So I wasn’t planning on squeezing in a post today but I started putting some thoughts down and just kept writing. So… April fools I guess.
My attempt at making impromptu clutter on my desk
K.I.S.S. – Keep It Simple Stupid. If its one thing that I have learned so far in life, it is that simplicity is often equal to happiness. I think that one of the happiest times of my life is when the company I worked for closed down and my roommate and I (he also worked there) did nothing but lounge around and play video games for a whole month. We were flat broke (our idea of eating was looking for misplaced change and hitting up the dollar menu of mcdonalds), we lived in a crappy run down trailer and had almost no bills… and no responsibility.
First, a note on what brought me to this post. I was sitting at my computer this weekend and decided to sign up for Twitter. After spending considerable time setting up my account, profile and phone… I promptly was forced to ask myself “What are you doing?”. I have a full time job, am a full time student, have a family, cook and occasionally post something here on this blog… plus whatever else goes on. Twitter is one more thing that I would have to manage and take care of and frankly… I just don’t want to add it to my plate. I promptly deleted my account.
Less is more. It is something that my mother always told me and is something that I have found to hold true (good job on at least SOMETHING mom). I am a person that thrives on progress. Once I have something down, I tend to try to add more on top of that and I just keep going until I have too much and I am unhappy. Its almost like I have some aversion to being happy. It feels unnatural lol. It is because of this that I think it is important to sometimes take time and de-clutter and simplify your life. I think it is time for me to do this as well. Don’t worry, I am not going to stop doing the blog just yet 
lol
Here are some suggestions from the SoG on how to de-clutter and simply your life:
1. Clean out your closet. Go through every single thing in your closet. If you have not worn it in a year, get rid of it. I don’t care how much you like it… ask yourself “when am I really going to wear this?” and get rid of it.
2. Clean out the garage, junk drawers or junk closets. That place where you stick everything so you can “deal with it later”? Well now is later. Go through it in the same manner you did your clothes closet and get rid of stuff.
3. Bills. Bills are stressful, especially when trying to keep up with a lot them at all different times. You can do a couple things here… Reduce your bills by getting rid of those that you can truly do without. Consolidate your bills into one payment or adjust your due dates to be on the same day. Set up your bills to be on an autopay system so you do not have to stress as much over them.
4. Reduce your responsibilities. Sit down and look at all the responsibilities that you have in a day (helps to write it out). See if you can live without some of these. Maybe you are stretched to thin and that women’s gourmet cookie club that you are the treasurer for really isn’t all that important to you right now. Maybe SoG content has been terrible lately and you can eliminate that deep felt obligation you feel to go read it (but i hope not!) lol. Maybe you can consolidate several responsibilities into one time frame… for example, doing all of your grocery shopping on one day instead of three.
5. Be aware of new responsibilities and stresses that you are adding into your life! Before you add something else to your plate, ask yourself if it is really worth it. Think about the short and long term affects on you and weigh that against the possible benefits. Always know what you are getting into and when to say no.
6. Remember that it is OK to have time where you have nothing planned. I go through this sometimes where if I end up with extra time and nothing to do, I freak out. I am worrying that there is something I could or should be doing and I feel lazy for not being occupied in something productive. It IS ok to chillax sometimes. Breathe… downtime can be productive too… for your wellbeing.
7. Look for other ways to simplify. Primal is all about simple and optimised happy and healthy living.
This isn’t a planned list or post. i am just rambling off ideas as they come to me. Feel free to add yours in the comments!
April 1st, 2009 - 11:00 am
Awesome. I could look at this list everyday and it would be helpful. I’m the same way – why are we so turned off by happiness? wtf?
The only one I would add to this is that the first question you should ask yourself when making a choice that’s going to affect your time is “Will this put me further or closer to my goals.” Sometimes we think that the choices we’re making are good ones (comforting yourself with food will not make you feel better and take you farther from your goals, or thinking that buying a new sweater will make you feel more fashionable and attractive but will take you away from your goal of getting out of debt).
Great impromptu post!
April 1st, 2009 - 12:31 pm
Amen!
Especially re: Twitter. I can’t believe the shocked stares I get when I tell people that I don’t twitter nor do I Facebook. I’ve got enough facets of my life that keep me busy and productive. Neither one of those can be construed as productive.
#’s 1 and 2 are easy for us. We’re moving this year, so those happen naturally.
I absolutely love #6. Again, I have so many things keeping me busy and productive, but I also build in down time. Nothing is more important than that break.
And to piggy-back on Bee’s suggestion, coming from an athletic point of view, I think of each food as “will this help me or not”. I acknowledge that some will not help, but as long as I eat it with full knowledge, I don’t have to worry about stressing over my “diet”.
April 1st, 2009 - 1:06 pm
Another way to simplify your life:
1. Decide what happiness is for you. What does it look like? Feel like? What are you (or will be) doing when you’re happy? What are you not doing? This may take awhile to figure out, so give yourself time. Some people even need decades, in part because it is often a moving, constantly changing target. (Note: whatever your happiness looks like, it will include down time).
2. Pursue it.
April 1st, 2009 - 1:36 pm
Glad you decided to write this post this up. Timely and helpful to me.
April 1st, 2009 - 3:04 pm
Great advice SoG!
April 1st, 2009 - 3:58 pm
Twitter must die. Our websites? Not so much. Catharsis = good. Too much = bad. Such is everything in life. Grok on.
April 2nd, 2009 - 8:20 am
Bee,
That is an awesome question to ask yourself. “Is this really going to benefit me the way I want it to?”
Bill,
That way of looking at food is pretty awesome! Killing my myspace account years ago was such an awesome thing to do.
Angel,
Only problem I see with that is there are so many people that don’t really know what make them happy! I like that line of thinking though.
Tim,
I am glad you enjoyed it. Thank you.
Reid,
Thanks. Glad my ramble wasnt just a ramble.
Emergefit,
Too much of a good thing seems to be a common them nowadays for sure!
April 2nd, 2009 - 8:25 am
I think these suggestions are some of the most helpful that I’ve read on your site. Every now and then, I have a “garbage” day, where I actively get rid of things in life that are unnecessary, weigh me down, cost me time or money, or just aren’t productive or meaningful. In the past, I’ve given up things like TV, games, magazines, etc. to offer me more time for the things that I truly love. It’s a great thing to do periodically!
Angel has a GREAT addition to your list too. Many people look for happiness their entire lives, instead of just taking hold of it, really pursuing it, and KNOWING when you are happy.
April 2nd, 2009 - 6:35 pm
John,
Thanks man! Giving up TV was one of the best financial and time freeing-up investments I ever made! Too many people wait for happiness to fall in their laps I think too rather than making happy happen.
April 6th, 2009 - 9:02 am
I LIKE twitter. Finally added it to my phone and follow Wall Street Journal and FOXNEWS and find that it helps me to learn news as it happens rather then feel like I have to spend hours at night catching up.
Also- I am surprised I did not teach u this one SOG. Go through each room and closet and only keep things if they are either:
beautiful
joyful
useful
May 28th, 2009 - 10:11 am
Got here via the Daily Apple blog. Going through your posts and this one is great. I had heard a story on NPR awhile back called “my 500 things” that got me to go into “full-bore-clean-out-the-crap” mode for a year. It took me a year to donate, sell, and throw away (minimal) tons of extra stuff that my wife, kids, and I did not need.
Looks like the guy has his own blog now. I’ve included the link to his blog and to the story. Thought it might interest you.
http://my500things.blogspot.com/
http://thestory.org/archive/the_story_341_My_500_Things.mp3