“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”
Confucius

I love simplifying my life.

It makes me more effective and life less stressful. It makes me calmer, more energetic and happier.

So today I’d like to share 42 ways for you to simplify your life.

I hope you’ll find something inspiring and helpful among these tips.

1. Mix things up.

Try the opposite. Have the vegetarian dish if you always go for the meat.

Walk away from a stupid conflict instead of making it worse. Let one thing go if you often cling to things.

Make a habit of mixing things up to grow your life in small or bigger ways.

And to make it easier and simpler to step out of your comfort zone in general when you really need to.

2. Get up 20 minutes earlier. 

This will help you to reduce stress in the morning and during the rest of the day.

3. Be 10 minutes early for meetings and appointments. 

This will help you to make your time of travel a time of rest and relaxation instead of stressful. And you will not be late.

4. Single-task.

You be more focused, less stressed and get to done more quickly.

So do one thing at a time and do it with your full attention.

5. Ask yourself: am I keeping things extremely simple?

If not, figure out how you can do that in the situation you are in.

6. Ask yourself: will this matter 5 years from now?

Or even 5 weeks from now? Do this to avoid making mountains out of molehills.

7. Buy things with the money you have earned and saved.

Avoid getting into debt.

8. Learn a few recipes and cook.

You’ll save money and probably eat healthier.

9. When you cook, cook more than you’ll eat. 

This will help you to spend less time on cooking and washing dishes.

And you’ll have an extra dinner or two to just reheat when you don’t have time or energy to cook.

10. Write things down.

Pretty much everyone’s memory is leaky. So help yourself.

Write down what you need to do or shop for today.

Write down what your top 4 priorities in life are and post that note where you can see it every day.

11. Remember that life is larger than you may think it is.

You do not know everything and you are not always right. 

Remembering this makes it easier for me to learn things, to accept other viewpoints, to create changes and to stay more open.

12. Risk making mistakes. Learn from them.

Then do again with that helpful new experience and knowledge in mind.

13. Do what YOU really, really, really want to do.

Do not get stuck in trying to live someone else’s dream.

14. Go grocery shopping once a week.

You’ll save money and time if you make the effort to plan for a week and to shop for it all at once.

15. Go grocery shopping when you not hungry. You’ll buy more healthy food instead of impulse buying yourself through the store.

16. Enjoy the simple pleasures of living a simpler life.

An apple, the latest episode of your favorite show, fresh and clean bed sheets, a hug and kiss, holding hands, the sun and blossoming nature after a long and cold winter.

17. Have a glass of water.

Instead of eating when you are bored or when are having a craving have 1-2 glasses of water.

This will help you to keep to those cravings away until the next meal and to maintain your health and weight.

18. Eat slower.

Make your lunch time a time of relaxation rather than a time to just add to the stress of your morning.

Try putting down the fork between bites to slow down the eating.

19. Be kind.

Be kind to other people and especially to yourself.

20. Write shorter emails.

1-5 sentences is often enough.

21. Write emails only once a day.

Batch and process them all at once all the way to an empty inbox.

22. Learn about ways to keep stress down and try them out.

Examples would be mindfulness, setting human standards for yourself and saying no.

A few such habits can help you to drastically cut down on the stress in your life.

23. Give everything its home.

Then you know where to put the item when you have used it. You’ll know where to find it when you need it again.

And you’ll reduce the clutter in your home or work space.

24. Slow down and enjoy and pay attention what is actually happening today.

Instead of just rushing through the day and always on to the next thing.

25. Spend more time with people who make life simpler.

And less time with people who make life unnecessarily complicated.

26. Exercise every week.

This will reduce stress, up your energy levels and in my experience reduces negative thoughts.

27. Declutter.

Declutter your life of the things that aren’t really that useful or meaningful for you anymore.

Give that stuff away to someone who needs it. Or throw it out.

A question that can help you to know if it is time to declutter something out of your life is: have I used this item in the last year?

28. Look for advice from people who have been where you are.

Learn from people who have been in the situation you are in and had the challenge you are having.

29. Stop trying to please everyone.

There will always be people who you don’t get along with or that do not like you for some reason.

30. Break a task down into smaller and actionable pieces. 

Single-task that first piece until it is done. Then do the same with the next piece. And so on.

31. Stop trying to do things perfectly.

Go for good enough instead and when you are there you are done. Get things all the way to done this way and then move on to the next thing.

32. Take a minute and just breathe a couple of times a day.

This will help you to reduce the stress and overwhelm of your day.

