Never Mind the Bus Pass

Stressed out? Feel like your work/life balance is out of kilter? You need to simplify! NMTBP gives you a few ideas……

Identify what’s important to you - eliminate everything else

Start by thinking about the top 5 things that are most important to you. What do you value? That can be family, spirituality, travelling, food, serving others, your career, music, your marriage, books, technology…… it can really be absolutely anything and is different for every individual

Now, look back at the past 12 months and evaluate your commitments and your time. What activities, hobbies, organizations, and projects are you involved in? Day-to-day, how do you normally spend your time? If what you’re involved in and how you spend your time is not aligned with your top 5 priorities, it’s time to reevaluate your commitments and your time

Learn to say no

Once you’ve mentally and physically accomplished the first idea, it’s time to learn one of the key habits to simplifying your life – learn to say no. ”Just say no” is a phrase we all remember from campaigns against drug use and abuse, but who knew that it would continue to be relevant to our adult lives, albeit, in a different way

When asked to do something or be a part of something, think back to your top 5 priorities. Will this enrich or take away from those priorities? Also consider if your strengths, gifts, and talents are best suited for this new task. By spreading yourself thin and with something you’re not gifted in, you may be stripping the opportunity from someone whose talents will shine in this task

Purge your stuff

“Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” -William Morris

“Amen”to that! That is THE way of thinking to live simply. Devote a weekend to sorting through each nook and cranny in your home and begin purging your stuff. Make three piles – Keep, Donate, Throw. Now for some of you this may sound a lot easier than it is and may need to span a few weekends

If this is the case, my best suggestion is to grab your voice-of-reason friend and your I-like-to-party friend, and focus on one room a day. Your voice-of-reason friend is to help point out “Seriously, when is the last time you used that?” and “You already have ten ceramic gnomes, do you really need an eleventh?” Your I-like-to-party friend is there to refill your wine glass and interrupt with a spontaneous 5-minute dance party!

Have a place for everything

In your home, in your car, in your office……have a place for EVERYTHING. After you declutter, give every item you own a home. If you don’t have enough space, continue decluttering. If you buy something new and can’t find a space for it, either return it or get rid of something else. This will make it so much easier to keep your place tidy and prevent ‘simplify my life’ from ever appearing on a New Year’s resolution list

Learn to live frugally

Mahatma Ghandi said it best, “Live simply, so others may simply live”

Enough said

Learn to do nothing

The art of doing nothing is quite beautiful and freeing. Yet, it seems impossible to do or to even ask for. Adopt the Christian idea of Sabbath. Take one day of rest a week. Don’t have anything scheduled, just simply spend the day resting and enjoying the things in life that fill you

Think through your foreseeable week. What day can you designate as your Sabbath? Deliberately turn down invitations and don’t schedule any ‘to dos’ for that day. This will give you the needed rest and allow you to recharge yourself so that you can power through all the other things you’re doing that week

Fill your day with simple pleasures

Think of the little things in life that make you smile and sprinkle them throughout your day. Blast out your ‘guilty pleasure’ songas you get ready in the morning… delight is a white chocolate truffle…have a chat with your children about nothing in particular… Record and then listen to a baby’s sweet laughter..

It’s these simple pleasures that guarantee a smile, and clear your stressful mind.

Enjoy!