20 Amazing Ways You Can Simplify Your Life To Live Better
Life is hard is that not what everyone says?
Life is hard is that not what everyone says? But why won’t it be when we are constantly making things complex for us instead of living a simple life. We have several meetings scheduled for the week, going to visit family and friends, running back and forth with children, and travelling from one country to the other for business.
There is always a long to-do list, that’s why you feel stressed and complain a lot. All this hustle and bustle each day affect our mental, physical health.
“Live a simple life; you will own the most beautiful treasures of the world!”
Mehmet Murat ildan
You need to take your time and understand that what is physically possible to achieve in a day may not be mentally possible. It may look possible to run your business, take care of the kids and manage your home. But these routines if not made easy may lead to a breakdown.
This post shows you some ways to help simplify your life. Some of these tips are just simple things to help you live better every day.
WHAT IS A SIMPLE LIFE?
Simple living or a simple life means the different lifestyle practices we do to make our lives easy. Getting rid of all the clutter in our lives and making time for things that are important to us. The meaning of a simple life is different for everyone.
For some it may mean been minimalist, some people may just set systems to make things easy for them.
20 Amazing Ways On How To Simplify Your Life
1. SAY NO MORE OFTEN
This is one big problem for people including me. As an EMPATH I always want to please people and make them happy at all cost even when I know it will stress me. But going through my journey on self-improvement and care, I have learnt you cannot please everyone, especially at your own disadvantage.
If you say yes to everything and everyone you will always be busy. Whenever things arise like doing stuff for people or even a purchasing decision, if it is not a solid YES then it’s a NO.
You have to be intentional about your decisions and make sure it adds value to you, it may not be fun.
Remember do not try to be everything to everybody, you can be selfish sometimes there is nothing wrong. Do what you have to do first before any other thing.
2. PLAN YOUR MONTH
I am sure you have a goal you want to achieve. Planning your month helps you know what to do as the day comes, it keeps you organized.
Don’t just say I have to do this and that then store all the information in your brain. You will probably forget and besides, you are stuffing your brain with a lot of things to remember.
Ease the tension in your brain and write down all your tasks and goals in a planner. You can have your goals planned monthly then narrow it down to weekly and daily to increase productivity.
3. WRITE A TO-DO LIST BEFORE BED
One of the things that keep us awake most times in bed or not sleeping restfully is trying to plan for the next day. What am I supposed to do or eat tomorrow. This makes it hard for our brain to shut down because it is thinking.
Also, you don’t want to spend 30 minutes to an hour thinking of what to do in the morning instead of already starting your day.
So get your pen and plan for the next day, it helps your brain relax knowing there is a plan and when you wake up you already know what you have going for the day.
4. CREATE FREE TIME/ BREAKS
This is very important for your mentally healthy, it is a self-care routine and has to be taken seriously as a job. We are always occupied with tasks, so we have to make a conscious decision on taking breaks.
Even during working hours, there is BREAK TIME because they know you need to take a few minutes to relax your brain then come back ready to kill the job. Depending on your lifestyle or work create a time that best suits you.
ADVICE: If you work a 9–5 job don’t bring work back home especially on the weekends. While if you work from home you can set a specific day off from work. I do little or no work on my weekends.
5. HAVE GO-TO MEALS AND MEAL PREP
Meal prepping is one way to save yourself hours in the kitchen every day. You should also have like 5- 10 go-to meals you love and are easy to prepare. It helps you not spend time thinking of what to prepare every time.
So here is what you do pick a day in a week to try new recipes and for food that takes a lot of time to make. By the end of every week write down your food timetable, so you can meal prep for the week. Also, you know what you need to buy for the week during your grocery run. Is this not making life simple?
6. DECLUTTER YOUR DIGITAL SPACE
This is one thing I recently did. Go through all your pictures, video, files and emails on your phone and computer and just delete the junk.
- Unsubscribe from any email that is irrelevant I am sure you have a lot of them every day.
- File or flag your emails as they come. Once you get an email you should mark it as important or you delete it right away.
It will help your email look organized and whenever you want to declutter your email you have less work to do.
7. HAVE A MORNING ROUTINE
A morning routine is different for everyone but it is necessary to have one. Having a morning routine just helps your morning feel manageable, it sets your tone for the whole day.
Your morning routine must not be elaborate with all the things you hear people doing. Just create a morning routine that is best for you.
8. SINGLE FOCUS INSTEAD OF MULTITASKING
We can only really focus on one thing at a time. Multitasking is better when the other task does not really need your presence mentally and physically.
So if you are cleaning your room and you put your clothes in the washer or you put some dishes in the dishwasher. You don’t need to be physically and mentally present so it works.
But let’s say you are vacuuming and trying to respond to an email or get the kids ready for school, you can see it’s not achievable.
