Simplifying Your Life Gives You Focus

Have you ever noticed that the more you get in life the more complicated things tend to become?

I remember when I was a kid there were no video games, 3-channels on the television, no internet – life was simple.

We played with the kids in the neighborhood, spent time dreaming about the future and read books…our imagination made up for all of the things that fill in time today.

It seems today that our kids (and ourselves) are maxed out with 200 channels, the internet with Billions of websites, smartphones with always-on connections, and yet we spend time daily trying to bring MORE into our lives.  Eventually this catches up with us and we get stuck wanting to find ways to change our lives.

What about simplifying things instead, give up your bad habits…looking at what we can remove from our lives as an exercise to getting back to what is important.  In other words, simplifying to gain focus on the important things in life.

Here are 5 Things we could give up in our life…would these same 5 apply to you or would you have others?

1. Television

I don’t think it’s necessary to give up television altogether, but certainly to limit TV to 1-hour a day is something I try (and mostly accomplish) these days.  What I enjoy is sports, so I watch 30-45 minutes of hockey, baseball, football or whatever sport is on in the evening…that’s about it.  I avoid the news, avoid reality TV, avoid pretty much any television with the odd exception of a vintage comedy (All in the Family, Seinfeld, Everybody Loves Raymond, etc…that help me relax) – that’s it.

2. Procrastination

I have an especially low threshold for wasting time procrastinating these days.  If I find myself stationary for any reason other than purposeful relaxation or rest, I pull myself out of that state immediately by doing something – taking a walk, getting some exercise, reading a book, working on something from my task list, calling family or friends and catching up…anything other than letting myself become a vegetable to escape being constructive.

3. Video Games

I am one of the rare bread of people that feels video games are the scourge of the earth…the biggest mind-numbing time-suck known to mankind.  Over time I have loosened somewhat on that point of view as my kids have pointed to some video games where they have actually learned some history or improved a skill or even gained a new group of friends through networked gaming.  However, I put this in the same pile as television, except that I spend zero time on video games and recommend anyone trying to give up some complexity in their life in favor of regaining control and focus – go cold turkey for a month and see how much extra time and enjoyment you get out of the recovered time.

4. Snacking, Junk Food, Soft Drinks and Binge Eating

For many of us, when we get bored, stressed, frustrated (or pretty much any challenge we face in life) we create a diversion by seeking out comfort in food.  Not only does this soak up time, it creates unhealthy habits, destroys our body chemistry, impacts our immune system resulting in more time spent fighting colds, flu’s and infections and destroys the longevity of our lifetime.  Giving up unhealthy snacks, binges and soft drinks can have an amazingly liberating impact on life.

5. Being Angry, Holding Grudges And Being Depressed

I am a person that was brought up with a very rigid sense of what is right and what is wrong, what is honest and what is not honest and in the principles of fairness.  So, I spent many years living in a rather constant state of anger, frustration and anxiety holding a pretty gigantic chip on my shoulder for people that had a less rigid system and perhaps strayed over the line at times.  The biggest challenge for me was moving on, instead I would fret and be angry all day over one incident where I was not fairly dealt with instead of dealing with that quickly and moving on.  If you find yourself holding on to anger, anxiety and frustration from events that happened earlier in the day, last week or even last month…go ahead and give up on that anger, regain control and take focus back in your life

What about you?

Is there something in your life you wish you could give up?

Do you feel as though you are so busy chasing your tail you can’t gain real focus in your life?

Leave a comment and share, after all…this issue impacts us all, let’s work to help each other through to clarity.