A stress-free life is a happy life. Armed with this knowledge, I’ve tried my best to simplify my life, eliminating stress and distractions whenever possible. In this post, I’ll tell you about little tips and tricks that I’ve picked up along the way.
The importance of planning
Planning is one of the best ways to simplify your life, and it’s best done from the night before. I’ve got into the habit of planning my next day from the evening before, and I believe that everyone can benefit from this approach. Here’s a quick rundown on how you can do the same
- Start your planning from the night before – make a short list of the things that you need to do the next day in your head, starting with the most important xx
- Prepare your clothes – instead of rushing in the morning, decide on what you’re going to wear throughout the day from the night before and prepare it
- If the temperature allows it, open your windows before bed. Having your windows open for a couple of minutes before going to sleep will make your rest that much better!
- Sleep in the dark – sleeping in complete darkness helps you get the most out of your sleep, so make sure to turn off the lights!
- No electronics – this is a big one. It’s very common for most people to spend 15-30 minutes in front of the TV or on their phone before going to bed. That’s bad. It distracts you and makes it much harder for your mind to get into a peaceful state.
- Just relax – instead of wasting time on social media before going to sleep, try reading a nice book or simply relaxing. When you know that you’re fully prepared for the next day, relaxing will be much easier than you think!
Have a solid morning routine
A lot of celebrities wake up at 4 or 5 am. I personally get up at 5-5.30 every morning. I also like to start my mornings by waking up early. Why? Because it gives me a lot of options on what to do during the day. Knowing that I’ve got hours before having to tackle work does wonders for my mood and confidence, and it allows me to handle my routine with ease.
I like to start my mornings off with some mediation, saying “thank you” for the good night sleep and seeking guidance for the upcoming day. I do the same in the evenings, before going to bed as well. I even have a special meditation corner in my home, dedicated to this very purpose.
Then, I spend about an hour on myself – I have some water, take my vitamins, take a spoon of apple vinegar, read a book for 30 minutes. If you haven’t done this, give it a shot – it feels great! While everyone is still asleep, you’re already preparing for your day. Afterwards, I put on a nice movie and exercise for an hour. I love Movies 24. I really enjoy their success stories about small business owners overcoming difficult situations. This is by far my favourite part of the day. Dedicated entirely to me-time, it allows me to start everything off on a positive note!
And exercising first thing in the morning is just so very important! Why? Simply because you’re much less likely to put things off while you’re still full of energy! I’ve tried exercising during the day or in the evening, but on some days, things just keep coming up, and I end up putting my workouts off. But no more of that! Now, after switching to a morning exercise schedule, I haven’t missed a workout in months! But sometimes, changing up your schedule is more than worth it. I’ve got one day of the week on a different schedule because then I attend the BNI breakfast in Mayfair. It’s a great place to meet like-minded people, share ideas and grow together.
What’s the first thing that you do when you wake up? If your answer had anything to do with your phone, you’re doing it wrong! A lot of people do that when they really shouldn’t. If you read a worrying email or get annoyed early in the morning, it will most likely stick with you for the rest of the day. Over time, this adds up, and it can make your life very stressful. Instead, leave the email checking for later.
Get organized!
This is easier said than done, but, believe me – it’s worth it! If you keep everything in check, your life will be much easier and much less stressful. Preparing from the night before, keeping a clean and tidy home and getting a good, early start on your day have made a ton of difference for me and will most certainly help you!
Less is more!
Try to lead a more minimalistic life and practice restraint.
If you’re struggling with stress in your life, this is another big thing that might be getting in your way. But there’s no shame in it, a lot of people fall for this trap. I too was one of these people at one point, but no more!
The key is simple – don’t buy everything you see immediately. Instead, think if you actually need the given item or not. Most people tend to overbuy stuff, even stuff they don’t really need. This, however, is a shortcut to losing yourself in the things that you have. What you should be doing instead is making sure that you only ever purchase items and appliance that you’ll use. Next time, give yourself a minute or two to consider how much use you’ll get out of your potential purchase before taking your wallet out. If you aren’t immediately sure, maybe give yourself a day or two to ponder on it.
Less clutter = less stress!
The less cluttered your home is, the easier it will be to find what you’re looking for immediately. This can dramatically shorten your preparation time and, if you work from home or have a home office, will also help with your work efficiency!
When approaching decluttering, try thinking about what you own. A lot of the items that you don’t really need might be really useful to someone else. It’s just the way it goes – people tend to need things. This is why, every few months, I go through all the clothes I have at home and give some away to my friends and employees or sometimes – to charities. I’m always trying to actively remove clutter from my house and you should too!
