you an email before each shipment, letting you now the additional things you need to buy. Then you can set up an order via Instacart.com
for your local grocery store too, and even automate
some of that via Amazon’s Subscribe and Save
options.
·
Go Paperless
– If you have a lot of paperwork you’re always
going through, try to find a way to go paperless. Paperless files are easier to find with a search than other types of files. Plus, you can set it up to
do some of this automatically if you learn how
to use your computer.
On Mac, it’s called "Automator on the Mac," and on Windows, it’s called "Actions on
Windows." You can also learn how
to use Zapier.com to automate a lot of filing
functions, both at home and at work.
· Learn to Use Your Smartphone – Everyone has this wonderful
device today called a "smartphone" that has more computing power than the computer that sent people to the moon the first time. If you
learn to use the tools such as list
keeping, shut on, and shutoffs, and so forth, you’ll
be more productive.
· Record Shows –
If you like to watch shows on your television, get a DVR or other system that
enables you to automatically record
the shows you want so that you can watch
them on your down day instead of when they come out.
· Habituate Organization – Once you
spend time organizing to simplify
your life, you can make it feel automated if you just turn organization and cleaning into a habit. This is how most people learned
to brush their teeth. It became a habit.
Throwing away your trash each time you get a fresh cup of coffee
can become a habit
too.
Incorporate little
habits into your day, and it’ll feel as if everything is happening automatically.
· Make Your House Smarter – Today you
can have a house that unlocks the
door for you, turns on the light, preheats the
oven and so forth – all from a distance and at your command. If you can afford to invest in this time-saving technology, it is a great way to ensure that things
get done. You can even water
your lawn or house plants using automation technology.
· Hire Household Help – Even if you can’t technically outsource some of your tasks at work to automate
something, you can at home. Automate your household chores by
hiring someone to do it for you every single week the same day.
· Create Systems – Anything that you know must be
done regularly needs a system.
Whether that’s paying bills, bookkeeping, or taking a bath, it all happens
regularly. Setting up
systems that use a combination of technology,
delegation, and habit creation will go far in getting more organized
through automation.
When you look at new opportunities to automate something, first think about the time that it takes you to accomplish it, what your opportunity cost is for
continuing to do something manually
that can be automated in some way, and the value of that task. Even if you only shave an hour off your day through automation, remember that’s 365 hours a year. That’s over fifteen
days. You can accomplish a lot
in fifteen days.
One
of the most critical aspects of your life to simplify is your finances. Taking control of the money that
comes in and goes out of your
household is imperative. Many people believe that their lack of money contributes to their complicated and overwhelming
lives, but what if you’re just not keeping your money organized so that it works as hard as it can for you?
Let’s look at ways that you can
take control of your finances to make your life simpler.
·
Define Your Financial Values and Establish
Goals – Knowing what is important to you about money can help you make the best goals. It doesn’t matter
how "pie in the sky" your
goals seem right now; having those goals and
then developing a plan to get there is what’s going to make it simple.
· Assess Where You Are – Once
again, you have to make a mess before
you can streamline and simplify. Go through your entire
financial life and find out where you are.
What are your debts, what are your expenses, what is coming
in, and what do you have saved? Don’t judge yourself
when you go through this; just get it all down in writing.
· Keep Fewer Accounts
– Now that you know what you have, notice if you have several
checking and saving accounts.
There are few reasons to have a lot of accounts unless you need to spread the money around due to banking insurance. But if you’re like most
people, you can get by with one
checking account and one savings account. The
exception is if you have your own business, because then you need a separate
account for business.
Fewer accounts mean less time maintaining them and less opportunism for criminals.
· Go Paperless – Many offices are proud of being
paperless today, and you can do that
at home too. Set up all your bills
for paperless billing, which means they’ll go to your email inbox. The other option is that if your bank has bill paying options, they often also have
e-bill options that you can easily set up with a few clicks online.
· Drop the Credit Cards – If you
have more than one credit card, put all
but one of them on
ice.
Use the card with no fee and the lowest interest rates and pay it off each time you get the bill. Or
use the card with the most points for travel so you
can get free travel just for paying
bills. The point is, pick one and use only that one.
· Pay Off Your Consumer Debt – If you are currently carrying
consumer debt balances
on revolving credit
accounts, find a way to pay them off quickly. If you can consolidate them onto one card while
paying it off, that will make things a lot
easier.
