10 Ways to Simplify Your Life

Written by Leo Babauta

Most of us live pretty hectic lives with little time left over to stop and smell the roses. For those of you looking for some extra time in the day to do the things you love have a look at the list below to see if you can simplify!

1. Make a short list. Take out a sheet of paper or an index card. Now make a short list of the 4-5 most important things in your life. What’s most important to you? What do you value most? What 4-5 things do you most want to do in your life? Simplifying starts with identifying your priorities.  You are trying to make room in your life so you will have more time to focus on the things you value most in your life.

2. Evaluate your commitments. Look at everything you’ve got going on in your life. Everything, from work to home to hobbies to kids’ activities. Think about which of these really gives you value, which ones you love doing. Which of these are in line with the 4-5 most important things you listed above? Drop those that aren’t in line with those thing

3. Purge a drawer. Or a shelf, or a countertop, or a corner of a room. Just one small area. You can use that small area as your base of simplicity, and then expand from there. Here’s how to purge: a) empty everything from the drawer or shelf or corner into a pile. b) From this pile, pick out only the most important things, the stuff you use and love. c) Get rid of the rest. Right now. Trash it, or put it in your car to give away or donate. d) Put the stuff you love and use back, in a neat and orderly manner.

4. Set limits for things you do regularly: email, RSS posts, tasks, feeds, items in your life, etc.

5. Take a look at your to-do list. If it’s more than ten items long, you can probably simplify it a bit. Try to find a few items that can be eliminated, delegated, automated, outsourced, or ignored.

6. Clear your desk. I can personally attest to the amazing feeling that a clean desk can give you. It’s such a simple thing to do, and yet it does so much for you.

7. Clear out your email inbox. Is your email inbox always full of read and unread messages? That’s because you’re delaying decisions on your emails. If you have 50, let’s say, or fewer emails in your inbox, you can process them all today. If you have hundreds, you should put them in a temporary folder and get to them one chunk at a time (do 20 per day or something).

8. Instead of multi-tasking, do one thing at a time. Remove all distractions, resist any urge to check email or do some other habitual task like that while you’re doing the task at hand. Stick to that one task, until you’re done. It’ll make a huge difference in both your stress level and your productivity.

9.  Learn to say no. This is actually one of the key habits for those trying to simplify their lives. If you can’t say no, you will take on too much.

10. Learn to live frugally. Living frugally means buying less, wanting less, and leaving less of a footprint on the earth. It’s directly related to simplicity.

For more on articles like this visit www.zenhabits.net