I have also stopped going shopping. Before, I’d frequent various stores, but no more. I probably shop two or three times a year at most – usually when things are on sale. I prefer to think before I buy because I don’t see a point is filling my house with things that I won’t really get any use out of.
To declutter your life even further, I’d recommend getting rid of as much junk as possible. Junk comes in many forms – email newsletters, letters via post, leaflets, newspapers, bank statements and so on. The majority of these you don’t really need. Not only will getting rid of them help with the clutter in your home, but it’s also good for the environment – just think of all the paper that gets wasted!
So, in summary:
- Unsubscribe from newsletters that you don’t really read – digital or otherwise
- Delete unused mobile apps – not only do they distract you, but they also take up valuable space. My phone is most filled with business-related items and e-books and audio books.
- Talk to your bank and get them to stop sending you paper statements – you can always check them online.
Learn to say no!
A lot of people, especially young entrepreneurs, have a very hard time saying no. They tend to feel that they need to sacrifice their personal time in order to keep their contact networks going. But they pay with their sanity instead. And let me tell you – all the contacts in the world are not worth it! I’d much rather keep a smaller network of close friends than spend my entire day rushing from one place to the next.
If you overbook yourself with a lot of appointments, meetings and friendly get-togethers, it’s very easy to overload yourself. Not only will you be less productive at these meetings, but you’ll also be constantly stressed out. And, as you most certainly have heard before – stress is bad
Time management
As I’ve already mentioned, knowing how to organise your time is a crucial part of success. If you don’t plan, you’re going to waste a lot of time. Try to distance yourself from time-wasting activities – you rarely need to respond to texts immediately, and you most certainly don’t need to check social media every 15 minutes (unless that’s your job!). Yes, you can check it twice a day, I do too, but spending more than half an hour on it is pretty pointless. Living on your phone is a big no-no. Reading and browsing through unnecessary things, especially before bed, is a recipe for disaster. And waking up early just to spend your essential morning hours on social media defeats the entire purpose!
I used to wake up and watch the news during my morning workout. But I realised that all it does is stress me out, or sometimes – even make me sad. I realised that this heavily affects me throughout the day and so I stopped.
Nowadays, I rarely even glance at the news in the morning. Learning about what’s going on in the world is exceedingly easy because everyone will talk about it anyway. So, I avoid wasting time in the morning and potentially spoiling my day by completely ignoring the internet before work. I just read a nice inspirational book instead.
Take control of your finances
Having full financial control over your life will make you that much calmer and happier. Just by knowing how much money you have, you can make your life much simpler and easier. Therefore, I’d wholeheartedly recommend that you set aside enough time to look into efficient and effective budgeting methods – it is most certainly time well spent! You should also try setting some money aside, as there is a lot that you can do with investments, especially here in the UK.
And take control of your life!
This is easier said than done, but, believe me – it’s worth it! If you keep everything in check, your life will be much easier and much less stressful. Preparing from the night before, keeping a clean and tidy home and getting a good, early start to your day have made a ton of difference for me and will most certainly help you!
Go at things step by step and don’t let others drag you down.
Try surrounding yourself with positive or successful people – usually successful people are positive, but there are exceptions. This is important, and I’d recommend going the extra mile whenever possible to secure such friendships – they’re worth it Even if the given person isn’t someone who would naturally fit in your usual social circle, if they’re positive and happy, chances are that they’ll be a great friend! Let them be around you and don’t let others spoil your day with negativities.
People have the tendency of making their lives very difficult because they overdo stuff. They buy too many things, use their credit cards non-stop and when their shopping sprees do nothing for their moods, they get even more stressed out. But life can – and should – be very, very simple.
You don’t need to make it difficult for yourself! If you just follow some of these tips (like I do), you’d see just how simple everything is! You’ll sleep better, you’ll be more successful in your personal and professional life, you’ll have plenty of friends and, as a result, you’ll be much more confident!
When you plan things out carefully, declutter regularly and have your budget all figured out, you’ll see yourself in an entirely new light – you will be happier and stress free!
And even though I struggled implementing them into my routine at first, all of these little things were really useful to me. If you give them a shot, I’m sure they’ll help you too!
Looking for more tips to simplify your life? I highly recommend looking into this book on Amazon – A Path to Wisdom
How do you deal with stress in your life? If you have any other tricks or if you think I have missed something important that helps you simplify your life, please let me know! I’ll be happy to add your ideas!
Let me know what you think of these steps in the comments section below.
I made a video series based on this blog. Have a look below:
© Lifestyle Tips by Antoaneta
