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Simplify your life

A key way to simplify your life is to get organized.

Lets start by identifying what is important to you. Doing so allows you to reject or keep at arm’s length the unimportant. “Will I join the school board? Gee, I’m sorry but I already have a couple of volunteer positions, and I can’t handle any more. Thanks for thinking of me, though!”

The first part of leading a simpler life, then, is cutting down on the sheer number of activities you get involved in. Don’t worry if you feel you’ve cut out too much. You can always add things back, especially if you realize some activities were more important to you than you thought.

The next part of simplicity is, well, simple: one thing at a time.
My father-in-law once remarked, upon seeing a boy driving a car and trying to kiss a girl at the same time, “He’s doing two important things badly.”

Same goes for most people any time you try to juggle tasks without giving full attention to either. Or when you’re trying to concentrate on something important for a few hours but keep getting interrupted. Sometimes that means pushing away coworkers who want your time when they need it. But people will take advantage of you if they know you’re always available at their whim. Don’t encourage their poor planning by giving in unless, of course, a direct superior wants something.

A good way to do one thing at a time?
Clear your desk of everything but the task at hand. One task. Then tackle it until it’s finished.

What do you think of this idea ?

Chris

(1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)

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This entry was posted on Thursday, February 19th, 2009 at 3:56 am and is filed under Self Improvement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.