Copyright and Permissions...Week One: Decluttering Your Home ! ©!embracingsimpleblog.com!!!!!Simplify!Course! 5! The!clutter!thatis!presentin!our!homes!can!often!manifestitself!into!mental

Copyright and Permissions

© embracingsimpleblog.com Simplify Course 2

Copyright © 2016 by Christina Tiplea. All rights reserved.

You are welcome to print a copy of this document for your personal use. Other than that, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the author. Requests to the author and publisher for permission should be addressed to the following email: [email protected]. Limitation of liability/disclaimer of warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this course and eBook, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this document and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives, promoters, or written sales materials. Disclosure: This document contains affiliate links, which means that if a purchase is made through the provided link, the author may receive a portion of the sale at no additional cost to you. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for any personal damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

Introduction to the Simplify Course Welcome to the Simplify Course! Do you feel completely frazzled and overwhelmed by your life lately? Perhaps you’ve had the desire to simplify but have no idea where to start? If so, this 4-‐week course is for you! I’m sharing methods that will help you to simplify and curb the chaos in your life, so that you can enjoy living with more intention and less stress. The goal of this course is to assist you in simplifying your home, your mind, and your schedule. I know from experience that it can be difficult to streamline your life if you don’t have a guide to help you through the process. I hope to be that guide for you and help you create the simplified and purposeful life you desire. If you are struggling at all during this course, please email me at [email protected], as I’d love to help you work through it.

THE BENEFITS OF COMPLETING THIS COURSE:

• Having more time to spend on the activities that you love and to nourish the relationships that are most important to you.

• Being more fully present and feeling more at peace in your day-‐to-‐day life. • Using your time more efficiently and being more productive as a result.

Cheers to living a chaos-‐free life that is filled with more joy! XOXO, Christina Tiplea

About Me: I am an author who is passionate about helping others create a life they love.

Blog: embracingsimpleblog.com

Facebook + Twitter + Instagram: @embracingsimple // Pinterest: @esimpleblog

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The Schedule


Below is a suggested schedule of how you might complete the lessons in this course. I recommend taking the full week allotted to complete each lesson in its entirety before moving onto the next. TABLE OF CONTENTS WEEK ONE Decluttering Your Home………5 WEEK TWO Improving Your Relationship with Technology………10 WEEK THREE Putting an End to Busyness………14 WEEK FOUR Managing Your Time Wisely………17 FINAL THOUGHTS………21

Week One: Decluttering Your Home


The clutter that is present in our homes can often manifest itself into mental clutter as well. It is difficult to focus on the amazing things you are meant to do when you are constantly feeling overwhelmed by your physical surroundings. Not only does having a clutter-‐free home make our daily lives a whole lot simpler, but it also frees up our time and mental energy (our most valuable resources) from being consumed by an excess of possessions. If you’re serious about streamlining and simplifying your life, decluttering your home is the best place to start. Once you get the physical clutter under control, it will be a lot easier to simplify the other areas of your life as well. When it comes down to the actual reasons that we hold onto unnecessary items and clutter in our lives, those reasons look different for every single person. We all have varying reasons or rationales as to why we keep certain items in our home long after they have served their purpose, or why we accumulate items that we never really needed to begin with. SOME OF THE REASONS WE HAVE CLUTTER MIGHT INCLUDE: • We are holding onto sentimental items that we can’t bear to part with. • We are saving items for “just in case” we could potentially use them in the future. • Beginning the process of decluttering feels overwhelming to us. • We are finding fleeting joy in shopping or mindless consumption. • We have multiples of an item when just one will do. • We are holding onto items out of guilt.

To begin the process of effectively decluttering your home, it’s important to identify your personal reasons for accumulating and holding onto items over the years. Getting to the root of clutter and over-‐accumulation allows us to then be ruthless in letting go of those items.

“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” -‐ William Morris

The decluttering process can be a tough one to go through if you aren’t armed with the tools you need to help you get to your end goal of a clutter-‐free and simplified home. To help you through this process, I’ve complied some decluttering strategies that you might find helpful in implementing as you sort through your possessions.



