Do you have a special talent for making things difficult, overly involved, convoluted? In other words, for making life more complicated than it needs to be.
Perhaps you’ve created a complex process for filing your emails, recycling the garbage, celebrating holidays or tracking your finances.
And do you find yourself defending the complexity by saying, You don’t understand. It’s just not that simple.
Here’s the problem: Every time you say something is complicated or hard, you take away a little bit of your power to make it easy and simple.
Yes, complexity exists. But often we’ve created it. Added to it. Built an elaborate system to sustain it.
The holidays are complicated and exhausting. We get so many invitations to parties. There’s getting the house decorated and all the entertaining. Travel and shuffling between relatives. Finding perfect gifts. Anxiety about overspending. Wanting the holiday to be picture-perfect.
Hmmm…who says it has to be that way? None of that complexity and stress is carved in stone. It can all be reconsidered and renegotiated.
It’s complicated now. But how can it be simplified? How can it be easy?
To stop living this lie, look at a typical day and jot down every circumstance that’s complicated, convoluted, and complex. You’ll know these situations because they make you stressed and drain your energy.
Once you figure out where your life is complicated, vow to simplify. Streamline. Pare down. Reduce. Revise. Renegotiate. Get creative and ruthless about de-complexifying your life.
- Tired of managing multiple inboxes or juggling multiple calendars? Streamline and get it down to one.
- Tired of fighting your overstuffed closet every morning? Pare down to a capsule wardrobe.
- Tired of an overly busy family life with never an unscheduled moment? As a family, cut your obligations and commitments in half.
Stop saying, You just don’t understand. It’s not that simple. It has to be that way.
Start asking, How can I make this effortless, undemanding, and easy?
