Mega List of Things That Actually Make Life Easier

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Life can get incredibly busy at times. We have all had that feeling at one time or the other of being on a relentless cycle of work and more work. Those are the times when you feel like balance between the different facets of your life is an elusive dream. You feel as if you are perpetually short of time for relaxation and are at a loss on how to make life easier. 

I can totally empathise with that. There have been several phases in my own life when I have had those exact same feelings. So over time and much brain wracking I put together a massive list of things that have helped me to actually make life easier. Today, I want to share this list of mine with you. But before we get started with the list, there are a few important thigs that I want you to remember:

• Remember that most busy phases are just that – “phases”. Even if you can’t see it now, know that they will come to an end.
• The list below is LONG! If you attempt doing everything on the list, then life will get more difficult not easier!! Everyone has different pain points that are making life difficult for them. The idea is that you pick only those solutions from the list below that will fix YOUR pain points at this moment in time. Essentially, be very contextual in your approach.
• For the purpose of convivence, I have segregated this list into four sections based on the typical problems that most of us are faced with. Naturally there will be some overlaps between the lists. For the sake of convivence I have repeated in each sections the points that overlap. That way you can get all you need to know by reading just the section that is relevant to you. 
• Lastly, I often get asked if money can make life easier. My categorical answer is a BIG YES. I am by no means a materialistic person. But I do recognise that money can enable us to live a fuller life, whatever a ‘full life’ means to each one of us. In the context of making life easy, money can be a big enabler by allowing us to buy things that can make life substantially easier. I am a big believer in spending money on such things whenever I can afford it. So, I have included a bonus area in each section to list out some of the things that I use in my own life to make life easier for myself.

Make life easier when you want to save time

1. Did you know that most of the time we loose can be traced to a lack of direction and the resulting indecision? So, the first thing to do to save time is to set clear goals that are achievable.
2. That brings me to the next thing you need to do, which is to define your priorities. By doing this, you can better assess how you want to spend your time, and make sure you are spending your time to deliver high quality output on high priority items that help you reach your goals.
3. Once you have your goals and priorities, be intentional with your time. That means that you will be very conscious of the way you spend your time and only spend time on the things that serve you or help you to meet your priorities. In leaving out the things that don’t add value you will end up saving a ton of time.
4. The other big time-saver cab had by planning, preparing and getting organised. I can’t repeat enough number of times how useful this is. It is mind boggling when you think of all the time that is lost due to unplanned bumbling around. 
5. Question things to see if there is a better way to do it. Believe me 95% of the times there is always a better and more efficient way of doing things. We all miss this better way because we just stick to old habits and ways of doing things and never stop to question anything. 
6. Spend money on things that save you time. This is one of the areas where money can make your life easier. For example, if you can afford it, you can pay somebody to clean your house. That will be an immediate saving of a couple of hours of time every week.
7. When we talk about spending money to save time, there is always a lot of debate about consumerism and materialistic lifestyle choices. What you need to understand here is the difference between conveniences and extravagances. Spend money on convenience as opposed to extravagance and you will end up saving time but not being too consumeristic. For example, managing your passwords is a job in itself. Signing up for a password managing service like Lastpass will save you loads time.
8. Don’t get into negotiations on the things that are not priority to you. You will be surprised at how much time that saves.
9. Simplify mealtime by planning ahead. When it comes to cooking half our time is spent in deciding what to cook and then finding the ingredients required. So, planning ahead for the week and prepping in advance will make a huge difference.
10. The amount of time we spend looking for things in the house is a huge time waster that we tend to overlook. Find a home for everything and make sure to put things back in their place once you have used them. 
11. You will be surprised at how much time is lost in the back and forth of setting up a meeting and trying to rearrange your calendar. When scheduling a meeting with somebody, always be the first one to suggest the time or place — don’t just ask, “When’s good for you?”
12. The other big time waster of our generation – email! We think that there is nothing to be lost by giving out our mail ID to anyone who asks for it. And before we know it we have a mountain of email which drowns the ones we need to see and also distract us from what needs doing. So, only give your email to people you want to hear from.

