Simplify

Technology continues to evolve at an ever more rapid pace. It continuously seems there is more and more to know and to keep up with. Workplace responsibilities compete with the must do tasks of our personal lives. And, of course, we would like to do more than simply work. Enjoyment should fit into our busy lives, somewhere.

With so much to do, what do we do? One world comes to mind, simplify. When we have many tasks to accomplish and many things to learn, the best thing we can do is simplify our lives. The more streamlined we make things, the more time we will “create” in our day to get things done.

Simplifying generally can be accomplished through the process of elimination. What we can do is take a look at all our responsibilities, workwise and otherwise, and determine which are the tasks that are absolutely essential and which things on our to do lists are just not that important.

By taking stock of our responsibilities, we can create a clearer operational picture, not just in our work lives but in our personal lives. I once heard a businessperson refer to the aforementioned process of simplification as “addition through subtraction.” By removing unessential things from our lives, we add more time to our busy days, thus creating more time to get things accomplished. This makes sense.

We do not need to undertake simplification all at once. We might first start with our personal lives and then focus on our business lives or vice versa. The point is not to overwhelm ourselves when attempting to simplify things. That would mean adding complication to the process of simplification and we certainly want to avoid that.

Keep things simple and you will certainly reap the rewards of extra time, greater peace of mind and clarity of thinking.

Image courtesy of [kangshutters] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

*Authors note: You might see this column pop up online in a newspaper, under the name Both Sides. I am publishing this column here first at CYInterview.com. For a bunch of years, I have been writing newspaper columns. Since my columns have received a good response on CYInterview, I thought I would share it with you. Hope you enjoy.

You can reach me with your questions and comments at Jay@CYinterview.com Like today’s column? Check back frequently.