Living comes with a lot of responsibilities. There is so much pressure to be this and that, a lot of people to cater to, and tons of responsibilities to meet up with. All these things add up to make life complicated, build up anxiety, and deplete your productivity.
We live in a very complex world where demands and expectations are high, from work demands to family responsibilities, the hustle never seems to end! As a result, a lot of women go through life feeling drained and washed-out because every day feels like a grind.
This is why you must reclaim your life and your mental health by simplifying your life.
Living a simple stress-free life is not a mirage, it’s a possibility and you can achieve this by making some lifestyle changes.
The perfect guide to living a simple life! Less stress, more living.
Slow down: Every once in a while, make a conscious effort to stop and take a deep breath. I have found this simple practice to be very effective and helpful in re-setting the mind. Life is a race but if you find yourself constantly racing you need to slow down. If possible, take a few days off work and everything else that puts a strain on your mind. Giving yourself this much needed break does wonder to your mind, it rejuvenates the body and energizes the soul. It’s in those moments that you find the strength and reason to continue with your plans and projects, it’s in those moments that inspiration and ideas are birthed. At the end of every week, take time out to do a little recap, take a little break, and refuse to give in to pressure.
Clean your environment: the need for
Make lists: Lists are life savers, whether it’s a to-do list or a not-to-do list, making lists always comes in handy. They help you stay organized and in the know of all the important things you need to be doing. Developing this habit can help simplify your life.
Organizing your tasks with a list can make everything much more defined and approachable, it also gives you a clear and simple outline of your tasks and how to go about them. A lot of people write down goals but most times it is not done simply and appealingly. Having a to-do list could serve as an incentive to work because it simplifies your goals, helps you keep track, and helps you know your priorities as well. use sticky notes, a journal, or even a planner on your digital device to make your list.
Unsubscribe! Uninstall! Declutter: half of the messages you receive and half of the content you consume are completely useless to you. They only serve as distractions, and these distractions can be done without. Unsubscribe, uninstall, declutter today. When you wake up tomorrow, rinse and repeat. Do this consistently until it becomes a habit.
This is a good way to simplify your life. Become more intentional about the things you allow into your mental and physical space, always ask yourself; is this thing important to my growth? Do I need it? Can it help me grow? If it doesn’t check all of the necessary boxes, do well to discard it.
Focus on you: thanks to technology! Everyone’s life is now in everyone’s face. The online world can be such a huge distraction and a big-time waster. With so many people doing different things, saying different things, and teaching different things, you might be tempted to judge yourself by the standards that other people have set, this is unhealthy.
Regardless of what is happening around you, commit to staying focused on your own life and journey because that’s what matters. Life is easier when you shut out the distractions and try to stay focused on you. Amidst the noise and chaos, try to find your voice and stick to it, stay true to yourself because you are unique, special, and valuable and there is no other person out there like you.
Delegate Responsibilities: Trying to meet up with tasks, meetings, and deadlines can build up anxiety, create stress, and lead to frustration. This is why outsourcing is so important. When the workload begins to pile, look around for reliable people to whom you can delegate some of these tasks, go through each of the tasks and responsibilities you have at hand, list out which ones do not necessarily require your attendance, and give these to someone else to handle, this simple practice can simplify your life by miles, it also affords you the time to focus on the tasks that must be done by you. A lot of people been made to believe that outsourcing translates to being lazy and incompetent this is so not true rather it is a great way to simplify life and achieve more of your goals effectively.
Practice creative procrastination: procrastination is no stranger to any of us, even the most hard-working and proactive people still find sneaky ways to be lazy and procrastinate on the important stuff. It’s just easier to put off important things under the guise that you’ll do them at a later time, especially if the task at hand is hard or boring. The bad news is; these little things that we keep pushing off soon become huge piles of work hanging over our heads. We may never be able to get rid of procrastination totally but we can find ways to beat it. Creative procrastination is the act of thoughtfully and deliberately deciding upon the exact things that you are not going to do right now, if ever.”
– Brian Tracy
This refers to the act of prioritizing things, decide on what needs to be done and what needs to be abandoned then either postpone dealing with these things, delegate, or abandon them.
Learn to say no: Don’t be afraid to set clear boundaries on things that you don’t want to do. This is a good way to simplify your life. In his book The Power of No, entrepreneur and author James Altucher write: “When you say yes to something you don’t want to do, here is the result: you hate what you are doing, you resent the person who asked you, and you hurt yourself.” Warren Buffet also famously said: “Successful people say no to almost everything.”
Saying no helps you with clarity, it also allows you to focus on what matters.