STRATEGIES TO MAKE THE DECLUTTERING PROCESS EASIER:

• Set a timer for 15 minutes every day. If you feel overwhelmed by the prospect of decluttering your entire home, it can really help to know that after 15 minutes you can take a break. While having a time challenge can add some fun to the process, it also helps in being able to make quick decisions, which means logic will usually prevail over your emotional attachment to items.

• Donate items you are parting with. You’ll get the warm fuzzies knowing that someone else will enjoy your things even more than you did!

• Take a photo of sentimental items. If you are keeping items purely because of the memories associated with them, taking a photo to keep instead is a great compromise. This way the memory can stay, but the item can go.

• Get your family or roommate involved. It takes everyone living in your home to be on board with the decluttering process for it to have lasting effects. Make it a fun project for everyone to participate in, and you’ll likely be very pleased with the results.

• Use 4 boxes to help you sort. Name them keep, donate, trash, and maybe. Proceed to fill them up accordingly, while trying to drastically limit the amount of items going into the “keep” box. See below for what to do with the “maybe” box.

• Create a “maybe” box. This is to put the items that you tell yourself maybe I’ll wear or use this if a particular situation arises. Chances are, you’ve probably been telling yourself this for quite some time. Put all of these “maybe” items into a box and put it away on a shelf or in a closet out of sight, and then check back in a year. If throughout the course of an entire year you haven’t once thought about any of the items in the box, donate the entire box without even looking at the contents inside. This way you won’t become tempted to reintroduce anything into your home.

• If you haven’t worn an article of clothing in a year, it goes. A great trick is to turn all of the hangers in your closet backwards, and then turn them around as you wear each item. At the end of the year, you closet will tell you exactly what you need to donate with whichever hangers are still facing backwards. No need to put any thought into when the last time you wore the article of clothing was, because it was clearly a long time ago!

• Try to leave emotions out of the decision. It can be so easy to listen to our emotional attachment to items instead of using logic to figure out what should stay or go. Use logic over emotions to make your decisions as much as possible through the decluttering process.



STRATEGIES TO MAKE THE DECLUTTERING PROCESS EASIER (CONT.):

• Enlist a friend. Having help from someone who has an untainted view of your stuff can add a fresh perspective and force you to answer the tough questions – such as, “do you really need to keep that pair of shoes that you haven’t worn in 3 years?”. It also adds an element of fun and helps you push through with your challenge!

• Get paper clutter under control. My favorite resource for eliminating the paper clutter throughout my home and in my office is The Paperless Home. This program walks you step-‐by-‐step through the entire process of going paperless by using immediately actionable strategies. It turned the process of going paperless for me from something completely overwhelming, to very simplified and easy.

• Take it one room at a time. Declutter one entire room before you move on to the next. Having a room to enjoy and reap the benefits of your simplifying efforts is great motivation to keep you going throughout the rest of the house.

• Figure out what works for you. Maybe it’s dividing your decluttering process up into 15-‐minute segments so that you don’t get overwhelmed. Or maybe you’re like me, and thrive off momentum you’ve created and would be more successful by taking an entire afternoon or weekend to dedicate to your decluttering mission. Customize this simplifying process to fit you and your unique work style!

In addition to utilizing some of the decluttering strategies list above, there are also several questions you can ask yourself that should help you as you sort through your possessions. These questions really help you to instill a no-‐nonsense approach to getting rid of items and will allow you to be more ruthless in determining what you should keep and what you should toss.

As you go through each item in your home, ask yourself the questions listed below. Your answers to these questions should help you work through your thought process and provide you with some clarity as to why you may be keeping items around your home when you haven’t used them in quite some time.

QUESTIONS TO HELP YOU DECLUTTER:

1. Is this item something I’m currently using? If not, have I used this item in the past year? If your answer is no, then this item should automatically go.

2. Is this something that I would buy right now if I saw it in a store? If you wouldn’t spend your hard earned money on purchasing that item again, it obviously isn’t something that means much to you or brings great value or use to your life.