It will help you to reconnect with the present moment, to create a habit of living more mindfully and to focus all your attention on what is happening right now.

33. Spend just 20% of your time on dwelling on a problem and 80% of your time focusing on a solution.

Instead of the other way around.

34. Focus on a few priorities in your life.

Keep things simple to be able to put enough effort, attention and energy into those most important things.

Rather than becoming spread too thin, rarely finishing things and being distracted by all those many other things you want to do or that feel you need to do too.

35. Keep a journal. 

By writing the facts and your thoughts and feelings down in a journal it becomes easier to work through a challenge and to find a good solution.

You can also use a journal to track your actual results instead of guesstimating how your life is going.

And to better remember all the things that you did well or that went well if you worry often or have quite a bit of negative thoughts.

36. Stop doing what you don’t like doing anymore.

Life changes and so do you.

If you you don’t like doing something anymore then perhaps it is time to stop doing that (even if it may take some time before you can do so by for example switching jobs).

37. Use a very simple workspace.

My work space is just a laptop on a small black desk made out of wood.

I use a comfy chair and there is room for my glass of water beside the computer. That’s it.

There are no distractions here. Just me, the computer and the water.

38. Spend 15 minutes each Sunday to plan the next week.

Write down your plans for the week, organize your prioritized to-do list and get ready for the week before you are in the middle of it all.

This will help you to find more clarity, get more of the most important things done next week and minimize stress.

39. Cancel subscriptions.

For example for TV-channels, newsletters and magazines you rarely get around to watching or reading anyway.

40. Ask instead of guessing.

Reading minds is hard. So, instead ask questions and communicate.

This will help you to minimize unnecessary conflicts, misunderstandings, negativity and waste or time and energy.

41. Make one change at a time and start small.

Focus on one habit or area at a time. If you want to start running or decluttering, start with doing just a few minutes of that activity a day or week.

Then gradually increase the amount of time you spend on that activity to make it easier to adopt the new habit.

42. Be lazy.

By using the tips in this article you’ll be able to get things done more quickly and in a simpler way.

This will give more time in a regular week to simply be lazy. To just take it easy alone or with family or a friend, to not do much at all.

I highly recommend spending time with being lazy every week to relax, to mindfully enjoy the small pleasures of life and to recharge yourself so that you can be effective and focused again later on.

“Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind.”
Henry James

“Kind words are short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.”
Mother Teresa

No relationship in the world is more important than the one you have with yourself.

But still, people often have a far worse and far more destructive relationship with themselves than they have with other people.

So in this article I’d like to explore 7 habits that can help you to form a better and happier relationship with yourself. And as an extension of that probably better relationships with the people around you too.

1. Talk to yourself before you drag yourself down.

We all have an inner critic. The critic can spur you on to get things done and to behave in way that gains acceptance from the people around you. But it can also drag you and your self-esteem down.

The inner critic whispers or shouts destructive thoughts in your mind. It could be thoughts like:

• You are lazy and sloppy, now get to work.
• You aren’t good at your job at all and someone will figure that out and throw you out.
• You are worse or uglier than someone else.

But you don’t have to accept that. You can reduce this inner, negative self-talk and change how you see yourself. You can do that by talking back.

Simply create a stop word or stop-phrase that you say or shout in your mind whenever your critic pipes up with a distorted and self-esteem hurting thought.

Say: Stop!

Or use something else. I like these two phrases:

• No, no, no, we are not going there!
• No, that is just stupid.

They have worked well for me to get the inner critic to shut up. Try these ones out or create one that feels good and works for you.

Then use it to not get dragged down by your own inner critic when it may get triggered by for example criticism or a mistake in everyday life. And as you use the word or phrase and it becomes a habit and as you find healthier paths towards what you want your critic will pop up less and less.

2. Find a balance between yourself and your world.

Some people tend to focus a little too much on the outside world. They try to help the people there and be of service at the expense of their own lives and mental and physical health.

Others tend to focus too much on their own thoughts and what is happening inside of their heads. And so much overanalyzing is done and beliefs that everyone cares more than they do about what you do are formed and strengthened.

The solution here is to find a bit more balance.

If you tear yourself apart and are not very kind to yourself in order to serve others people then take a step back. Take time for yourself and say no to some commitments so that you have more time and energy for yourself.

It is not selfish to take time for yourself too, we all need balance in life and to better be able to help others you need to help yourself too. Otherwise you’ll feel worse and worse as time passes and you’ll be of less and less help to others.

