23 Small Ways to Make Life Simpler

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

Leonardo da Vinci

“The aspects of things that are most important for us are hidden because of their simplicity and familiarity.”

Ludwig Wittgenstein

I adore simplifying my life. It makes me more successful and life less stressful. It makes me calmer and happier. And it just makes things simpler.

But where do you start? Or continue if you are already on your way?

In this week's blog I’d like to share 23 modest behaviors that assist me to live a simpler life.

Pick one of them to get started and keep doing it until it sticks and becomes simply another regular part of your life.

1. Breathe.

When worried, lost in a problem (or a mistake) or the past or future in your thoughts breathe with your belly for two minutes and simply concentrate on the air moving in and out.

These deep breaths will settle your body down and bring your attention back into the present moment again.

2. Do one item at a time.

You’ll obtain better outcomes and feel better and less stressed while performing such activities.

3. Write it all down.

Use your intellect for greater things than remembering what to do. And the mind is frequently like a leaking bucket.

So jot down all your wonderful ideas, insights and thoughts before they go missing someplace and add what you need to accomplish to a to-do list.

4. Do all your food shopping once a week.

You’ll save time, energy and – in my experience – money.

5. Stop striving to do things perfectly. 

It will simply get you stranded and sap your self-esteem.

Go for excellent enough instead and when you are there you are done. Get things all the way to done this manner and then move on to the next item.

6. Stop doing what you don’t enjoy doing anymore.

Life changes and so do you.

though you don't enjoy doing anything anymore then cease doing that (even though it may take some time before you may do so by for example moving employment).

7. Pack your luggage before you go to bed.

Then you don’t have to be worried up by it in morning and you are less likely to forget stuff.

8. Throw aside the stuff you haven’t utilized in 1 year.

Go over everything you have and ask yourself whether you have utilized it in the previous year. If not, give it away to charity or a friend or just toss it out. Less things tends to make life simpler.

9. Ask yourself simple questions every day.

Questions like:

What is the most essential thing I can accomplish right now?

What is one modest action I can take to simplify this situation?

10. Keep everything in its place.

If everything has its own location then it is whole lot simpler to maintain your house decently arranged and decluttered from day to day.

This also helps you with your inner calm since the surrounding environment impacts how you feel on the inside.

11. Cook more food than you’ll consume. 

We normally cook four or more portions of what we're ready to eat. This reduces down on time that you spend on cooking and you’ll have to do less washing up in general.

Plus, it’s smart to have portions of food to bring to work to save some money.

12. Write shorter emails.

I prefer to compose emails including just a few phrases, generally between one and five. If you concentrate on keeping it brief and focused then you’ll probably realize that this is a decent option in most circumstances.

13. Ask instead of guessing.

Reading minds is tricky. So, instead ask questions and connect.

This will enable you to eliminate unwanted arguments, misunderstandings, negativity and loss of time and energy.

14. Use a simple workstation.

My workstation has a huge display and a laptop on an adjustable standing desk. I use a nice chair and there is space for my glass of water near the computer.

That’s it. There are no distractions here. Just myself, the computer and the ocean.

15. Check everything simply once a day.

I check my email inboxes, blog analytics, my online revenue, Twitter and Facebook simply once a day.

I condense all that monitoring into one tiny daily routine at the end of my workday so I don’t lapse and go checking it more throughout the day and squander my energy and attention.

16. Choose tiny everyday actions of kindness.

Instead of little actions of judgment and criticism towards the people around you (and against yourself).

17. Stop trying to satisfy everyone.

There will always be individuals that you don’t get along with or that do not like you for whatever reason.

18. Don’t build mountains out of molehills.

Before you start thinking too much about anything and building it into something large in your brain, ask yourself:

Am I creating a mountain out of a molehill here?

And if you become stuck in victim mentality then question yourself:

Does anybody on the earth have it worse than me right now?

19. Spend 10-15 minutes each Sunday or Monday morning to plan out the week.

Write down your goals for the week, arrange your prioritized to-do list and be ready for the week before you are in the thick of it all.

This will assist you to discover greater clarity, get more of the most essential tasks done next week and decrease stress.

20. Cancel superfluous subscriptions.

I'm sure that you, just like me, have subscriptions to newsletters, numerous accounts on social media and streaming services that you seldom get around to viewing or reading anyhow.

Cancel them to clear your email and social media flows. Plus, possibly save some money.

21. Spend more time with the folks who assist you to keep things simple.

And spend less time with – or move on and away from – the folks who pull you down into overcomplicating everything and causing unneeded drama. Healthy connections or bad ones will have a huge influence on your so pick wisely.

22. Say no more frequently.

If your life seems overwhelmed then you may have to start saying no more frequently.

To other persons. And to yourself too.

To carve out more time and space for you to recharge and for family life, your health and the activities that matter the most to you and your well being.

23. Put a limit on those digital diversions.

Put your phone in another room while hanging out with family or friends, when working or when watching the TV.

Keeping the phone out of reach is the easiest and most effective practice I've discovered to minimize my screen time, my stress levels and negative thoughts and to free up more time in my week.