1. We use money to solve problems or meet needs. Before spending money ask yourself: “What problem am I trying to solve or what need am I trying to meet?”
Then ask yourself: “What other ways are there to do this?” and “Is there another way to solve this problem or meet this need that will cost me less?”.
2. Practice the “Two Minute Pickup” every time you leave a room or get up from your desk. That is, tidy up and quickly put everything back into its place. The less you have to put away, the less fragmented your life will be when you return.
3. Make time to do the things that comfort you—go for a jog, read a book, take a bath, give yourself a manicure, or simply meditate.
4. Create a calming bedtime routine to help you sleep better. Here’s the bedtime routine I’ve created for myself (still a work-in-progress):
- 8:30 p.m. Start wrapping up whatever you’re doing
- 8:50 p.m. Grab a basket and walk around the apartment. Pick up any items scattered about and return it to its designated place.
- 9:00 p.m. Turn off television and computer. Wash face, brush teeth, and put on pj’s.
- 9:15 p.m. Twenty minutes of Spring Forest Qigong
- 9:35 p.m. Write in gratitude journal.
- 9:45 p.m. Plan day for tomorrow
- 10:00 p.m. If there’s something bothering me, listen to the Sedona Method or complete an EFT session.
- 10:20 p.m. Read or complete sudoku puzzles until I want to go to sleep.
5. Create checklists or standard operating procedures (SOP) for any repetitive actions that you perform on a regular basis. For an example of a checklist, read my post, Blogger’s Checklist.
6. Make peace with the fact that you can’t do it all.
7. Allow newspapers and magazines to remain in the house only for a specific number of days. At the end of that period dispose of them, read or not.
8. Drop “when and then” thinking, which is believing that “when” this or that happens, “then” I’ll really start living.
9. When considering any major purchase, wait. Write down the item you’re thinking of purchasing and wait thirty days. If you still want it at the end of the thirty days, and if you’ve found room for it in your budget, buy it then. You can use this template to record items.
10. Create a to-do list and go through each item and ask: “Why is this on my to-do list?”; “What goal is it furthering?”; and “Does this really need to get done?” Now start crossing things that really don’t need to get done off of your to-do list.
11. Follow Randy Pausch’s advice: “Doing the right things adequately is much more important than doing the wrong things beautifully.”
12. Develop a bad memory. Constantly thinking about what could have been, or how you’ve been wronged, or what you should have said to the jerk who insulted you at the grocery store is a useless waste of time.
13. Organize your workspace to the point where you would be comfortable submitting photographs of your workspace to the Unclutterer Flickr Pool of Workspaces.
14. Have a place for everything.
15. Create a system so that you empty your e-mail in-box each day. There’s a great series over at 43 folders.com on how to empty your e-mail box and keep it that way. Go here.
16. Get a speaker phone so that you can answer e-mails while you’re left on hold.
17. Create a reading file and take it with you to read while you’re waiting at the dentist’s office, while you’re commuting on the subway or train, while you’re having your hair cut, or whenever you have some downtime. Brook Noel, author of The Change Your Life Challenge: Step-by-Step Solutions for Finding Balance, Creating Contentment, Getting Organized, and Building the Life You Want
18. Monitor your time by keeping an activity log so that you can identify how much time you spend on low, medium, and high priority things.
19. Become more productive so that you can spend more time having fun.
20. Create your daily schedule by penciling in the three most important things for you to accomplish on that day. Make sure that your list includes something that makes you healthy, something that makes you wealthy, and something that makes you happy.
21. Right now get rid of the following four things:
- Perfume or cologne you never wear
- Expired medicine
- Pens and markers that no longer work
- A knick-knack that no longer brings you joy
22. Evaluate all of the papers you’re keeping and ask yourself these questions:
- Do I really need this information?
- Can this information be found somewhere else?
- Is this a duplicate?
- Am I required to keep this information? If so, for how long?
- Can I scan this and throw away the hardcopy?
- Is there some action I need to take? If so, schedule it into your day planner.
23. Create a filing system that’s easy to maintain.
- Make a list of categories that make sense to you. Use general categories instead of selecting very specific categories that will only have one or two papers in them. Ask yourself: “Where will I be able to find this piece of paper when I need it?”
- Include a “To Pay” manila folder where you’ll put all bills that need to be paid.
- Also create a “To File” folder so that you can store papers you don’t have time to file right away instead of just leaving them on the surface of your desk. (Leo over at zenhabits.net advices not to have a “to file” folder, but I find that I need this intermediate step).
24. Have an in-box to capture all incoming mail and any other papers that come in. Your filing center should be adjacent to your in-box. Once a day go through everything in your in-box and do the following:
- Toss junk mail and any other papers you won’t need (recycle or shred as appropriate);
- If the piece of paper requires you to take some action schedule it into your day planner (or consider doing it right away if it will just take a couple of minutes);
- Put the paper into the “to-file” folder, or stick it into the “reading folder”.
25. Use the envelope system for managing your money.
26. Make your most important task the first thing you do at the beginning of the week. That way, whatever else happens that week, you got the most important thing done.
27. Remember that things usually take longer than you expect. Allow for some wiggle room in your schedule so that your whole plan doesn’t unravel if something takes longer than expected.
What have you done lately to simplify your life?
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