The 7 Simple Steps to Shift from Uncomfortable to Unstoppable are:
These are the 7 Simple Steps. Use these and you will be able to Achieve Anything.
If you would like to know more, I go deeper into each step in my new book – Achieve Anything. This is now available for pre-order on Amazon and most other international online retailers. The launch date is the 23rd January.
Do you have the secret? Is there any way to do it? Everyday there is a new deluge of information and items to address. Keeping life simple is no easy feat.
Each day you will have to deal with more things. Today I received some Council Tax bills for some of our properties, a home insurance renewal notice and some yummy looking food pamphlets. (I imagined the food to be tasty, not the actual pamphlets themselves.)
So recycle one pamphlet but keep another. Where to put it though? We put it on the fridge as we intend to use it this week. The other envelopes I opened and made some notes on them. They then found themselves in our Tickler file. This is a filing system we learned from David Allen, who wrote the book Getting Things Done.
When used correctly, it is an awesome and powerful filing and tidying system. When it isn’t, it is the equivalent of the stationary bike as clothes horse.
We also received a delivery of a shower system. Life is a continual in-tray of things to sort, sift and solve. The quicker you can systematise or delegate, the happier you will be.
Look, those items come in the same time every year. Like Christmas, Easter and July 1st, they come around every year. Plan for them,
Keeping life simple will make you smile.
Isn’t that fun to say that? I love it when I can use these three little words. It does not even matter why. It’s simply great when it’s so easy.
I find tying my shoelaces fall into this category. Walking is another one. Lying on a beach, under a parasol in very warm weather could also be classified this way. There really are a lot of things I currently find easy. And I appreciate them all.
It is not easy for everyone and it probably won’t always be easy for me. So I am enjoying these things and being grateful for their easiness every day.
Now some people might find things easy which I don’t. For example, a concert pianist may find that playing a simple piece is quite easy. I, on the other hand, might struggle a bit with it, at least in the beginning.
Think about all the things you find easy. Make a mental list, or a physical list if you are brave enough. It can help to lift your spirits when you realise all the things that are not difficult for you. Think of the simple and the complex. It could range from breathing, typing, eating and sleeping to juggling, driving, buying a house or flying a jet.
If it’s so easy, enjoy it while you can.
Everything ideally would be like the big red button theory espoused by Rory Sutherland in one of his insightful and funny TED talks. It’s got to be easy and simple for something to work well.
Remember the first time you ever used Google to search for something? There was nothing on the page except a letterbox to type in. It was so simple, intuitive and easy. And it got the result you wanted in milliseconds. Google also found two million other options should the usual suspects not be what you were looking for.
I opened a bank account at Starling Bank recently. Oh my, how easy was that. I didn’t have to leave my home and it was all done in 10 minutes. Then they sent me the bank card.
We often make things harder than they need to be. Keeping things simple is almost an art form. It takes more effort to make things effortless. But it is worth it.
Spend 10 minutes today trying to make your life simpler. If you are going to succeed at things, it’s got to be easy. Set up your environment to win. If you want to eat healthy, keep healthy food where you spend you’re time.
You get to make the choices, so make good ones.
At a basic level we need to eat, drink, sleep and have adequate shelter. There may be a few other essentials but at its core, life is simple.
Then we humans add complexity of wants and communication. I often consider Maslow’s hierarchy of needs at this point. Some people like it and other people challenge it. I learned about it at University and I find it is a useful theory to reference, at least as a starting point.
When left to their own interest, people can imagine incredible, fanciful and wholly unnecessary wants. I was going to list a few items, like a plastic dancing flower, but there are always a few people who will claim it is a need.
One thing a pandemic lockdown and/or looming recession can reveal is the true meaning of a want and a need. It is in these moments in time where we can see what is essential. I find it interesting and useful to remember how little we probably need to have tremendous joy in our lives. Sometimes all the physical distractions can get in the way.
Communication is the other area of complexity in our otherwise simple lives. Over the years I’ve become an ever more keen student of words and their use. I am fascinated how quickly something can be said, heard and processed, and then restated, often with bias or misunderstanding.
This moment in time has reminded me that life is simple. Spending time with my wife and children, sometimes exercising together, playing cards or just chatting. We often add so many layers of unnecessary complexity which can deny us the simple pleasure of life. Peel back a few layers, remove the distractions, and remember, life is simple.