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QUESTIONS TO HELP YOU DECLUTTER (CONT.):

3. Is the thought of wasting money keeping me from getting rid of this item? Keeping an unused item around your home out of guilt doesn’t change the fact that you purchased it to begin with. Move on and free yourself from feeling guilty so that you can enjoy a clutter-‐free home instead!

4. Is this something I love? No? Then it goes!

5. Am I holding onto this for sentimental reasons? If you’re struggling to get rid of items because they hold so much meaning to you, yet you never actually use them, consider taking a picture instead and then donating them to someone who can serve those items justice by actually using and enjoying them.

6. Do I have future plans for this item that never seem to happen or am I saving it “just in case”? This is probably one of the hardest aspects of decluttering for many people. The fear of needing something after you’ve thrown away or donated it tends to keep us from getting rid of the item at all. The truth is, it’s only taking up precious space in your home and is requiring your energy to clean and maintain it. If you’ve been telling yourself for years that you’re going to use a particular item, but haven’t acted on it yet, then it’s time to get rid of it.

7. Do I have multiples of this item? If you have similar items that serve the same purpose, then get rid of one of them.

8. Could someone else use this more than I do? If you haven’t used the item in quite some time, but know that someone else could really benefit from having it, donate it! Think about how that item could enrich someone else’s life. It’s a lot easier to part with items when you know that someone else can truly enjoy and use them long after they have been useful to you.

9. If I were moving to a new home, would I want to pack this item and make the effort to bring it with me? If you wouldn’t want to go through the trouble of carefully packing up the item and potentially paying a mover to bring it to a new home someday, you should really reevaluate keeping it and letting it take up space in your current home.

10. Is this item worth the time I spend maintaining/cleaning/storing it? Your time is your most valuable resource. If you are spending it cleaning and maintaining things around your home that you don’t love or even need, then it is not time well spent.

11. Could I make money by selling this item? If donating or giving items away doesn’t appeal to you, considering selling them instead. If you could make a decent profit and think it would be worth the time spent listing it online, try selling it on eBay or



Craigslist! The opportunity to make a few extra bucks might be the motivation you need to finally get rid of some of your unneeded possessions for good.

Once you have done a full round of decluttering in your home, it’s important to change your habits to make sure that you aren’t inviting clutter back into your space. HERE ARE A FEW TIPS TO HELP YOU STAY CLUTTER-‐FREE: • Stop buying stuff you don’t need. Seriously, stop the insanity. Do you really need to

be perusing the clearance rack every time you go to Target? I know, that shirt would look adorable on you, but you really don’t need it. Bringing more crap you don’t need into your house is not enriching your life, it is only cluttering up your space.

• Implement the “one in, two out” rule. Every time you bring a new item into your home, you must donate or throw away two others. This is essential to keep your decluttering efforts in tact for the long term.

• Remind yourself how great having a decluttered space feels. This especially applies if you are out shopping and spot a non-‐essential item you are thinking about buying. If you decide you really want to buy this item, then at least follow the “one In, two out” rule.

ACTION STEPS THIS WEEK: 1. Identify why you currently have clutter in your home. Are there certain habits or

beliefs you have that are encouraging you to bring in and keep clutter? It’s very important to determine this before moving onto the physical process of decluttering your possessions.

2. Make a plan for how you are going to tackle the clutter in your home. Are you going to spend an entire weekend doing a mass purging session? Or perhaps you want to spend just 15-‐30 minutes each day speed decluttering. Find a system that works for you and then take action by following through with it!

3. Find a solution to deal with the paper clutter in your life. Consider utilizing a resource such as The Paperless Home to walk you through the process of eliminating the paper clutter throughout your home and workspace.