If you tend to get lost in your own thoughts too much and in overanalyzing, then learn to simplify your thinking as I described in this previous post.

And remember: people do not care that much about what you do. They are busy with their own projects and challenges and with worrying about what other people may be thinking of them.

3. Cultivate a healthy motivation habit.

Why does destructive self-talk thrive and continue? Well, because it has some upsides too. For example, by calling yourself various things, by beating yourself up you can spur yourself on to get things done and to keep going towards your goals.

But this way of motivating yourself is also destructive to your self-esteem and can make the path and journey towards the goal a lot heavier, less exciting and unhappier than it needs to be. And that is big problem since we spend most of our days on that journey.

So give yourself a break. Be kinder to yourself and talk back to yourself when those destructive thoughts pop up to spur you on. And find other, more healthy ways to stay motivated. Some examples of that would be:

• Remind yourself of the benefits. Write down the benefits you will get from following this new path or reaching a goal. Like for example getting into better shape and having more energy for your kids and the people close to you. Or making more money and through that being able to travel and experience wonderful new things. Save the list and put it somewhere where you will see it every day. This is a powerful way to reconnect with your motivation and reasons for taking action.
• Refocus on doing what YOU really, really like to do. When you really like doing something then the motivation to do it comes automatically (most of the time). And when you really want something then it simply becomes easier to push through any inner resistance you feel. So if you lose your motivation, ask yourself: Am I doing what I really want to do? If not and if possible, refocus and start working on that very important thing instead.
• Remember how far you have come and compare yourself with yourself. Comparing what you have and your results to what other people have and have accomplished can really kill your motivation. There are always people ahead of you. So focus on you. On your results. And how you can and have improved your results. This is important because it’s a great motivator to see how much you have improved and how far you have come.

4. Give yourself a break and think in percentages rather than always.

I sometimes hear that you should always be positive or always be winning or working towards your goal.

That may sound inspirational in theory. But reality is not ideal or perfect and neither are you and I. Life gets in the way sometimes. You may get in your own way. And sometimes you simply don’t have the energy or the courage or the time to do something.

And that is OK. Instead of trying to live up to some perfect image that other people and/or you may press upon you, choose to set human standards for yourself. Choose to give yourself a break when things don’t go as you may have wished and choose to cut yourself some slack. Instead of beating yourself up mercilessly.

One approach that works for me is to think more in percentages than absolutes and to set the bar for yourself a little higher than it is now. For example, aim at being optimistic roughly 75% of the time if you are optimistic 50% of the time now. Aim at taking action on your thoughts 60% of the time. Then raise the bar slowly over time – but not all the way to 100% – to both be able to improve and to be able to be kind to yourself.

And accept that you will make mistakes or have temporary failures a certain percentage of the time. Such is life. But of course learn from those things and avoid making the same mistakes over and over.

5. Change your input to things that are kind and constructive.

Destructive messages from the people around you or from people further away such as media, advertising and society in general does not help you to be kind to yourself.

So, bit by bit, replace them with other daily and weekly input.

It could be the encouragement of friends and family and the help from someone close who has been in a situation that you are in now.

It could be practical personal development books and blogs that helps you out with real solutions to the challenges you face and the goals you want to achieve.

It could be spending more time in nature and in silence to relax and recharge yourself.

Make more conscious choices about what you want flowing into your mind instead of just going along with same old habits.

6. Find what works for you.

We are not all the same and we have different needs. It is important to find what works for you to be able to be kinder to yourself.

This blog or I do not have all the answers. Obviously. So explore other books and blogs too to find the solutions you really need. Explore various options and try different strategies to find something that really fits you.

Also, look for a solution that seems appropriate for the level your challenge or problem is on. There is a difference between getting a bit nervous before a meeting at work or a date and having a big panic attack and feeling like you can’t breathe or are about to faint.

If you have a serious problem, then please seek professional help. The advice on this blog, for example, is for small or medium sized problems (at least as I experience it). If you have a really bad problem then the advice here or on other blogs or in books may still help you a bit.

But I still believe that best option in such situations is to seek professional help. Perhaps one on one counseling with someone with vast experience, someone that comes highly recommended.

7. Know why it is the smart choice to be kind to yourself and remind yourself of that regularly.

By knowing the reasons why it is smart to be kinder to yourself it, in my experience, becomes easier to be kind to yourself. It becomes easier to stop attacks from your inner critic by telling it that what it says is not a good way to motivate oneself. And it becomes easier to simply dismiss what the critic is saying.

