We live hectic lives. We’re busy. 24/7. We’re overworked, and underappreciated. It just doesn’t stop. Our jobs; career, family demands, friends and our community. The demands placed on us. The time pressures. We bounce from issue to issue, deadline to deadline, demand to demands. Our lives aren’t ours and we are not in control. We become like the ball in a pinball arcade game, as we bounce
We yearn for the easy life. We’re inundated from easy-life marketers”, it’s out there, it’s available and their products are just what we need. And we feel bad because of it. We yearn for this easy life, but we are yearning for something that doesn’t exist. Life wasn’t meant to be easy, in fact it’s often brutal. Realising that life wasn’t meant to be easy or even fair, is the day we should start focusing on what we do have and what we do want.
Life isn’t easy but it can be simple. Simplifying your life drives momentum and creates flow, and in doing so, a happier you.
Step 1. Know what you want! Sounds really simple, doesn’t it? Often we don’t know what we want. We cannot articulate it. We do know what we don’t want, “I don’t want to be fat”; “I don’t want a bad job”; “I don’t want to have a bad day”; “I don’t want to have my business fail”. We verbalise our thoughts on what we don’t want. And when we do this, the universe has the habit of delivering exactly what we don’t want. We end up overweight, unhappy, unappreciated and unfulfilled.
We get what we focus on. So, focus on what you want! “I want to be healthy and fit”: “I want to work for a great boss in a great job”; “My business will be successful”
We will have multiple “I Wants”. What do you want in your career, your family, your social circles, your spiritual and health aspects of your life? Having that clear understanding starts the process of living more simply.
And be specific. Ask people what they want and you will generally get answers like: Money, Fame, Win the Lottery etc. It is hard to motivate yourself when you have a general want, instead create a specific desire and watch the power behind that. Get specific on what you want and start the process of simplifying your life.
Step 2. Understand what is important. What’s helping you and what’s hurting you? When people know what they want, they begin to understand what is important to them. They analyse what they have in their life and what they do and keep on track by asking simple questions.
- Is this helping me?
- Is this hurting me?
If it helps them, they continue doing it with increased focus, but if they determine it is hurting them, they let it go.
Ask yourself these questions next time you have time demands or facing distractions. If you answer them relative to the importance of what you are chasing, you will respond accordingly.
If it is helping you, keep it up. If it hurts you, stop.
Step 3. Align your actions to what is important. This is the big step, and where most people will fail. It’s now about putting action into place.
If being happy at home is important, your actions need to align with that. If working towards a better job is important, your actions need to be in alignment. If you know what you want, and understand what is important but fail to do action, you will fail. Failing creates situations where we lose control of our agenda and breeds dissatisfaction.
People get stuck and the main cause is the lack of taking the required actions aligned to their goals. Align your actions to your goals and dreams. Get going, daily and every day. Don’t wait another day waiting for someday or one day. Align your actions. Start today. Do it every day.
Step 4. Maintain Clarity. Our final step is to keep these focussed. At times life will still send you curly ones that are out of your control, so maintaining your clarity is vital. You can maintain clarity in simple ways, by having a vision board, or even just post-it notes on the bathroom mirror. Keeping focussed stops you drifting back to old ways and bad habits. Clarity is king.
Following these steps will allow you to live your life that becomes simpler. They remove the needless drama, the toxic people and the bad situations because you realise they don’t help you in achieving the life you want. A beautiful sidenote is, once the toxins and dramas are removed, you purify your life. Simplify and purify. What better way to live your life? Simple and pure!
Give it a shot, what have you got to lose? When you simplify your life, you give yourself the best chance to achieving what you want.
Tony Curl
www.tonycurl.com
