This is the fourth post in my little series to help you explore the concept of less=more.
I have had several heartfelt emails from followers to say that these posts are really helping. Thank you! To be completely honest, I was worried they were a little too blunt. I do know that changing your lifestyle patterns can be a sensitive issue, challenging and at times - confronting. These are not easy steps. They are ideas. Let them simmer and use some if they seem to resonate with you.
If you can:
- do less,
- have less
- need less
- more time
- more energy
- -more resources
Let's further our exploration with lesson #4 - dominoes
The challenge this week is to think about how you are creating work for yourself.Are there challenging or time consuming aspects of your life, home or classroom, that have been created by another aspect of your life?
Can you rid yourself of the first to in turn, abolish the related tasks or issues - and give yourself more of the things that bring you joy?
Let's look at an example.
How many hours or minutes do you spend wishing your were healthier or fitter? How much extra is added to your day in various ways because of this? How many books have you read? How many devices have you purchased? How many support groups have you joined?
I am no medically trained nutrition expert - nor am I immune to the constant modern day wish to be 2 dress sizes smaller than I am and ten times fitter.
But, I've read enough to know the basics.
So. Let's keep this simple.
Halve your meal sizes, and don't eat rubbish.
If you could stick to that general philosophy, what related exercise/diet time-chewers could you rid yourself of? What other dominoes would not fall or need to be even lined up to begin with?
Are you eating larger portion sizes because you spent 2 hours running on a treadmill and have hunger pains all day? Did the round trip to the gym suck 3 hours from your day?
Do you pay someone to clean your home (which can be very active energetic work) because you are too tired to do it yourself after all the gym visits? Are you training to be an athlete or to be healthy enough for a 'regular' life?
{Please know that I am not encouraging you to abandon your exercise routine. If I was in a different stage of my life, I would be doing daily 5-10km runs like I used to too!}
This example may not relate at all to you, but the notion of creating more work for yourself to dance around a root problem, thinking there may be a better solution, most likely will be. Often we create more work for ourselves, chewing up precious time and never fixing the first problem anyway.
What other challenges do you face, that with brutal honesty you could solve very simply by facing it head on?
- Tired in the morning? Go to bed earlier.
- Struggling to get a job finished? Ask for help.
- Sick of how addicted your child is to video games? Throw them out.
- Can't eat a single cookie without devouring the whole box? Don't buy them.
- Looking at your clothes that 'used to fit' make you depressed? Give them away.
- Tired of your cluttered messy house? Don't buy more stuff that will need to be looked after.
Not easy - but clear solutions are often the most efficient.
I wish you the best of luck, I am still working on this one too. I have to say, I love going to a restaurant and being able to order whatever I like - I just eat half.
Thanks so much for stopping by, I look forward to sharing more things that have worked for me to make more from less over the coming weeks.
- Mel x