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Week Two: Improving Your Relationship with Technology


Do you have a tough time setting boundaries when it comes to the role that technology plays in your life? Technology is a gift, as well as a curse in today’s world. While it allows for us to accomplish more in less time and creates career options that allow people like myself to work from home, that luxury doesn’t come without a price tag. All too often we allow technology to take over our lives and impede upon our happiness….sometimes not even realizing the negative impact it’s having on our relationships and our well-‐being. Many of us have a strong compulsion and almost physical craving to need to check our emails, social media, and text messages throughout the day. It can feel almost like an itch that needs to be scratched, and that you can’t relax until you’ve plugged back into technology for a little bit. Our goal this week is to get rid of that compulsion to feel like you constantly need to have your phone in your hand or to be checking social media and your emails all the time. If you aren’t convinced enough as to why taking breaks from technology can be a wonderful thing, you might find the reasons below to make an extremely compelling case for unplugging on a regular basis. REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD UNPLUG FROM TECHNOLOGY: 1. It gives your brain a break

How many times during the day do you find yourself checking your phone for missed text messages or calls?

Pew Research Center found that 67% of cell phone owners check their phone even when they don’t hear it ringing or vibrating (source). It must be so hard for our brains to be constantly fretting that we missed something. Gives yours a break by completely turning your phone off and reveling in how freeing it feels.

2. You will feel more content and happy with your life

Social media can play a big role when it comes to experiencing feelings of jealousy or envy. Regular use of social media sites such as Facebook are proven to have a profound negative impact on your mental health.

Researchers at the University of Missouri have found that Facebook use can lead to symptoms of depression if the social networking site triggers feelings of envy among its users (source).

http://munews.missouri.edu/news-releases/2015/0203-if-facebook-use-causes-envy-depression-could-follow

http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheets/mobile-technology-fact-sheet



If you find yourself regularly feeling envious when you see awesome vacations that some of your acquaintances are taking, or pangs of jealously upon seeing the close relationships that others appear to have on social media, know that it’s normal to have these feelings.

It’s funny the types of feelings that can present themselves when you get a glimpse into the lives of others. It can sometimes be difficult to remember that people only put the best on social media, to perhaps paint a picture of their life that is better than the reality of it.

The best way to avoid these feelings of envy and depression that can come from the social media trap is to unplug and give yourself a break. Focus on your own life and the great things you have going for you instead of perusing the lives of others. It’s easy to miss the great things happening right in front of you if you’re too fixated on what others have going on for them.

3. You will have more time to soak up quietness

Solitude and just being with your own thoughts for a bit can be really good for you.

A study done by the University of the Philippines Diliman found that solitude can be extremely important to our overall well-‐being and has been shown to increase happiness and stress management abilities (source). It’s crucial to be left with your own thoughts for at least a small amount of time each day, as it allows you to better process the events happening around you.

4. You will improve your “real life” relationships

The next time you’re out in public, whether eating at a restaurant or even just running errands, take some time to look around and see how many people have their face buried into a smart phone.

You may be shocked by how much you notice this behavior when you begin to pay more attention to it. It’s almost the norm these days for people to be checking Facebook or text messaging someone else when they are out to a meal with friends. What message is this sending to those who you are currently spending time with? It’s almost like telling them you’d rather be elsewhere and that their company alone isn’t enough to entertain you.

It’s very difficult to have an engaging, meaningful conversation and spend quality time with someone when you aren’t fully present in that moment with them. Unplugging from technology can have profound effects on our “real life” relationships, and the biggest benefit of that is being fully present with our loved ones when we are spending time with them.

http://www.academia.edu/886055/An_exercise_to_teach_the_psychological_benefits_of_solitude_The_date_with_the_self



REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD UNPLUG FROM TECHNOLOGY (CONT.):

5. You will get the sleep you desperately need

Have you ever spent hours on your phone, computer, or watching TV at night to then discover that you couldn’t fall asleep later on when you wanted to?

As it turns out, two hours of screen time at night could end up majorly disturbing your ability to sleep (source). Blue light that is emitted from bright screens can alter your body’s melatonin production. Melatonin is the hormone produced by our bodies that helps set our biological clocks. Without it, it can be nearly impossible to fall asleep when you need to.

To help your body fall asleep when it needs to, try to stay away from bright screens 2-‐3 hours before bedtime. Even unplugging just an hour before bedtime can be extremely helpful in allowing your body to fall asleep right away. Try it out yourself!

