When Simplifying Life Complicates Life

You started out with good intentions. You were going to simplify your life. In the pursuit of quality of life, you were going to expel the extraneous and pare down to the essentials. You were going to focus on what was essential and divest of that which wasn’t necessary to attain the life you truly desired. But then something happened. Instead of life becoming comfortable and more focused, life became more complicated and intense. Rather than experiencing simplification, you found yourself in a world of even greater complexity. Why?

In the yin and yang of life, it is said that everything contains it’s opposite. Without light, there is no darkness. Without cold, there is no heat. It follows that without complexity, there is no simplicity. The danger arises because when pursuing one thing, you are naturally exposed to its opposite.

Here’s how it goes. First, you become aware of how complexity and lack of focus are spreading you too thin. You decide that, if only you could concentrate your mental and physical energy on just a few things, you would ultimately be happier and more productive. You also discover the meaning of the expression, “you don’t own your things, your things own you.” So you set a goal to decide what’s most important to you and which of your belongings are essential to this new life vision.

You start by making a list. Then you make another list. One for the material things in your life, and then one for essential life goals. Next, you make a schedule. In fact, you need to schedule a time to make up your schedule. Next, you need to make a plan. Where will you start? What room will you empty first? Then execute your plan. Do you see where this is going? Instead of simplifying your life, you’ve added one more dimension to it. Instead of removing things from your agenda, you have added something to it. Your effort at simplification has become a complication.

You need to simplify your simplification! In the words of Alanis Morissette, isn’t it ironic? Ironic it may be, but this reduction is what you need to do.

Here are five things to do to get on the road to a more minimalist life:

1. Pick a room. If you have many rooms in your home, all of which are clutter-filled, you can stall right out of the gate just by trying to decide which is the best place to begin. Pick a room, any room. The first one that comes to mind is where you start.
2. Focus on frequency, not volume. You may be inclined to decide to start this weekend and work on the garage. The likely result is that at the end of the weekend, you’ll have an organized garage. But the next weekend you’ll decide you don’t have time to do another room, but you’ll get back at it the following weekend. This won’t happen. It’s better to do five minutes every day than five hours once a week. By doing this, you’ll begin to form a new habit. A new you.
3. Eliminate two existing activities to make time for this five minute a day exercise. At the very least, reduce the time spent on something else by ten minutes for every five you spend on simplification. Such as time spent watching television or surfing the net.
4. Do not over plan. To over-analyze is to paralyze. At the risk of stating the obvious, try to keep it simple. Break your goal into bite-size bits that you can use to see progress easily.
5. Do not take on new activities or acquire new items without removing something else from your life, or home, to make room. Before you go to the grocery store, clean out your refrigerator. Do the same with taking out boxes on garbage day. When you buy new clothing, donate one or two items per each one that you buy when you get home.

There is a quote from William Morris that is worth repeating: “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” A streamlined and uncluttered life frees the soul.

Following these five steps to get a strong start to make your life happier, more relaxed, and more focused.

Use Spring Tidying a Better Way to find more tips on how to simplify your life.