How to Simplify Your Life – 10 Proven Steps

Why are some people successful at life, and able to keep it so simple at the same time?

You can be one of them. Just try the following top 10 secrets to simplify your life.

1. Work Smart AND Hard

In everything you do, stop and look for a simpler way. If you need to get ready in the morning, lay things out the night before. Use a GPS to test the route you drive to work; you may find a better short cut. When you gas up your car, fill it up fully; don’t waste time just filling it partially. When you buy groceries, buy them all at once for a week; don’t waste time back and forth buying small amounts. If something isn’t working right, stop and fix it now, rather than wasting time working around the problem over and over. As you work smarter, you’ll be amazed how quickly your day will be simplified.

2. Narrow Your Focus

Life gets complicated by trying to do too much. You are happier when you just do a few things very well. Look at everything you spend your time on. Postpone everything possible except two or three priorities that mean the most to you, and just focus on those. Have the guts to get rid of the rest.

If you postpone something, you can still do it later. Just wait until after you complete your current priorities first. For now, just focus on 2 or 3 main things.

3. Say “No”

Simplifying does no good if you get distracted again. Say “No”, even to “good” ideas, if they aren’t part of your two or three most important priorities at the moment. Don’t just practice saying no; actually say no to everything except your top 2 or 3 priorities.

It’s a constant daily battle to protect your focus and peace of mind. Keep fighting. Say “No”.

4. Put Your Finances on Autopilot

Your money affects every part of life. For life to be simple, your money needs to be simple. Make your finances simple by putting everything on auto-pilot. Then you can forget it and let it run itself.

Budgeting the traditional way wastes so much time. Who follows their budget anyway? Forget the budget. There’s an easier way.

First, put your paycheck on auto-pilot. Arrange for it to be direct-deposited into your checking account.

Next, put your savings on auto-pilot. Setup an automatic transfer of a minimum of 10% of your paycheck from your checking to your savings account which you never touch. Or, better yet, if your employer offers a 401(k) matching plan, have them automatically deduct the savings from your paycheck and add it you your 401(k) along with the free matching money from your employer.

Next, put your monthly bills on auto-pilot. Set up all bills to go out automatically from your checking account through your bank’s online bill payment service, including mortgage, rent, utilities, credit card payments, etc. There should be some extra left for spending. If not, take action now to start earning more income, or getting rid of some of those bills (living with less).

Finally, estimate how much money you have left to spend after all of the above. Rather than budgeting, open a different checking account than the one used for your automatic bill payments. This new account will be your spending account. Set up an automatic transfer to happen each payday from your bill payment account to your spending account for the extra amount leftover which you know you can spend each pay period. Consider that your “paycheck” for spending. Use a debit card to do your spending from this spending account, keeping an eye on your spending account balance every day, and remember that’s all you have available until the next payday when your automatic “paycheck” transfer comes into your spending account again. Do not let the account go negative, and NEVER sign-up for overdraft protection (which will bleed you to death while making the bank richer). If your spending account reaches zero, STOP SPENDING (at least until the next payday when another automatic transfer comes into your spending account).

With this simple auto-pilot method, you never need a budget, and you only spend what’s available after your savings and bills have already been covered.

5. Be Satisfied With Less

Simplifying life requires getting rid of stuff. Look at all of the physical “stuff” in your life. A lot of stuff has little value to you, but it’s easy to become convinced that you “need” the stuff when you really don’t. Box up a lot of your clutter and set the box aside. If you haven’t used anything in that box after 6 months, throw the whole box away, or donate it.

Don’t buy more meaningless stuff either. Appreciate what you have and be satisfied. When you’re tempted to buy something, force yourself to walk past it and wait a day or two; then, if you truly need it, you can always come back later. Most of the time you won’t go back, and you’ll avoid adding to your pile of meaningless clutter.

When you go to a store, tell yourself you will only buy the specific item you came for; make it a rule that you will not buy other things you just happen to see when you are there. Walk straight to your item you came to buy, and straight back out after paying.

Be disciplined and satisfied with what you have, and you will rid your life of clutter and complexity.

6. Take Baby Steps in Everything

Big difficult projects or problems become simple when you break them down into bite-size pieces or baby steps. Don’t worry about the steps in a project that may take a month to finish. Instead, if a simple phone call is the first step in the project, just focus on that phone call for now. After you do the phone call, then focus on the next baby step.

And if you’re stressed by facing multiple projects, not knowing where to begin, complete a small step in Project #1, a small step in Project #2, and a small step in Project #3, etc. Keep trading back and forth, doing a little bit on each project daily. The variety will avoid boredom, you’ll see progress on all projects, and if you’re waiting for someone else to get back to you on a project, you’re still moving forward on the others.

For more ideas on this, read the best selling series, “Getting Things Done” by David Allen. Millions of people have used his program to break their projects down into daily “Next Actions”.

7. Don’t Sweat Imperfection

It’s great to do something with excellence. But if you take it too far, obsessed with perfection, you pass a point where you’re wasting your time. This is especially true if you’re working on something no one else will see.

Simplify housecleaning by moving fast and doing just a quick “straighten-up”, even if you have to leave some minor clutter here and there. Save the perfect cleaning for later special occasions when guests are coming.

At work, if someone asks for some information, keep it simple by giving them just the information they ask for, and in whatever form is quickest, such as handwritten. Going overboard and getting fancy just eats up time and usually goes unappreciated anyway.

Wash your car less often. Let the rain just take care of it when possible. It will simplify your schedule, save money and no one will notice any difference anyway.

8. Don’t Compare to Others

No matter how well you keep up with others, there will always still be someone ahead of you. So don’t even try. Take simple pleasure in the things you accomplish, regardless of how you compare to others. And congratulate them when they achieve things you don’t. This will help reduce the temptation to compare.

Some of the happiest, peaceful people around have learned to appreciate having less. Take pride in your car with over 200,000 miles on the odometer. Proudly carry a home-made sack lunch to work.

You will experience tremendous fulfillment when you learn to take satisfaction from simple things in your life and appreciate and be satisfied with things you already have.

9. Always Have a Goal and a Plan

We tend to have goals at work, but let it slide at home. Look around your house and ask yourself what needs to be taken care of the worst. Decide what part of that you can get done today, and set that as a goal. Then, focus and get it done. Keep repeating this at home and you’ll be shocked at how soon your home maintenance becomes simple.

10. Do It Now

They say life is what happens to you while you’re making other plans. Avoid the paralysis of analysis. Quit planning your next project and just start doing it. You can figure it out as you go.

If something breaks, fix it as soon as you notice. If you don’t like to do something, do it first to avoid procrastinating. If you have bad news for someone, tell them quickly. If you feel lazy today, pick something easy to tackle. At least you will be doing something.

As much as possible, do everything now as it comes at you.

Summary:

Keep practicing these 10 secrets to simplify your life. You will enjoy having less stress and clutter. And you will be able to focus more on the things in your life that you value the most.

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