6. You will feel less stressed

If you’re feeling really stressed out lately, your smartphone might be a big contributor. You might find yourself feeling stressed when you’re expected to immediately text someone back, return a call, or respond to an email.

Unplugging from your smartphone is a great way to reduce the stress that being “on” can bring into our lives. If you can turn off your phone or even just ignore it for large blocks of time throughout the day, you will likely feel a lot less anxious and more at peace.

Life is so much more enjoyable when your face isn’t inside buried into a screen all the time. When we allow technology to take up such a large portion of our day, we are taking away from other precious moments. Things like playing with our children, having deep and meaningful conversations with those we love, and enjoying the simple things in life like curling up on the couch with a good book. While technology in itself isn’t a bad thing, it’s the way we abuse it and become consumed by it that allows it to have a negative impact on our lives. Unplugging from technology on a regular basis can serve as a great reminder to us that the recipe for happiness in this life can’t be found within a screen.

http://www.thedoctorwillseeyounow.com/content/sleep/art3817.htm



HERE ARE SOME TIPS TO HELP YOU UNPLUG:

1. Start small -‐ curb your use of technology by unplugging from just one device at a time if you find unplugging from everything at once to be too difficult.

2. Remove unnecessary social media and game apps from your phone, and move the apps that remain away from your home screen so that you aren’t enticed to use them every time you look at your phone.

3. Set designated times to engage in social media so that you don’t find yourself checking in on sites like Facebook or Twitter more than once or twice per day.

4. Turn off notifications from apps and email that automatically pop up on your phone or computer.

ACTION STEPS THIS WEEK: 1. Unplug from all technology at least one hour prior to bedtime. Use this time

instead to do some reading, tidy up your house, or get organized for the next day to make your morning easier.

2. Make a habit of turning your phone off or putting it on silent whenever you are spending time with your friends or family. The ones you love deserve your undivided attention when you are with them. Focus on having a great conversation and building your relationship with them instead of becoming distracted by your phone.

3. Remove unnecessary apps from your phone and turn off all notifications on both your phone and your computer. This will help you stay focused at the task at hand so that you’re not becoming easily distracted and will also reduce your stress levels when it comes to being “on”.

Week Three: Putting an End to Busyness


Are you tired of feeling exhausted and like you’re stuck on a hamster wheel -‐ constantly running but not really getting anywhere? In our culture, we often mistake busyness as a sign of success. Many of us brag about the fact that we are busy and wear it like it’s some badge of honor, a sign that we have “made it” and are doing well for ourselves. The truth is, there are many dangers that can come from making ourselves so darn busy all of the time. Having a calendar filled to the brim with commitments shouldn’t be something we view as a sign of success. Instead, we should focus on getting back to the basics and focusing on what truly matters. We should focus on being more intentional with our time and living a life that is full of mindfulness and purpose. Making time for relaxation isn’t a sign of weakness; it’s actually essential to make sure you’re taking care of yourself! THESE ARE THE DANGERS THAT CAN COME FROM PURSUING A LIFE A BUSYNESS:

1. When you say “yes” to everything, you are saying “no” to what matters most

When you say “yes” to plans that you are less than excited about, not only are you stuck with a commitment to something you really don’t want to do, but you are losing out on an opportunity for something that you would love to spend your time on.

Make sure you make time for the important things – even if that’s having lazy Sunday afternoons with your family. If having uninterrupted quality time with your family is something you look forward to, make that a priority in your schedule!

You can even go so far as to actually put this time in your calendar to ensure you don’t make any other plans during that time. This strategy has worked well for me personally, and I highly suggest it! It’s easier to say “no” to other plans when you’ve already allocated that time in your calendar for your top priorities.

2. Not enough time to pursue your passions

We have such limited time in our lives that we should be spending as much of it as we can on doing the things we really want to do. If we spend a lot of our time and energy on every little opportunity that comes our way, it makes it impossible to carve out the time necessary to pursue our true passions. There are simply not enough hours in the day.

