Last installment:
51. Live life more deliberately. Do every task slowly, with ease, paying full attention to what you’re doing.
52. Make a Most Important Tasks (MITs) list each day. Set just 3 very important things you want to accomplish each day. Don’t start with a long list of things you probably won’t get done by the end of the day. A simple list of 3 things, ones that would make you feel like you accomplished something.
53. Create morning and evening routines. A great way to simplify your life is to create routines at the start and end of your day. Read more on morning routines and evening routines.
54. Create a morning writing ritual. If you enjoy writing, like I do, make it a peaceful, productive ritual.
55. Learn to do nothing. Doing nothing can be an art form, and it should be a part of every life.
56. Read Walden, by Thoreau. The quintessential text on simplifying. Available on Wikisources for free.
57. Go for quality, not quantity. Try not to have a ton of stuff in your life … instead, have just a few possessions, but ones that you really love, and that will last for a long time.
58. Read Simplify Your Life, by Elaine St. James. One of my favorite all-time authors on simplicity.
59. Fill your day with simple pleasures. Make a list of your favorite simple pleasures, and sprinkle them throughout your day.
60. Simplify your RSS feeds. If you’ve got dozens of feeds, or more than a hundred (as I once did), you probably have a lot of stress in trying to keep up with them all. Simplify your feed reading.
61. But subscribe to Unclutterer. Probably the best blog on simplifying your stuff and routines (along with Zen Habits, of course!).
62. Create an easy-to-maintain yard.
63. Carry less stuff. Are your pockets bulging? Consider carrying only the essentials.
64. Simplify your online life. If you have too much going on online, pare down.
65. Strive to automate your income. This isn’t the easiest task, but it can (and has) been done. I’ve been working towards it myself.
66. Simplify your budget. Many people skip budgeting (which is very important) because it’s too hard or too complicated.
67. Simplify your financial life.
68. Learn to pack light. Who wants to lug a bunch of luggage around on a trip?
69. Use a minimalist productivity system. The minimal Zen To Done is all you need. Everything else is icing.
70. Leave space around things in your day. Whether they’re appointments, or things you need to do, don’t stack them back-to-back. Leave a little space between things you need to do, so you will have room for contingencies, and you’ll go through your day much more relaxed.
71. Live closer to work. This might mean getting a job closer to your home, or moving to a home closer to your work. Either will do much to simplify your life.
72. Always ask: Will this simplify my life? If the answer is no, reconsider.
How am I doing? Tune in next week for an update.
1 comment:
I love that "Simplify your RSS feed" is on the list. I readily admit that my google reader gets too full far too fast, but I'm amazed that something developed almost solely to simplify our lives has become a hindrance to simplification!
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