By reminding yourself of the reasons such as better real-life results, more perseverance, higher self-esteem, more inner happiness and stillness, more positive relationships with yourself and other people it becomes easier to stay kind to yourself through life’s natural ups and downs.

Image by nattu (license).

“Tell me to what you pay attention and I will tell you who you are.”
Jose Ortega y Gasset

“Give whatever you are doing and whoever you are with the gift of your attention.”
Jim Rohn

Keeping your attention on what is most important in your life is one of the most essential ingredients if you want to be able to:

• Stick with your goals.
• Achieve what you want to achieve each day.
• Appreciate what you have in your life.
• Clearly see how you can use your time here in the best way.

Like with most things, this is something that is of course easier said than done. It’s easy to get distracted way too much and to feel overwhelmed, stressed out and spread out too thin.

But with some limits, with some barriers that keep much of the daily clutter out you can become sharp and focused once again. So let’s get started with that by establishing or reminding yourself of a few very helpful habits.

Write down your top 4 priorities. Post them where you see them every day.

To keep your attention in the right place it is essential to remind yourself every day of what is truly most important.

So what is most important for you this year? An important project at work? Your family? Improving your social life? Your blog, photography, soccer or debt?

Think about it and reduce what is important in your life to the top 4 most important priorities. Write those four things down and post them in your workspace or on your bathroom mirror or on your fridge.

Work in a no-distractions zone.

When you work then do not work in a place filled with unnecessary distractions. Instead take a few minutes and make a plan.

Ask yourself: what are the 3 most common distractions that keep me from doing my work in a focused way?

Figure out how you can prevent those things from distracting you. A few suggestions to help you limit your distractions are:

• Shut the door to your office.
• Shut down email, instant messaging programs and put your cell phone in silent mode for an hour or more at a time.
• If your place of work is busy and noisy use headphones with music or just noise canceling headphones without anything playing in them.

Having trouble sticking with it in that zone and to not start procrastinating or distracting yourself? Try using a timer – on your cell phone or use an egg-timer – and set it for 45 minutes. Then put in a drawer or somewhere where you can’t see it. During those 45 minutes dive in and immerse yourself in the no-distraction zone and your work until the clock rings.

This one works very well for me because I know that I do not have to stay focused and un-distracted forever. I just have to make an effort for 45 minutes and then I can do something else. If 45 minutes is too much at first then try a shorter time-limit.

Work with you have and use what you can from this list to make work much more distraction free.

Limit your input.

Reduce the number of blogs, newsletters, magazines, book clubs, podcasts, twitterers etc. you are subscribed too. Just keep the ones you are really getting something out of.

Limit your time in your favorite places online.

Many of us have favorite places where we get stuck online. It might be Facebook, Twitter, your favorite forum or just checking the paper many times each day. A couple of things that have helped me to not get too distracted by such places is to:

• Remove them from any favorites list in the browser. Easy availability makes it easy to go there when you want to escape. So make it a little harder to get there. I have noticed that if I have to type in the address to that site then I usually forget about it a lot more and I don’t jump in there whenever I am bored or feel like procrastinating. Instead, I tend to forget about the site for a day or several days. It is out of sight and out of mind.
• Use it in short bursts. After you have spent time working in your no-distractions zone you can relax or reward yourself with 5 or 10 minutes on your favorite website. If you can’t seem to be able to keep that time-limit then use the egg-timer or the timer on your cell phone to keep yourself in check.

Take a media- and internet-free day (or weekend).

I usually take at least one day during my weekend off from using the internet, reading the paper, checking my email and so on. That break helps me to better focus my attention on the most important things, to set clear limits between the workhours and the homehours and it helps me to relax and recharge myself so that I am more focused during the upcoming week.

Let the helpful sources influence you.

What you surround yourself with will be a big influence on you. Negative voices, people and media will drag you down and can easily redirect your attention on to the negative aspects of life.

Positive people, music, books, movies, quotes and surroundings etc. will on the other hand help you not just to keep your focus on what is most important and what is positive in life. They will also help you to broaden your horizons and let you discover things and aspects of life you may not have found or paid much attention to before.

If you found this article helpful, then please share it with someone else by using the buttons below. Thank you! =)

“The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.”
Flora Whittemore

“Move out of your comfort zone. You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new.”
Brian Tracy

It’s a brand new year and I am guessing that many have their New Year’s resolution enthusiastically in mind. But how can you make the resolution something that sticks rather than something that gets abandoned in a month or so?

