Declutter Your Life
Have you ever tried carrying a sack of potatoes around for a week? If the weight doesn't kill you then the smell certainly will. We can sometimes carry other emotional, mental and spiritual weight around thinking that it's manageable, tolerable or even necessary, but then it starts to stink. It becomes difficult to move forward because we are so weighed down by insignificant things that we can no longer manage significant things. I used to be the kind of person that would just accept 'dead weight' in every aspect of my life but then I realised that I was being shortchanged. The new roles I assumed required me to let go of all the things that stopped me being efficient in them. It took a bit of time to evaluate and adjust but eventually I made progression. The privileges I now have as a result of decluttering is blogging, vlogging, more time with family and friends and managing my businesses. This doesn't happen overnight and there are still things I have to declutter to maximise productivity but I feel gooooood! Haha!
This is the bit where you go "Sal, help me declutter my life!" and I say let's start with being brutally sincere with yourself and looking around you. Are you a serial shopper? (clothes, gadgets, ornaments etc) Do you go out to buy things and end up coming home with a totally different set of items? I'm seriously not judging (I still slip sometimes) but it starts with identifying the things that need to go! The next thing is relationships, it's easy to have relationships that can also weigh us down and it is also important to identify these.
Start with making a list of things that need prioritising from the most important to the least. Do the same with people (don't worry you don't have it to show them) and write how you envisage that relationship going. "I don't have the time to write it down Sal, I'm just too busy!" Trust me to you can just dictate it quickly into your phone and get on with your day.
Make a plan for each item or person on the list and identify where you may need support to progress forward in each issue, person or item. Remember that the objective is to free your time and maximise balance in every area of your life. If you focus on that then you will know how to manage each point. Don't be afraid to ask yourself the tough questions like "where does this person belong in my life/timewise?" or "do I really need 10,000 pairs of shoes?" (yes men, that's a tough question for a woman!Haha!) Let me help you with an example, I love buying clothes and my style keeps changing so I agreed with Paul that I would be able to do a car boot every so often to avoid a build up and make excess cash back. I don't really want to do car boots too often because it's alot of work and means I can't always be with Ez so I buy carefully when I'm shopping. I ask myself "is this a one time wear item? or will I wear it again?" and "do I actually need this item?' before purchasing. In affect it's actually about putting higher value on a bigger vision and that vision is productivity and finding balance.
„In affect it's actually about putting higher value on a bigger vision and that vision is productivity and finding balance.“
- yours sincerely sal -
Another point we don't actually consider is outsourcing and by that I mean paying others for their services. Just because you can do something yourself doesn't mean that you have the time and energy to do so. If you can't afford it then that is a different matter but if you can afford to pay someone to assist with the things that are all time consuming then you are onto a winner. Ultimately, it's up to you to pull your sleeves up and get to work because the hard truth is that no one is going to do it for you! The most important thing to remember is that the first step is the hardest so just BEGIN!
Yours Sincerely
Sal
