What Does It Mean to Simplify?

Simplifying our lives means cutting out things that we don’t need. It’s cleaning up our physical clutter, our mental space, and how we spend our time.

If you simplify your life, you cut out things that are not essential. This looks different for everyone. Think about a typical day in your life: how many things do you own that you don’t use? How much time do you spend thinking about or doing things that don’t add genuine value to your life? Simplifying means removing or cutting back on these things.

What’s Your Goal?

Now think about the biggest goal in your life. I mean the really big goal — the one that always feels out of reach. The one that’s more of a lifelong dream than a goal.

What stops you from achieving it?

Here’s some of the top answers:

1. Lack of time
2. Lack of money
3. Fear of what other people think
4. Uncertainty

How Simplifying Your Life Will Help You Achieve Your #1 Goal

Simplifying your life will help take out this list of obstacles that stands between you and your goal.

For each of the most common obstacles mentioned, here’s how:

1. Lack of time

In simplifying how you use your time, you cut out activities that don’t add genuine value to your life. Oftentimes, these are activities that are so ingrained in our schedules that they’re a habit.

Cut out activities that aren’t worth your time, and you’ll have more time to spend on reaching your goal.

2. Lack of money

The idea of simplifying also means only holding onto and buying items that are necessary. The definition of what’s ‘necessary’ may differ from person to person, but the principle is to reduce what you own, and reduce what you buy.

In the process, by spending less and even selling what you don’t need, you’ll be one step closer to having the money you need for your goal.

3. Fear of what other people think

The act of simplifying goes against traditional notions of ‘success.’ Traditional success often focuses on having more, while simplifying focuses on having less.

I believe that bucking these traditional ideas can start a domino effect in the way we think: start simplifying your life and you begin to realize that you make your own definition of success. And you begin to fear less of what other people think.

4. Uncertainty

‘I don’t know how to reach my goal,’ ‘I don’t even know where to start,’ may be going through your head. Uncertainty is a big obstacle that stops us from reaching our goals.

But most uncertainties can be cured by one thing: information. And how do you get the information you need? You research. It may feel overwhelming, but there are ways to get the information we need to set out to accomplish our goals.

In simplifying your life, you’ve freed up some time and money to start your research.

What goal would you accomplish if you had time, money, and didn’t care what people thought?

Simplifying can help you get there.

Download the worksheet PDF below to get started simplifying & one step closer to your #1 goal now:

GOALS & OBSTACLES – START SIMPLIFYING YOUR LIFE WORKSHEET