Well, first, focus on just developing one habit or making one change at a time. And make sure that it is a change YOU want in your life and that you have your own reasons for making it. Trying to make a change because of what other people want rarely lasts and this is in the end your life to live.

With those two basic guidelines in mind, here are a handful of tips that have been most helpful for me to make positive and lasting changes in my life.

Do it in small steps.

What holds us back in our zone of comfort is often a fear that facing that fear head on all at once might be overwhelming. Or it becomes too uncomfortable and difficult to make a big leap and make a big change all at once and so in February that gym card gathers dust in your wallet.

Taking small steps is a solution to those problem. It allows you to stretch your comfort zone and slowly make it less uncomfortable and frightening.

• Become more social. Let’s say you want to be less nervous and awkward in social situations. To solve that you can take small steps. Steps like first just saying hi to people. And being more involved in conversations at work or in school to exercise your conversation muscles. After a while those things will feel more comfortable. And so you can expand your comfort zone a little bit more.
• Become more effective. You can start with just working 1 hour a day fully focused on your most important tasks in cone of silence (this means to shut out and shut off all distractions like the internet, the phone, the door to your office etc. as best you can). And then go back to your normal routine. The next week you can add an hour and work two fully focused hours a day. Step by step you build a more powerful habit that may feel uncomfortable at first.
• Create something new. When I was going to start making my own products I was hesitant. I was just used to writing blog posts and putting together a whole book seemed like fun but was definitely outside of my comfort zone. So I took a small step and put together a smaller e-book at first that I give away for free to new newsletter subscribers.
• Exercise. Run for just five minutes three times a week for the first week. Then during week two run for 10 minutes three times. Add 5 minutes of running at a time to slowly and more easily get comfortable with this new change.

By doing things this way you gradually desensitize yourself to social situations, to a new way of working or whatever you are uncomfortable with. You make it the new “normal” for you.

So, identify where you want to go or how you want to improve your life. Then make a plan with some smaller steps you can take to gradually lessen your discomfort.

Set the goal but focus on the daily process.

I for instance use this when I write and when I workout. I don’t take responsibility for the results in my mind. I take responsibility for showing up and doing my workout/writing X number of times per week. The results – I become stronger and the website/my products grow – come anyway from that consistent action. And this makes it easier for me to take action when I know that is all I need to focus on. Instead of using half of the energy and focus I have available on hoping that I “reach my goal real, real soon”.

Focus on the process and you will be a lot more relaxed and prone to continue than if you stare yourself blind on the potential results that never come as quickly as you want to and puts you on an emotional roller coaster from day to day.

Let other people help you out.

This is so important. Do not try to do it all alone. If you’re about to quit smoking ask others who have overcome the addiction what their best tips are. Do some research online and offline. This can save you pain, frustration and it can help you to keep going.

If you like you can also tell people your goals – face to face, via email, on Facebook or your blog etc. – to get accountability and motivation to take action. And/or you can find someone – an accountability buddy – who wants to make the same change that you want and that can make things easier.

Or you can just get an accountability buddy that has a New Year’s resolution of any kind. And then the two of you can check up on each other each week to make sure you are taking the practical steps forward and to encourage each other when you stumble.

Find a way that fits you.

Different things fit different people. It did for example take me quite some time of trying different ways to do cardio exercise before I finally found body weight exercises. And it did take me a while to find productivity habits that makes me very consistent and the same time kept stress down to a minimum.

Experiment and find what works for you and what fits your personality. This will make it a lot easier to stick to your positive change and develop a relaxed consistency.

Find ways to overcome the things that cause you to relapse into old behavior.

Stress may cause you to feel like smoking again. If so, find a few relaxation techniques that can help you. Worry may lead you to eating too much to feel better. If that is an issue that pops up for you then learn to reduce your worries in life. If you get stuck in inaction learn how to up your enthusiasm and motivation quickly or to just take action anyway.

Find ways to turn bad days or moments into something positive once again.

Use laziness to your advantage.

I’m kinda lazy. But I use that to my advantage by for example not having any sweets or cookies in my cupboards. I only have healthy stuff there. Since I may feel the craving for something sweet or a snack from time to time but I am too lazy to go to the store I wind up eating what I have at home. A simple habit that has helped me to improve my health.

I also know that I am too lazy to go to the gym or go out running three times a week. So I workout at home. This has helped me to have very good consistency.

Such small, invisible barriers can have a great impact on your daily life in the long run. Remove them or use them or to your advantage.

Use daily reminders in your environment.

I have written about this many, many times since it have found it very helpful for staying on track and making a change stick.

