Simplicity brings balance, freedom, and joy. When you simplify your life and start to experience these benefits you begin to further ask where you can rid yourself of distractions and merely focus on what’s essential — and you become happier, more productive, and less stressed.
Overall, here’s the 8 key areas of your life you ought to begin simplifying to live a more balanced, joyful lifestyle:
1. Your Possessions
This is probably the most obvious one — too many material possessions complicate our lives to a greater degree than we ever give them credit as they drain our bank account, our energy, and our attention. They keep us from the ones we love and keep us from living a life based on our values. If you will invest the time to remove nonessential possessions from your life, you will never regret it.
How to Declutter Your Life and Reduce Stress | LifeHack
Declutter Your Life | ZenHabits
2. Your Time Commitments
Most of us have filled our days full from beginning to end with time commitments: work, home, kid’s activities, community events, religious endeavours, hobbies… the list goes on and on. When possible, release yourself from the time commitments that are not in line with your greatest values. Simplify your life, by simplifying your time commitments. Also, be sure to check out my article “The 14 Answers to All Your Time Management Problems”.
How to Reduce Your Commitments and Boost Results | Quick and Dirty Tips
Rapidly reduce stress with these 8 time management habits | CoachingPositivePerformance
3. Your Goals
Reduce the number of core goals you are intentionally striving for in your life to one or two. By reducing the number of goals that you are striving to accomplish, you will improve your focus and your success rate. Write down a list of the things that you want to accomplish in your life and choose the two most important.
If your list is huge (like my bucket list), to gain greater clarity, focus on a few, and as you finish one, add another from your list.
How to Make This Year Extraordinary By Simplifying Your Goals | CarefulCents
Simplify Your Goal Setting | Jake Jorgovan
4. Your Negative Thoughts
Most negative emotions are completely useless. Resentment, bitterness, hate, and jealousy have never improved the quality of life for a single human being. Take responsibility for your mind. Forgive and move on past hurts and replace negative thoughts with positive ones.
7 Ways to Clear Your Mind of Negative Thoughts | Pick the Brain
Eliminate Negative Thinking | LearnMindPower
5. Your Debt
If debt is holding you captive, reduce it. Start today. Do what you’ve got to do to get out from under its weight. Find the help that you need. Sacrifice luxury today to enjoy freedom tomorrow.
Pay Off Debt in 7 Steps and Still Maintain Your Lifestyle | Huffington Post
10 tips to become debt-free as quickly as possible | Clark
6. Your Screen Time
Focusing your attention on television, movies, video games, and technology affects your life more than you think. Media rearranges your values. It begins to dominate your life. And it has a profound impact on your attitude and outlook. Unfortunately, when you live in that world on a consistent basis, you don’t even notice how it is impacting you. The only way to fully appreciate its influence in your life is to turn them off. This will be immensely helpful to simplify your life and increase long-term happiness.
The Must-Have Tools & Apps to be Productive | Jon Pedersen
Decrease Screen Time | HealthierGeneration
Tips to Reduce Screen Time | National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute
7. Your Connections to the World
Relationships with others are good, but constant streams of distraction are bad. Learn when to power off the blackberry, log off Facebook, or not read a text. Focus on the important, not the urgent. A steady flow of distractions from other people may make us feel important, needed, or wanted, but feeling important and accomplishing importance are completely different things.
Personally, I use StayFocused to only allow me to use a set amount of time each day (e.g. maximum 30 minutes) on Facebook and other distractful websites.
Simplify Your Social Media | BeMoreWithLess
8. Your Multi-Tasking
Research indicates that multitasking increases stress and lowers productivity. While single-tasking is becoming a lost art, learn it. Handle one task at a time. Do it well. And when it is complete, move to the next.
Multitasking Damages Your Brain And Career, New Studies Suggest | Forbes
7 Scientifically PROVEN Reasons to Ditch Multitasking | NJlifehacks
So that’s it. Now get started, simplify your life today!
Also, what do you think? Did I forget anything, or do you got other tips? Be sure to let us know in the comments.