Strategies To Simplify Your Life

We live with the priorities upside down because they define what is important and how we will get it.

Think: How many pieces of clothing have unused? How long you invest planning what to wear pants or looking for that impossible to find in the closet packed? How many hours you invest in cleaning and maintenance of the house where you just get off work because very late? Of all the objects around you, what you really need?

The questions are valid because many live surrounded by an excess of things. To meet possessiveness we can easily fall into an unsatisfactory routine that keeps us from what, at bottom, we consider more important. This is the approach of those who defend the philosophy of simplifying life to minimize material possessions and increasing experiences.

The reason for this concern may have different explanations. The most obvious: the country is bankrupt. You can not do anything but reduce costs if we lost our job or know that the same danger.

Also they proliferate environmental awareness movements that lead us to think about the need to take measures to reduce the consumption of items that eventually end up in the trash. And some people simply no longer want to live in the career of maintaining a large house, a late model car and full closet.

Reducing consumption is a way to achieve peace.

"It's a reaction to what happens to social and economic level. People are trying to find a balance. They realize that if they do not take charge of your life no one will, "said Victor Lleras, Jr., author of Under the spell, publicist and personal transformation coach.

 So, there are those who decide, by necessity or conviction, to live a life less dependent on material things. One is the entrepreneur Graham Hill, who in March last year told readers of the New York Times how he went from having a house of 3,600 square feet to another 420.

Although her case is unique, because it managed to amass a considerable fortune at an early age and can afford to give up a mansion while traveling around the world, Hill says about their relationship with things not feel different from the rest.

"Somehow, material things ended up ruining my life, or much of it; consuming things he finished consuming me, "he said in his letter. In short, Hill managed to have practically everything he wanted but after a while concluded that "the objects tend to shift the emotional needs that are supposed to meet."

 Something similar to the above by Hill's what leads many people to consider a change in their lives to be lighter. Lleras describes it as "the emptiness and sadness" of encountering the reality that the truly important things have little space in their agendas.

 This occurs when, according Lleras, live with the priorities upside down because we do not define what is important and how we will get it. When these priorities are unmet emotional charge builds up unbearable. And those emotions are coupled with past events that drag.

In fact, the coach indicates that the first step to making a change has to do with having more or fewer objects.

"The most important thing is to let the weight of the mental burdens. Most people have a difficult life for things that happened in the past. Many complications are self-imposed "details.

Part of that emotional distress also causes the weight of the messages coming from all over to invite us to consume and have or achieve a certain status. Even all the technology that makes life supposedly we can have the effect of overwhelm.

 "It is assumed that the cell simplifies our work but we are now connected to the office while we are at dinner. We work with us at all times, "says Enoch Misael coach, counselor and professional coach.

Both interviewees agree that the shift to a more balanced life starts with being clear about what you want. And this is no single model, as each person chooses his.

Enoch and Lleras recommend starting to make a short list of priorities. Those are the things we want to address first. Then, you have to list the basic needs, for example, home or education of children. The third step is to establish a plan to decide how to meet the needs in the order described.

"One thing I constantly see is that while we all learn differently, many people react to visual learning. It is therefore important to make a written plan. Seeing it is key, because otherwise the ideas are left to the head, like a maze without solution, "said Lleras, who is also a lecturer.

 Most of time and energy we use it to what we identify as most important. This is not to react impulsively and suddenly abandon the responsibilities we have right now. One must understand that some changes may take longer than others, it is important to start acting, where possible, to reach the goal, says Enoch.

The coach also invited to keep track of the process the awareness of what we do have, as part of living a fuller life is to assess that. Furthermore, we believe this prevents artificial needs.

 Requires willpower and responsibility to create the habit of compulsively avoid buying or say yes to whatever commitment appears. The key, insists Lleras, is in three steps: identify priorities, establish a plan to meet them and learn to delegate, as they often refuse to accept the valuable collaboration of third parties to expedite the goals.

When it is possible to delegate, at work or home, we have more time to engage in tasks that have significant consequences. We avoid staying in the "little things" that do not provide satisfaction but suffocate.

Some strategies

- Make a list of the five most important things in your life.

- Examine what are you doing to feel satisfied with these priorities.

- Make a plan with initiatives you can take to live according to that which is essential for you.

- Learn to delegate and do it whenever possible.

- Examine your belongings and determines what you can do without. Do the same when you decide to buy something. Ask yourself if you really need and if you buy it you closer or away from your important goals (holidays, trips, savings).

- Learn to say no to commitments and obligations will bring more stress than satisfaction.

- Looking disconnect the phone and the computer from time to time, to truly enjoy your contact with others.

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