When you divide your focus it reduces your overall performance. Choose one task at a time to increase your productivity and your brain is not stressed jumping from one focus point to the other.
You can also try time blocking your tasks because time management is important, it makes your life a whole easy.
9. USE REMINDERS
This is just straightforward, using reminders help you keep track of things you need to do and important dates to remember. You don’t have to worry about forgetting things, payments etc.
Some of the things I set a reminder for
- Business tasks
- Deadlines
- Bill’s payment
- Birthdays etc.
10. HAVE AN ONGOING SHOPPING LIST
Maybe you shop monthly or weekly or you even do a big shopping monthly then within the week you go for a grocery run. There should be an ongoing shopping list, whenever you use up anything, write it down on the list.
With that, you know things to get on your next shopping trip instead of forgetting what to buy or stressing your brain thinking of what you need to buy that is finished.
11. CLEAN YOUR SURROUNDINGS
Staying in a dirty, cluttered place can be overwhelming, it makes you less focus and be less productive.
When your environment is clean you feel happy, motivated and healthy.
Lailah Gifty Aketa
Try giving yourself 10–20 minutes a day to do a bit of tidying up in your home. Set a timer, once your time is up, stop cleaning you will be amazed at what you were able to do in that little time. Plus your home will look clean and tidy.
12. BATCH YOUR TASKS
Just like meal prepping, try batching your tasks to make them easy for you. When you focus on tasks that are alike you tend to be more productive.
You can have time you respond to emails, fixing meetings with clients in the same area, a day for your beauty care ( spa visits, getting your hair and nails done etc).
When you do this you won’t be stressed running back and forth with tasks, you will also have time to do other things.
13. HAVE A PLACE FOR EVERYTHING
This is an organization tip that helps your space look neat and saves you the stress of always looking for things. Make sure you have a place for everything whether at the office or at home. This way when you are looking for something you know the exact place to find it.
In your office, you can have a place for office supplies, work files arranged properly, business cards etc . While at home, you can have a place for your keys, coats, laundry, purses etc. This is very effective for the things you use regularly.
14. HAVE YOUR MOST USED ITEMS ACCESSIBLE
Sequel to the previous tip, creating a functional space in your surroundings helps to simplify your life. You want these items easy to reach because you use them almost every day. Kitchen utensils, keys, cleaning supplies, things for getting ready in the morning, office supplies etc.
15. LIMIT YOUR SCREEN TIME
Whether it be watching television or spending time on apps and social media try reducing it. There is just a lot of information out there from killings, ratings, bombings etc. Every day you go on the internet there is always bad news and thus this can destabilize you.
Then with social media and its pressure to be like everyone. Please your mental health is very important so take a break from all that sometimes.
16. BUY IN BULK
If you have the money and space try buying your essentials in bulk. Things like toiletries, food, office supplies etc.
- Imagine going to have a shower and your soap is finished.
- Want to prepare oats in the morning only to find out you are out of oats.
- Trying to print a document in the office and there is no paper.
You will be so frustrated and angry about life. So try buying in bulk to avoid always running to the store.
17. DECLUTTER YOUR SPACE
Having a lot of things can be overwhelming and decluttering will make it easy to find things, and everything will be organized. You can start small room by room, for kitchen remove all expired food items, duplicate utensils etc, declutter your room and closet. anything that you have not used or worn for a while give it away or donate it.
By the time you go through your whole house, you will create space and have everything neat and organized.
18. PUT YOUR PHONE ON AIRPLANE MODE
Whenever you are working on things that need your entire focus put your phone on aeroplane mode or on silent. This will help you be more focused and productive, not having calls and notification distracting you.
You should also turn off your notifications when trying to sleep. I personally put my phone on silent to avoid phone vibrations and beeps waking my good sleep.
19. GO TO BED THESAME TIME EVERY NIGHT
Having a sleep schedule is very helpful, your body loves consistency and it will reward you for that. Going to bed at the same time every night helps you wake up in the morning with ease and a certain time.
So let’s say you go to bed around 11–11:30 pm every day and wake by 7–7:30, gradually you will naturally go to bed by that time and wake up by the latter time without an alarm.
20. BE PRESENT AND BE INTENTIONAL
I know we are human and we worry a lot about what will tomorrow be? or what is my life goals? what is this and that? If there is anything this pandemic has taught everyone is to always tp present.
Take a deep breath and think of now because one day you could be happy celebrating your life and the next day the world is in chaos. I am not saying you should not think of tomorrow, just plan towards it and remove the worrying.
Also, try and be intentional with your actions. SLOW DOWN a bit you are not in a race with anybody in this life’s journey.
CONCLUSION
You see life should not always feel complicated, try implementing these tips and see how things become easy for you to handle.
Hope this post was helpful? Tell me the tip you doing or would like to start in the comment below
LIFE WON’T SPARKLE UNLESS YOU DO!!!!
