There used to be days where I felt like I was on a hamster wheel.

I was rushing. I was stressed. I was tired. And I wasn’t having fun.

The death of a family member knocked the wind out of my sails. It was unexpected. And it really made me stop and think about what my purpose in life was.

I decided that:

1. I wanted to be a good Mom.
2. I wanted to earn enough money to make sure my family enjoyed life.
3. I wanted to have free time to be able to enjoy the things I crave in life.
4. I wanted to eliminate the stress from my life and stop running in that hamster wheel.

So what did that mean? It meant:

• I found out what my kids wanted me to do with them, and I did it.
• I found a job that paid the money I needed to enjoy the lifestyle we wanted.
• I like to read, I’m crafty and I’m sporty, so I found time to allocate these activities into my weekly schedule.
• I thought about who and what causes me stress and reduced the amount of time I felt I had to spend in those areas.

After tackling these things, it made me happier. I have more energy. And I enjoy life so much more.

So let’s dig deeper, and more importantly show you the steps to HOW I did this.

Top 4 things I did to simplify my life. You can to.

1. Work Out My Priorities With A Planner

Using a weekly/hourly planner, I shaded out the areas of priority.

For example,

• I cannot function well without 8-hours sleep. 10pm-6am as shaded as sleep time.
• I like to go for a walk in the morning. So I shaded between 6.15-7am as walking time.
• I prepare dinner from 6pm, eat and clean up by 7.15pm.
• I work between 9am-5.00pm.

You get the idea. Once you have shaded your hours in, you can visually see where you have gaps and start planning where you can add more priorities.

2. Learn To Say No

This becomes so much easier if you have done step 1.

You will already have a good idea of what time you have free, so saying a simple “thanks but I can’t come to little Johnny’s playdate”, or “no, I can’t do that job for you this week” makes the decision swift and painless.

You get to be in control without agonizing indecision or guilt creeping in.

3. Simplify Your Wardrobe

This has been so life-changing, I can’t tell you enough!

I have a standard color collection, that allows me to mix and match a variety of clothes. It’s so easy to coordinate these colors, and it makes everything more streamlined.

I also streamlined the choice of clothes. For example, I always wear a dress to work, and I always wear shorts, pants or jeans for the days I’m on a school run. It makes the clothing choice decision so much easier when you have given yourself guidelines.

You can always change your mind of course, but on those days when you’re having trouble deciding what to wear, you have a no-nonsense fallback plan and an easy go-to outfit.

4. Turn Off Notifications

They simply drive me mad. Whether it’s for games or work, I turned all notifications off.

The constant ‘ping’ of a notification meant I stopped concentrating on what I was doing.

I don’t need my phone for work, so I don’t have notifications coming through for email or other communication tools. It helps keep me focused and it’s one less distraction to deal with.

There are loads of other things you can do to simply your life, but it’s hard to make big changes at once. Now that I’ve got a handle on these four things, I can start working on other ways to simplify my life. Being able to regain control and be productive is proof that small changes can work.

If you need a little help in simplifying your life, take a look at our next online program: 21 Days Simplify Your Life Challenge.