21 ways to Simplify life and be more productive!
Simplify your life by understanding busyness is not equal to productivity.
How much of what you do every day is actually producing results?
I’m not just talking about overscheduling.
I’m talking about what’s going on in your head too.
You overcomplicate life when you choose to engage in:
- Unnecessary actions
- Unnecessary thoughts
When you overcomplicate your life with unnecessary actions you feel busy, but never get much done.
When you overcomplicate your life with unnecessary thoughts you feel irritable more often for no apparent reason.
Simplifying your life improves your internal and external results.
Over the last couple years I have simplified my parenting, schedule, chores and business.
I continue to change what I can or change my thinking about what I cannot change.
I was astonished by how much of what I was doing was not producing results.
Doing all the things doesn’t mean you are being productive.
In fact, it usually means you aren’t doing anything well.
Simplifying my life led to producing better results in the areas that mattered to me and stressing less.
Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an itsy bitsy affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase.
The book that really helped me become more productive by doing less is essentialism.
If mindful living and increased productivity resonate with you this book will change your life!
21 ways to simplify your life
1. Track your time.
No brainer but you have to do this if you want to do more of what matters and less of what doesn’t.
Over the course of the day take note of activities or thoughts you spend time in.
At the end of the day decide what is useful and create a plan to stop doing what isn’t useful.
2. Wear neutrals.
I started doing this a year ago.
It takes all the guess work out of getting dressed because most pieces match one another.
3. Schedule self care first.
I can hear you “but that means I have to wake up earlier!”
To that I say don’t be so dramatic.
You don’t have to have a full blown morning routine to schedule self care first.
Listen to an inspirational podcast while you get ready or have your kids do some simple stretches with you for 5 minutes.
I listen to podcasts with one Air Pod in so I can hear my daughter if she needs something.
2X it and you can listen to an entire episode filled with valuable takeaways in 10 minutes or less.
RESOURCES:
4. Develop a cleaning routine.
I would rather pick up and spot clean for 15 mins a day than spend a whole weekend cleaning once a month.
You will feel so much better when your home is somewhat tidy most of the time.
Your space has a huge impact on your mental health and mood.
5. Hack your cleaning schedule.
Look at each room separately and only clean one at a time when you know that room won’t be as heavily used for a day or so.
For instance, if you eat out on the weekends, but cook at home during the week, then clean the kitchen on Friday to make your cleaning efforts go further.
Likewise playrooms and living rooms get more use over the weekend when your children or spouse are home.
Let these rooms get dirty and don’t worry about cleaning them until Monday!
6. Separate facts from feelings.
There’s what happened and there’s how you feel about what happened.
Most of the time you can fix overwhelm when you look at your circumstance from a factual point of view.
Figure out what just the facts are without all the thoughts and feelings you are adding to the situation.
7. Screen time.
See your phone as a tool.
Use your phone, don’t let it use you!
Make sure that all your scrolling has intent.
Give yourself a goal.
For instance, be on Instagram to gain new followers because one day you want to monetize your account.
If you are bingeing Netflix think of it as research, instead of mindless watching.
Pay attention to trends, psychology or culture.
Always have an objective when you look at any screen.
Don’t just mindlessly watch.
Always be learning.
8. Stop doing overwhelm
Decide if overwhelm is coming from doing too much or doing too little.
Not doing enough will cause stress.
Stress from not dong enough happens when you know you should be doing something and choose not to.
Deadlines, opportunities and time will get away from you and put you in a worse and worse position.
9. Practice doing nothing.
On the other hand if you are you someone who is always on the go your overwhelm could be from overscheduling yourself.
If you always feel busy but never get much done you may be using busyness to distract you from something painful.
Challenge yourself to do less while you allow and process these emotions.
10. Have one big goal.
Don’t try to start a business, lose 50 pounds and improve your marriage.
Instead start with one goal that has the greatest impact.
11. Have supportive goals.
Once you have picked your one big goal set supportive goals.
Supportive goals are smaller and easier goals you do repetitively that increase the likelihood of reaching your big goals.
These smaller goals will make achieving your big goal easier.
Be careful not to undermine your big goal with unsupportive smaller goals.
For instance, if your big goal is getting in shape then hit the gym after work instead of bars or burgers!
12. Create a top 3 priorities list.
The night before plan the top 3 things you need to or want to get done tomorrow.
Do these things no matter what.
Postpone distractions and reschedule things that pop up for the next day or after you are done with your top 3.
13. Start your day the night before.
Make your morning run smoother and set everything up the night before!
Prep your outfits, breakfast, lunches and belongings at night, so your mornings and day run smoothly.
14. Stop planning what to eat.
You can’t predict everything. There will be hiccups in your week that will impact your meal plans.
Plan how you will eat instead.
It is tempting to ditch your diet plan when your schedule gets thrown off after a long work day or kids sporting event runs late.
Planning how to eat allow for more flexibility in your schedule without completely undermining your diet.
When you set how to eat it doesn’t matter where you are or what the circumstance is you already have a plan and guideline for how to eat.
You can set intentions like less sugar or carbs, portion control, more greens and fruits, clean eating or more protein.
15. Respect your money.
Organize your finances as much as you can.
This means cleaning out your wallet, budgeting, investing, knowing what’s going in and what’s going out.
You’d be surprised how fast those 2.99 subscriptions fly under the radar and start adding up.
RESOURCES:
- Manifest without anxiety (Training)
16. Say no.
Figure out what’s important to you and say no to everything else.
Practice saying no to things that don’t align with your goals or values.
17. Schedule thinking time.
Don’t let your worries distract you from doing what matters most to you.
Schedule time to stress about something.
So much of your time gets wasted thinking or venting about things you have no control over.
When you feel the need to talk or think about the same thing day after day, the answer is never to do more of this.
The answer is always to accept what is.
If you can’t get your mind off something set aside an hour to think about it as much as you want.
After that hour is over either make a change or accept what is.
Exert your time and energy into solving your problem or accepting it, not complaining about it day after day.
18. Stop drinking or drink less alcohol.
Drinking is expensive whether you do it at home or out.
Cutting back on this habit can save you so much money!
Take that money and invest in your self growth instead.
The time you spend drinking can be used for something that is meaningful and actually important to you.
19. Drink more water.
I carry a large tumbler with me everywhere I go.
Drinking water improves your skin, brain function and organ health.
So many people get kidney stones or another diagnosis from not drinking enough water.
Staying hydrated keeps your body in tip top condition.
20. Practice acceptance.
If you expect life to go a certain way or for people to behave a certain way, then you will waste a lot of time feeling upset.
Accepting what is allows you to focus your energy on what you can control.
When you truly accept your circumstances and take charge of what you actually have the power to change is when your life begins to improve.
At the very least acceptance will have you feeling less stressed.
21. Stop beating yourself up.
When did you start thinking you had to have your life together?
Life is about accepting and capitalizing on our imperfections and uniqueness.
Focus on progress, never perfection.
RESOURCES:
Final thoughts:
Simplifying your life isn’t just about doing less.
It’s about doing more of what matters and less of what doesn’t.
When you get super intentional with your life that’s when it starts to improve.
When you know what’s important and why you make major progress toward you goals.
Not sure how? Come over to Desire More and we can figure it out together.
