Today in the Simple Republic we are going to see some steps to follow to simplify your life. I hope it helps you have more time for yourself and enjoy your loved ones.
First of all you have to be very clear about this: time is the only thing that cannot be recovered. That is why we must (we have the obligation) to find a way tosaving time in some activities to enjoy other much more important ones for our health and well-being.
That is why in this post I want to show you a few steps so you can start simplifying your lifestyle. I am not asking you to do them all. After all, we are all different and have different needs. However, it would be interesting if take some of them and put them into practice.
- 1. Organize your space: Reduce to what is necessary
Many times it seems that you spend all day cleaning and tidying up your house. And again. Your house does not have an order, instead of cleaning what you do is change the things of site and that will not solve the problem.
Detect which are those objects that are left over and when I say that they are left over I mean that nothing happens if you throw them away Or put them in a box.
For example, that collection of bottles that you have since you moved into the apartment and that you only look at when you have to clean it. You don't enjoy it, you don't even know they're there. take that object whatever and get rid of him.
Tand you will save having to clean it every week.
And so with each thing in your house that does not contribute anything. At first it will be difficult to save / throw away that photo of the first communion of your second cousin's nephew, but once outside you will not remember that you had it.
This is how our mind works, it tends to forget what is not important, and the sooner we realize it, the better.
- 2. Half-done tasks
It could be that half-good book that you don't deign to finish, or that half-bad table that you started painting a while ago. when this happens to you ask yourself one thing: What would happen if I finish that book/X or, on the contrary, what would happen if I didn't finish it? If the answer is nothing, either because you are not curious to know what will happen in the end or because you think that what you thought will not contribute to your life, make up your mind.
Finish that task or let it go. Eliminate those tasks that you do not want to finish as soon as possible and continue with what you have and would like to do.
That list is full of half-done, half-done things that you know will never get past that.. Start by asking yourself the right questions so that only the right tasks remain.
For the new you have to leave space.
This candid way of answering these questions it will save you a lot of time and motivate you to make room for new projects.
- 3. Do not fill all your time with activities: Have time for yourself
There is an Italian word that I love: Il sweet far niente or rather the sweetness of doing nothing.
Why aren't we able to have a little time for ourselves, why we always tend to fill every second of our life with activities, because?.
Some questions like: life's two days; learn mandarin chinese in a week, things you should do before you turn 30. All of them they have done a lot of damage to humanity. They occupy us with duties that we are supposed to fulfill.
As living beings we need time to rest.. be with ourselves, reflect about whether the path we are following is the correct one.
How are we going to realize what is important if we do not stop for a moment? And I'm not talking about it having to be an hour a day, mothers all over the world wouldn't forgive me and it wouldn't be realistic but and If you take 10 minutes of your time at the service of yourself?
To dedicate it to the art of doing nothing, Only be, that's it. maybe that is sit down to write for a while or to any another activity whose only result is to relax. Those minutes of self-love will help you a lot, you'll see. Just try to get those minutes out. The ones you can.
- 4. Order your priorities
How easy is it to say this no? But when it comes to putting it into practice it is much more complicated, if we don't start we will never know.
When you feel like you're doing too many things at once. FOR. And ask yourself this question: How important is this in my life? If the answer is I do not know, then it's time to change course, that was not so important.
To something else butterfly!
you realize that many times our brain deceives us by giving importance to things that are not.
When I had an exam and I only had three subjects left to study. Just the three most difficult or most boring topics, my brain immediately tried to protect me or get away from anxiety by telling me: you have to clean the room. It's a dialogue a bit like this:
- "Hey, you need to clean up, why don't you clean the room and start tomorrow with the agenda?" I do.
- And then he tells you: «Why don't you relax and start watching that series that you have seen 50 thousand times and at night you start with what you lack? Total that a week has passed and I have not done anything, at least nothing important.
Our brain is very intelligent and capricious. We must educate him to do what we want, not the other way around.
Learn to organize your priorities.
