When we think about simplifying our lives, we can sometimes fall into the trap of thinking it’s a destination. That once we get to our version of ‘simple living’ we just keep ticking over, with little effort, and life gets easy and stays easy.
Well as many of you no doubt know, that doesn’t happen.
The truth is, simplifying our life is in fact a lifetime’s work. It requires effort. It is simple but not always easy. What version of simple looks good to us today may not suit us tomorrow. It’s an evolution.
So what do we focus on along the way and on our journeys? What can help us stay the course?
Focus on the Process
First of all we can focus on the process and not necessarily the outcome.
This is easily said but not necessarily easily done as we live in a results and outcome focused world. By focusing instead on the process itself, we can really get underneath things. We ingrain good habits that ironically can improve the chances of a good outcome.
We focus on the process of decluttering.
We focus of the process of reduction.
We focus on clearing the unnecessary.
We don’t focus on what we think we’ll feel like at the other side of making these changes just yet. We concentrate on the process itself. We intuitively know that paring down, reducing the noise and clutter will lead us to a better place.
Learn
Once we’ve spent time on the process, a good amount of time, we then take stock.
What have we learnt?
Do we feel better?
Do we feel less stressed?
Do we have more time for our hobbies, passion projects and people we care about?
Is the process helping us?
If the answer is no then we change focus. We move to something new. A new process.
If the answer is yes however we move to…..
Refine and Repeat
Now we’ve found something that works well for us we want to keep drilling for more riches.
We want to refine and polish our processes so we get more goodness from them.
Importantly we want to hit the repeat button. We want to do more of the things that support us living the life we want to live. We want to ingrain these as new habits.
Simplify, pare down and repeat. This is certainly simple advice but it’s not necessarily easy advice to follow. Do it often enough and you will reach your version of simpler, whatever that looks like for you.
Originally published at frictionlessliving.net
Carl writes short books full of big ideas. He is also the proud owner of Frictionless Living which is focused on helping readers live simpler, finding focus and clarity in distracted times.