Sunday, May 24, 2009

Simplifying Things


A thought that seems to be on high-rotation in my head is, "I wish I had time to do + [cool thing]" and it's been driving me crazy! Obviously it is only up to me to 'make' time (whatever that means) so I have taken drastic-ish measures. This is all inspired by my 'Every Day in May' challenge, which has made me very determined to make every second count.

So in order to do more things for me and other people, I have:

-deleted my Twitter account. I did enjoy it but it became way. Too. Distracting.

-cut the list of blogs I read from 124 to 63. This has made a HUGE difference to how much time I have - and I feel as though I have kept the good ones. (I'm sure I've cut good ones, too, but sometimes you've just got to be brutal).

-made lists of all the things I want to make, write and do over the next little while. It is fun to think that they are real and tangible.

-made myself choose one thing from a list and start on it each day. Sometimes I can only give it a fifteen minute window, but you'd be amazed what you can get done.

Do you have any tips on simplifying or happifying your life? Are there things you'd like to do but haven't? Plans you have? Dreams? I'd love to hear them - post me a comment!

4 comments:

  1. My plan is to be more specific; in the hope that by describing exactly what i want instead of just "thinking i want more time" i'll get closer ! Now i just need to decide what that exact thing is. hah....

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  2. Simplifying and happifying life is always top of my list :)

    Firstly, I don't do Facebook or Twitter, only blogging. And if I can blog min twice a week, this makes me happy.

    Next, I really try to enjoy whatever it is that I am doing RIGHT NOW, even if it's not the thing I wish I was doing. Focus = contentment.

    Also, big dreams to sew all my clothes, not buy them, is a little ways away. There's hard work ahead, tantrums, lack of time, etc. So I try to set mini-goals (no more than 2 per week for everything, this is realistic for me) and finally...

    most importantly...

    I don't give in to guilt, or worry, or panic, or fear if I don't meet my goals. If I waste time on those feelings, I'm sure to have missed the contentment of the things that I was doing instead. :)

    Great post! Good luck with the simplifying and don't be too hard on yourself.

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  3. i've been contemplating this type of simplification -- i read this great New York Magazine article about how basically we are what we do and that made me want to rethink so much of what I do (twitter, internet time wasting, etc etc). Thanks for the inspiration!

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  4. Ooh thank you - you've both made me remember such a great point which I forgot to add: focus!

    I also like the themes of focussing small and aiming for contentment - these sound perfect to me.

    Thank you!

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