When we fill our calendars to the brim with plans and commitments of all sorts, we can forget to spend time on what we enjoy most. Our passions shouldn’t be an afterthought



that we try to stick somewhere into our schedule; our schedule should in fact be planned so that these activities remain a priority in the way we plan our time.

3. Mistaking being busy for being successful

These days, busyness seems to be worn like a badge of honor. Ask almost anyone how they’re doing and they will proudly tell you, “I’m busy, so very busy”.

Let’s stop glorifying busy schedules. Leading a life with a schedule full of commitments that make us appear to be important or successful, but don’t make us feel fulfilled, makes it extremely difficult to live a happy life.

Happiness is what’s important; a jam-‐packed schedule is most certainly not. Don’t be afraid to have empty chunks of time on your calendar, or feel as though you aren’t making the most of your time because your day isn’t packed with activities from sunrise to sundown. Having downtime doesn’t mean you are lazy. It’s important to have some unscheduled time to be able to reflect and unwind a bit. Stop being busy for the sake of being busy!

4. We allocate our time to commitments that will satisfy others

Allocating our time to things not important to us because we only want to satisfy others is so easy to do. I used to be an innate people pleaser. Then I realized that as hard as you may try, you cannot please 100% of people 100% of the time. It’s impossible. Someone will always disapprove of your actions for some reason or other.

Reclaim your time as your own. You don’t have to do anything you aren’t completely excited about doing. Life is too short to try to meet the expectations of others instead of living for yourself. Perhaps that is perceived as selfishness, but if we aren’t going to be the guardians of our time and energy, then it becomes too easy to just give it up freely.

Of course this doesn’t mean you should lose your manners or stop trying to be a good person, but it does mean to be true to yourself and your desires first, and that those who care about you the most will accept the ways in which you choose to spend your time.

HERE ARE SOME TIPS FOR HOW TO PUT AN END TO BUSYNESS IN YOUR LIFE:

• Delegate. If there’s something a family member or friend is able and willing to help you with, don’t be afraid to ask for help if you find yourself feeling overwhelmed. Life is so much easier and less stressful when you accept help as you need it!

• Prioritize. Figure out which things you would like to spend less of your time doing, and which you would love to spend more time doing. Use this as your guide to help



determine what is a good use of your time. Life is short; don’t waste it on things that don’t bring you joy or excitement.

• Learn to say “no”. If something doesn’t align with your priorities in life, don’t feel guilty about saying “no” to it. You aren’t obligated to do everything that is asked of you. You are the keeper of your time, so it is up to you to not let others dictate how you are spending it. When we allow ourselves to become caught up in activities and perceived obligations that we don’t enjoy, it doesn’t leave much time to spend on what we actually want to do.

ACTION STEPS THIS WEEK:

1. Create a list of your priorities, such as your favorite activities or people to spend time with. Then create a separate list of your current obligations.

2. Say “no” to at least one thing that doesn’t excite you this week. Reference your list of current obligations you created and find just one thing that you no longer enjoy doing and do your best at eliminating this obligation from your life. While this is certainly easier said than done in most cases, it’s the only way to free your schedule up to pursue the things that you truly love doing!

3. Schedule downtime in your calendar in the week and months to come. It might sound counterproductive, but it’s a wonderful way to make sure that you aren’t over-‐scheduling yourself and to give yourself some time to unwind and relax a bit. It also forces you to sit down and prioritize to curb your busyness. Scheduling downtime could be as simple as creating “no plan” Sundays where you spend each Sunday relaxing and doing leisurely activities you otherwise wouldn’t have time for.