If we don't educate our friend the naughty pixie we have in our heads We will always leave everything halfway or without doing it, which is the same. Ask yourself every day: what priorities do I have for today? and try to followthe. At the end of the day your mind will thank you.
Also you save a lot of time that you can dedicate now to cleaning the room more consciously, not as a mere escape from not doing what you had to do.
- 5. Learn to say NO
This is getting a bit complicated it seems to me. But no, it's complicated only at the beginning, when you don't have practice.
It is not selfish to say no, sometimes it is necessary.
If we spend our lives adapting our plans to other people's projects, we will end up being the best friends but perhaps the worst enemies of our dreams.
Everything has its space. Family, friends, our partner, and also our goals, yes, you have to include them in there because they are important. If we dedicate all our time to fulfilling the dreams of others, we will have forgotten our own. Like I always say you have to find the balance.
Every time you say no, think that the reason is simply out of respect for yourself.you need that time for yourself for your idea. It is an act of love that we do for ourselves and for others. That time helps us to be more balanced and to be better brothers, children, couples..
Having priorities makes you focus better on the important things in your life.
- 6. Eliminate those activities that do not contribute anything
Come on, we're almost done!
I will give you an example of an afternoon full of activities: Wednesday afternoon I have: aerobics, pick up the children and take them to violin class, while I do traditional dance to Celtic music, at night the series about cops that has 200 episodes, online English class, cook dinner for all week…….. What a day huh!
From the Western point of view-mega productive have a schedule full of activities is synonymous with success. a super interesting person, No? I'm not so sure, I would have to ask.
If you take each of those activities and write how you feels before, during and after you can draw valuable conclusions that will help you keep only some and discard others.
- How does this activity make me feel?
- What does it bring to my life? It makes me happy?
- Can I take advantage of that time to do something more interesting?
Some activities do not contribute anything. They just occupy you and that's it. they don't make you happier.
If you do not connect with your "leisure" activities What you can do is stop doing them and spend that time on other things or even dedicate it to what we were talking about a while ago, just us.
Isn't it okay if we spend that hour and a half that dance lasts to have a coffee quietly? Many times you will appreciate the change.
because in this case rest If that brings value, brings balance and serenity.
- 7. Plan your meals
make a kind of calendar of what you are going to cook each day will make your life easier and save you a lot of time and money. I tell you that I always do it like this and that there are two of us at home.
When we don't know what we are going to cook the next day, two things happen to us: we always do the same thing, we throw ourselves into fast food, or both at the same time.
Try to keep in mind that each member of the family likes them. Make a list of different dishes that are easy to make, then another list of those that you do in special occasions, then another list of necessary ingredients (those that we should eat at least once a week) would be something like this:
- we all like it: Lasagne, Baked vegetables with fish,..
- It is easy to do: rice with chicken, pasta with tomato, lentils,..
- At least once a week: fish, legumes,..
- day of whims: Order food at home, prepare pizza at home,...
And so you combine it day by day, and everyone is happy. At home I have a piece of paper that I hang every x time with food ideas.
with this habit you will save time and money.
*Search weekly recipes on the internet. You have many easy and inexpensive ideas.
- 8. At home everything has its place
There are certain habits that are very difficult for us to change but that suppose a big difference between a tidy house and one that is not.
when you come home try to make a little effort to do your jobIn other words, when you get home, don't leave your clothes lying around anywhere, for that there is a place called the dirty clothes drawer. At home each object must have its place. If you bring your umbrella, place it where it belongs, warm clothes also have their place, and no, it's not that chair where we put all of the above.
Doing this is a moment and you save too much time not to put it into practice. In the end you will gain a tidier house, you will have more time and a quieter space.
To end this post, I ask you to be patient and put them into practice little by little, you'll see how worth it.
I hope you liked it and that at least you have taken something (no matter how small) that helps you simplify your life.
See you soon!
𝒢𝓇𝒶𝒸𝒾𝒶𝓈 𝓅𝑜𝓇 𝓁𝑒𝑒𝓇