· Invest in Funds Over Individual Stocks – It takes
a lot of time and research to invest
in individual stocks. You can instead
save time and make it simple by investing in funds. For example, they might be called something
like "the 2045 fund" if that is about the time
you expect to retire. The fund
automatically adjusts its stock ratio based on the year of the fund to help you avoid risk.
· Use Cash More Often – Instead of using cards to
pay for stuff when you go out, use cash. Cash helps stick
to a budget; plus you don’t have to worry about balancing your account, card number theft, or receipts.
· Let Go of Services You Don’t Need – Look at any automatic
payments coming out of your accounts. Think about
whether you really need them or not. Are you using them as you thought you would? When is the last time you used it? For example, you may be surprised to find out that now
that Game of Thrones is over, you never use your HBO GO subscription. Those few bucks can add up.
· Know How to Make Goals – Learn the
right process for goal making when it
comes to money. Goals need to be SMART, which means that they should be specific,
measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-based. Also, write
down your goals and set up steps to reach the goal that you put into
your calendar.
· Know If Renting or Owning Is Right for You – It might shock you to know that home ownership
really isn’t financially best for everyone. For some
people, renting is a lot better. This
is especially true if you’re not sure where you
want to live for the next five to ten years. You can simplify your life by renting too, because you won’t be responsible for unexpected repairs.
· Add Passive Streams of Income – Studies
show that most rich people
have multiple streams
of income.
Even if you don’t care about the word "rich," the fact is that adding a passive income stream can
really help you with your financial life. There are many ways to earn passive
income today, from rental investments to selling digital and affiliate
products online.
· Stop Learning and Start Implementing – If you’ve
read a lot about finances in the past
but have yet to do any of the things you’ve
learned, take this advice and run with it. Implement something. Pick one thing and
just go for it. When you have success on that, you’re going to want
to do the next thing.
· Learn the 50/30/20
Budgeting Model –
If you don’t have any experience creating
budgets yet and tend to live by the seat of your pants, check
out this budget
model for your personal finances. It’s an excellent
way to start out because
it will ensure that you always really have enough.
Here is a 50/30/20 spreadsheet you can use: https://www.tillerhq.com/snapshot-spreadsheet-spend- and-save
Taking control of your finances is less about doing without, and more about doing more with what you have. The truth is, money problems
are often just a lack of attention
to the topic.
If you tend to buy coffee at the shop daily, go out to dinner without a plan, and have no idea how much
you owe or earn, it’s going to be
much harder to simplify your life. But when you know what you have, what’s coming in, what’s going out, and why and how, it’s going to make everything
that much simpler to manage.
One
reason people often feel overwhelmed
at home and at work is their
inability to say no.
Part of this is well-planned-out socialization that is designed to create amazing worker bees in society, but
in reality, all this does is cause
people to do more than they need to and become
overwhelmed with life. You really can (and probably should) say no more
than you do. Here’s how.
First, ask yourself
three questions:
1. Does it align with my values?
2. Do I really have the time?
3. Do I really want to
do it?
If any of these questions is no, then you should simply say no. It doesn’t have to be no on all three
counts. It can just be no because you
don’t want to say yes. However, often, there are other reasons.
No Reason
Needed
You don’t have to give any reason at all. You can just say no. No is a full and complete
sentence by itself.
If you do want to give a reason,
then you can, but it’s not necessary to do it. Here are a few "no sentences" that you can use if you
want to.
> "Oh,
thank you for asking, but there is no way I can make it work right now."
> "I’m
sorry, but I can't do that because it
goes against my religious world view, but thanks for asking."
> "Thank
you for asking, but I am not the right person for this job. Have you thought of asking Amy, this is really in her wheelhouse?"
> "Not
right now. I already have priorities scheduled for that day and time. Thank
you."
> "I
can’t do that, but if you can do this, then I can do it this way at this time."
Practice saying these sentences and add some of your own that you can use.
You probably already have some
experience with being asked to do
things. You may have said yes when you wish you said no. Practice saying no for
the next time.
Let Go of Guilt
Remember that your upbringing may have caused you to feel bad when you say no. It’s just natural
because when you were two every time you tried to touch that pretty vase, Momma said "NO!" and you may
associate no with something terrible. It happens
to all of us. However, like Momma had to say no to you for a good reason, you can say no to anyone about anything without feeling guilty.
If you say no in a respectful way, there is never a reason to feel bad about it. You must protect your time because
it’s precious. Do things you really
believe in, that you have time for doing, and that you really want to do.