Simply write down your goal/new habit on paper and put it where you can’t avoid seeing it every day. Your fridge, bathroom mirror and workspace are such places.

Don’t beat yourself up when you slip.

You will most likely have a few bad days and fall flat on your face even if you follow the tips above. The important thing here is to not be too hard on yourself and keep on beating yourself up for a week. That could certainly lead to giving up altogether. Plus, it’s kinda pointless.

Instead, learn what you can from the experience so you don’t have to repeat it too many times. Then get back on the horse again the next day. And keep going.

Take one small step today to get the ball rolling.

Don’t get stuck in planning. Or thinking that you will get started tomorrow or next week. Get the ball rolling instead. Do that today by just taking one small, practical step towards what you want.

P.S: A big thank you to everyone who participated in the short survey before the holidays! I got a ton of great ideas for articles, newsletters and premium guides to create in 2012.

“No matter where you go – there you are”
Confucius

At the heart of what I like to call relaxed productivity there some destructive things you want to avoid.

One of them is the grey zone. It is a twilight zone of the mind.

The grey zone is basically when you are thinking and worrying about work when you are at home. Or when you are thinking about your home life and challenges there when you are at work.

Not a very uncommon habit. But why do you want to avoid it?

Three powerful reasons why I try to stay away from it as best as I can are:

• You become less effective. When you are stuck in thinking about your home life or your private life in some way or form at work then you are not fully focused. You are distracted and that impacts how well you can do you your work.
• You become less motivated and energetic. Being stuck in the grey zone sucks a lot of extra emotional and mental energy. It adds a lot of stress. And all of this often causes you to feel fatigued and your motivation to do something well or to explore new opportunities tends to sink like a rock.
• You might wind up with relationship troubles. One the most important things in any kind of relationship is to truly be there when you are there. To not still be at work in your mind when you are having dinner with your partner, playing a game with your child or hanging out with friends. Being somewhere else is one of those things that do not only annoy the people you are with but also can erode relationships.

Now, how do you go about replacing this habit with something better?

I recommend keeping the reasons above in mind as much as you can during your day. Being conscious about how this habit can damage your life is a good first step towards smarter habits.

A few more things that work well for me are:

1. Take a break every hour.

If you are never free from work for example, if you are never switching things up then your mind will naturally think about work, work, work all day long.

So to break the habit of being in the grey zone it is essential to first fully focus on work. And then to fully focus on relaxing and rejuvenating your mind and body. By focusing 100% on both work and rest each day it becomes easier to fully switch between these modes.

So I usually work for about 45 minutes. Then I take a 15 minute break and I do something totally different. I may take a short walk, eat a small snack, watch half an episode of the Simpsons or just lie down on the couch and read a book.

One thing that has worked well for me is to use a kitchen timer – or the timer on your cell phone – to make sure your work period or your rest period does not become too long.

2. No work after 7 o’clock in the evening.

When you work from home it is easy to start working too much or whenever you feel like it. This can however add stress, get you stuck in the grey zone or just make you spin in circles and get very little of importance done.

So I have set a limit and I do no work after 7 o’clock in the evening. This allows me to wind down after a day of work so that I can sleep well and spend my time with friends or my girlfriend and truly be there with them.

3. No work on weekends.

This is another way of dividing up your work zone and your relaxation or home zone. To be able to fully focus during the weeks and do your best you need slightly longer periods of rest and rejuvenation. Let your weekend be that time.

So if you can, shut off your cell phone.

I work online quite a bit during the weekdays, so during the weekends I often take at least one day when I do not go online at all. And during almost all weekends nowadays I do not check email or do other regular checks online. This certainly makes it easier to not think about work on weekends.

4. Have other important things to do.

By not working after a specific time in your day, by not working on weekends you will have more time when you are truly there with your family and friends. This will also, for example, help you to not feel guilty about not spending enough quality time with them and give you more time and energy to do awesome stuff together and to work on challenges or issues you and the other person(s) might be having.

And so by doing things this way you are also less likely to get stuck in the grey zone at work and think about something that is happening in your family or with a friend.

By setting the limits described above it becomes easier to do the mental switch between fully focused work, fully focused family/friend time and fully focused rest time.

By having important stuff in your life besides work like a hobby, a sport, the people around you and various adventures you can have together it also becomes easier to not get stuck in thinking about what you need to do tomorrow or on Monday at work.

Instead you can fully be where you are right now and recharge yourself. And that makes a big difference in the quality of your life both in the long- and short-term.

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