Week Four: Managing Your Time Wisely


Do you often feel overwhelmed? Like you will never be able to tackle your to-‐do list, much less find the time to spend on the activities you actually enjoy? The solution for managing your time wisely may be a lot simpler than you imagined. THE TWO-‐STEP FORMULA FOR EFFECTIVE TIME MANAGEMENT: Step 1: Prioritize the things that truly need to get done. It’s so easy to create a to-‐do list of 10-‐15 things you want to get done during the course of a day, but for most of us, it will be impossible to get them all done and we will feel defeated when we unsuccessfully try to complete all of them. Instead of making your to-‐do list a mile long, focus on the top 2-‐3 priority tasks that are absolutely essential to complete. Allocate your time to make sure those 2-‐3 tasks are completed, and then view anything completed in addition to those tasks as just a nice bonus. Step 2: Become more efficient with the time that you do have to get things done. We are going to discuss some productivity habits to help you make the most of the time you spend on your to-‐dos, so that you can allocate more time to your love-‐to-‐do list J By cutting out a lot of the unnecessary in your life and decreasing how much time you need to spend on your to-‐dos, you’ll be left with a lot more time and energy to devote to what you truly love and enjoy doing. HERE ARE SOME TIPS FOR MANAGING YOUR TIME MORE EFFECTIVELY: 1. Identify your time sucks and stop engaging in them

Stop engaging in time sucks that take you away from the task at hand or make it more difficult to work in an efficient manner. Where are you wasting your time each day? Perhaps it’s that hour or two of TV you watch every night, or the hour you spend aimlessly surfing the internet and perusing social media. Make it a point to allocate some of that time to be productive instead of engaging in mindless activities for several hours each day.

While sometimes it can be nice to unwind with some passive form of entertainment at the end of a long day, it can also be so easy to have a planned thirty minutes of TV time turn into a three hour binge session of your favorite show that keeps you up well past midnight.

If you know that sitting down for thirty minutes of TV time is likely going to turn into a three hour TV binge session, you’ll probably choose to avoid engaging in TV time at all if you have other things you really need to get done. Being aware of your potential time



sucks is crucial so that you can purposefully avoid them when you really want to focus on being productive

2. Track your time spent on specific tasks

It can be surprising to see how much time you are spending on tasks that you think are only taking you a minute or two to complete. Start tracking your time using a free software like Harvest to see how much is spent on each task you complete. It will give you a better picture of how that time adds up over the course of a few weeks and will provide you with some great insight as to how you can streamline your time a bit more to work more efficiently.

3. Get a better picture of how you are actually using your computer time

Sometimes while we are on our computers, we really have no idea how much time we are wasting on things like social media or YouTube. RescueTime is another great free resource to help you get a better picture of your habits while on your computer, and how much of your time is actually being spent doing productive tasks. It’s a cool app that tracks your time spent on applications and various websites and then sends you a report to give you a more accurate version of how your computer time was spent. RescueTime is different than Harvest because RescueTime tracks overall usage of programs, whereas you can use Harvest to track time spent on specific, individual tasks. Using both of these programs simultaneously is an incredible way to keep yourself on track and giving you a complete picture of how effective you are with your working time. 4. Stop multitasking

Do you find yourself haphazardly jumping from one task to another? Responding to an email quickly, tidying up the papers on your desk, starting a brainstorm session, calling a client to discuss an upcoming project….and then realizing that 20 minutes have gone by and you haven’t really accomplished much of anything?

Focus on the one task at hand instead of trying to juggle your entire to-‐do list at once. Not only does it help with becoming more productive, but you’ll find the quality of your work to improve as well.

5. Batch similar tasks

Once you stop multitasking, you’ll find that grouping together similar tasks really maximizes your time efficiently. When your mind is all over the place trying to get everything done at once, you might feel like you’re being productive, but in reality you aren’t really getting as much done as you could be. When you aimlessly respond to an

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email here, make a phone call there, and then try to sprinkle in any tasks that require a lot of brain power into the mix, you are constantly battling to focus.

Try to block out your schedule to dedicate chunks of time to certain tasks. For example, stick to checking your emails only at 9:00a, 1:00p, and 4:00p during the day instead of responding as they come in. Likewise, return all of your phone calls at once if possible. Being in the same frame of thought to run through similar tasks can be a huge time saver since you’re not struggling to refocus every few minutes.

6. Prioritize your top 2-‐3 tasks

As we talked about earlier in this lesson, it’s easy to get caught up in completing tasks that aren’t exactly crucial for the day. I used to hate when someone told me to prioritize because I always thought, “well, everything is important.” I was very wrong. If we think of everything as being important, then it’s basically saying that nothing is because we are unable to differentiate the must-‐dos from the nice-‐to-‐dos. Having that mindset makes it difficult to reach your goals when you can’t determine what you actually need to do to get there.