Just
like saying no simplifies things, as you assess your life, you may find that you also have toxic people
in your life that you need to let go
of. Toxic people tend to create tons of drama in their lives and those who associate with them. Less drama in your life is always a good thing.
· Give Yourself Permission to Say Goodbye
– When you realize
someone is toxic and causing unnecessary drama or issues in your life, you need to give yourself permission to say goodbye
to them. You are not obliged to stay in
a relationship that is only painful, whether
blood or not. There are no
prizes at the end of life for doing
so.
· Reduce or Eliminate Contact – The
moment you accept in your mind that the person is toxic, try to reduce or eliminate your contact with them. For some
people, this is as far as you’re
going to get to go if they are someone you must
see, such as a co-worker or boss. For others, this is the start of getting them out
of your life.
· Don’t Ask for or Give an Apology – There is
likely no real reason to discuss
anything with the person. Doing so often doesn’t solve a problem,
and they’re not going to say they’re sorry unless they feel they can
manipulate you. You’ve had enough
experience with the person to realize that
you don’t need this type of closure. It’s not happening anyway.
· Put More Time in Your Healthy Relationships – Now that you have some time freed up, not just in
reality but in also your mind space,
start putting more time into your healthy relationships.
Think more about them, do something for them,
and let them do something for you.
· Experience Your Emotions but Move On – It’s okay
to feel sad, and even bitter for a
little bit. Let yourself feel the emotions, but it’s
important to move on from the
past. The entire point of eliminating
a person from your life who is
toxic is not to let them take up any space in your life that will affect future
actions, including in your
mind.
· Learn from the Experience – One thing that is important to do if you face this issue is to figure out how the person got into your life
to start with.
If it’s work or a relative, that’s understandable, but if you picked this person as your friend (or
spouse) - why? And how can you avoid doing that in the future?
Even if the toxic person is your parent or a relative,
the experience of letting go
of them will be a blessing in your life more
than you may think. When someone is genuinely toxic, they won’t change no matter how much you beg, so letting them go will help you make your life less
stressful and a lot more successful.
One
thing that can take up a lot of time is social media. If you really want to simplify your life, you can
use social media in a way that
doesn’t cause more chaos. Let’s look at the different ways to use social media more effectively, whether for work or play. Simplifying your online life can really make a huge difference in your overall
happiness and success
level.
· Pick Just One – If you must use social media,
choose the platform that you like
best and stick to that one. Maintain profiles
on the others without updating them just in case something ever happens, but most of the time you’ll be able to
use just one for what you need to
stay connected.
· Use Automation Tools – If you do
need to use more than one account
(for work or business, for example), find the
right tools that enable automation and consolidation of accounts into one dashboard to make it
faster to check up on the accounts.
· Create Your Own Dashboard – If you
need to use more than one social account
and you don’t want to pay a monthly
fee for automation, you can create a dashboard
on your computer that enables you to click into your social media
faster and more easily than one at a time.
· Organize Connections –
Differentiate your connections by organizing
them into groups or lists depending
on what the platform allows. When you
organize your connections, it’s
easier to send messages to update them or check their updates when you have it on your schedule.
· Train Your Friends – It’s not very productive
to be chatting with your friends or
family all day. If you’re working, turn off notifications other than emergencies. If you stop answering
your friends and family during the day when it’s not an emergency, they’ll stop bothering you.
· Turn It Off When Not in Use – When you
are not actively on your social media
platforms, turn them off so that you aren’t
checking constantly. For some people who like using PCs still, one way to do this is to get social media off your phone and keep it only on
your home PC.
· Choose Your Time Window – Don’t
check social media continuously. Even
if you use it for work, don’t check it all the
time. Pick times during the day to check it, set a timer, and stick to that. This way it won’t get out of hand, especially when you are trying to be productive.
When you train yourself to turn off distractions so that you can focus on what you’re doing at that time,
you’ll realize that you don’t need
social media to be on all the time. A few minutes of focused connection is a lot better than random interruptions to your workflow or your time with your family and friends.
Simplifying
your life is all about finding what works best for you to ensure that you are at your most productive while also being as stress-free as possible. You should not feel overwhelmed often in your life. It’s normal during times of transition to
be overwhelmed, but it should
not be a permanent condition.
If you find that you are more overwhelmed than not, it’s time to find a way to simplify your life.
What are you waiting for? What is the
one way you plan to make your life simpler in the next twenty-four
hours?
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