Figure out your top two or three tasks that you must accomplish for the day, and then everything else you get done after that should just be considered a bonus. This way you’re not spinning your wheels all day on low priority tasks, and instead can focus on getting your most important tasks completed.

7. Take advantage of your peak times of alertness

If you are a natural morning person, take advantage of those early morning hours to do your most creative work first when your brain is at its peak. If you are a night owl, then perhaps you will complete some easier tasks during the morning and save your work that requires a bit more thought for later in the afternoon or at night. I think that we all work more efficiently and productively when we listen to our body’s natural times of alertness and take advantage of those times to do the work that requires the most brain power from us.

8. Stop procrastinating

We all have things we need to do that we don’t necessarily want to do. Either because we’re dreading the task itself, or we are worried about not doing a good enough job on it. Just get started and stop dragging your feet or putting it off! The sooner you get it done, the more time you’ll have on your hands to be able to do what you want to do.



HERE ARE SOME TIPS FOR MANAGING YOUR TIME MORE EFFECTIVELY (CONT.):

9. Set time limits for each task

This is a great strategy for powering through every task you have in a more efficient and purposeful way. It can be so easy to spend hours upon hours “perfecting” something you’re working on if you know that you have unlimited time to complete it. I encourage you to try to set time limits for each task you need to complete. Not only will it force you to hunker down and stop dilly-‐dallying, but you’ll likely find that you ended up needing only a fraction of the time you originally thought you would to finish that task and do a great job at it too!

10. Minimize potential distractions

There are so many distractions that can interrupt us throughout the day if we let them. IM pop-‐ups, Facebook and Twitter notifications, phone calls, text messages, email alerts, co-‐workers stopping by to chat….the list goes on and on. It has been said that it takes more than 25 minutes to resume a task after being interrupted (source). That is a lot of wasted time.

When you really need to hunker down and get work done, try turning off your phone, closing all browser tabs or programs on your computer that you aren’t currently using, and if you work in an open office environment – put headphones on to let your co-‐workers know you are unavailable to talk at the moment. Eliminating distractions can be a huge way to save yourself time throughout the day.

ACTION STEPS THIS WEEK:

1. Identify your time sucks. Identifying the activities that are encouraging you to waste time throughout the day and finding creative ways to disengage from those distractions will provide you with a lot more free time throughout the day.

2. Start tracking your time. Use Harvest to track your time spent on individual tasks, and RescueTime to track your overall time spent on your computer. Utilizing these free tools will help give you a better picture of where your time is going and how you can make adjustments to increase your efficiency.

3. Minimize distractions. Limit yourself to checking email, social media, and your phone to only a few times per day. Also, close out all extra tabs and programs on your computer to minimize the potential for losing your focus on the task at hand.

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Final Thoughts


I hope you found this course to be helpful in simplifying and curbing the chaos in your life!

If you weren’t able to adopt all of these habits over the course of four weeks, don’t fret. Continue working through each of the action steps and applying them in a way that makes sense for you and your own life. Remember that baby steps to progress is better than no progress at all J.

If you felt this course made a positive difference in your life, I would love to hear how the lessons impacted you and what you learned from them. Also, if you have any suggestions for improvements to this course, or future courses you would like to see, please email me (Christina) at [email protected]. I would be honored to hear from you!

If you enjoyed this course, I would so appreciate if you shared it with your friends and family who you think would benefit from it too. You can invite them to sign up for this course by sending them to embracingsimpleblog.com/simplify.

CONNECT WITH ME

If you would like to subscribe to receive new blog posts in your inbox that are packed with more tips to help you further simplify your life, you can subscribe at embracingsimpleblog/subscribe.

You can also connect with me on social media:

Facebook + Twitter + Instagram: @embracingsimple // Pinterest: @esimpleblog I look forward to helping you further on your journey to creating a life you love! XOXO, Christina Tiplea

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