Bonus Section:

Make life easier when you want to get more done

1. Declutter your home and then establish household routines to maintain it as there is nothing that gets in the way of being productive as much as clutter.
2. Develop good routines especially create morning + evening routines as a day well begun and well ended will make sure that you are at peak productivity.
3. Declutter your clothes. A cloth purge is an absolute necessity if you want to make sure that you don’t spend precious minutes every morning figuring out what to wear.
4. Simplify mealtime. We touched on this in the earlier section too. Every single day we spend a big chunk of time in deciding what to cook and then prepping for cooking. Meal prep at the beginning of every week is your best friend here. It will free up a lot of time and allow you to get more done.
5. Goal setting is like the compass that makes sure you stay on track and don’t lose focus on activities that do not align with your priorities. Set clear goals that are achievable and track your progress against them so that you get more done of whatever is of higher priority to you and not spend time doing random activities.
6. Plan, prepare and get organised. This is foundational to getting more done. Whatever you wish to achieve your best bet for getting there fast is by doing thorough planning and being organised.
7. The amount of time we lose every single day by getting distracted is the biggest blocker to getting more done. Be intentional with your time. 
8. Create flow in your schedule. Once you have your goals set and have planned ahead on how to achieve them you need to get into the daily tasks required to accomplish those goals. Being at peak performance is the key to getting those tasks done fast. Having a motivational plan that puts you in a flow state will ensure that you are at peak performance.
9. Spend money on convenience as opposed to extravagance as they will allow you get more done. For example, a robotic vacuum cleaner will free up time you would have spent on cleaning just like how a dishwasher will free up the time you would have spent on doing utensils.
10. Don’t have a mail bin — deal with it as you get it. This is a quick win to get things of your list and will also help to keep you motivated.
11. Stop putting things off as that will invariably result in more time spent on sorting out the repercussions of the delay.
12. Learn to say no, often especially to the things that don’t align with your goals.
13. Let calls go to voicemail. It is not necessary to answer every single call especially when that will break your flow state.
14. Try to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. Do this even on weekends or days when you don’t have to work. You will be surprised at how much extra you can accomplish by doing this.
15. Don’t let decisions linger. You are never going to have 100% information before you can decide. You will accomplish a lot more with an imperfect decision as compared to waiting to have all the information before you decide.
16. Remember that everyone needs help from time to time and you will be able to do a lot more by asking for that help when needed.  
17. Focus on value not cost when looking to spend money on things that enable your goals. If something is bang for buck and you can afford it, then you should spend the money. That may be taking a course to learn a new skill you need or buying a tool that will help you to move faster or better.
18. Don’t reinvent the wheel. For every new task on hand ask yourself “What can you repeat from before?”

Bonus Section

Make life easier when you want to reduce stress

1. Do a “pain point audit” and identify the biggest cause of your stress. Spend time on this activity every month.
2. Simplify your finances as money and related issues are the biggest stress point for most of us. Put this area of your life in order first.
3. Put boundaries in place when dealing with the multiple relationships in your life.
4. Make peace with yourself. Be it guilt or low self-esteem recognise them and work on coming to terms with it so that you may move on.
5. Turn off all phone notifications. The context switching that notifications cause is like water wearing down a rock. Over a period of time the stress ads up. Have block of time every day where you turn of notifications
6. Follow fewer people on social media. Ask yourself if you really need to subject yourself to seeing the cool life that everyone and their cat is living. You do not really need the comparison on feeling of missing out especially when most of it is a pretence.
7. No TV in your bedroom. Your bedroom is a place to completely unwind and watching TV is not always unwinding. Have a space where you can have peace and quiet.
8. Pick the right person to marry as ending up with the wrong person for the wrong reasons is the biggest stress factor for many people.
9. Don’t fight for little things. Do fight for big things.
10. Focus your efforts on things you can control and learn to go with the flow about the rest.
11. Watch lots of comedy. Laughter is truly the best medicine.
12. Don’t screw people over — especially your friends. It will always come back to bite.
13. Let go of toxic people as they are the biggest drain on your positivity. Take a close look at who depletes and who uplifts you on a regular basis. It will then be easy to spot the ones who are chronically toxic.
14. Stop trying to please people. You can’t ever please everyone. You need to only worry about the people who matter to you.
15. Always be honest as dishonesty not only comes back to bite it can be very time consuming and energy depleting.
16. Practice patience as nothing in life was ever achieved overnight.
17. Make peace with slow progress as that too is a reality of life
18. Accept disappointment in life as it is humanly impossible to succeed in everything you attempt. What matters is that you don’t give up.
19. Practice gratitude as that is a good way to remind yourself of how blessed you have
20. Learn how to forgive others as anger is a heavy burden to carry.
21. Let go of control and allow others to take the lead every once in a while.
22. Practise the “pause”and take time to replenish yourself.
23. Declutter your home and then establish household routines to maintain it as clutter is the biggest creator of stress in our day-to-day life.
24. Develop good routines especially create morning + evening routines that make you feel in control and help you to make a happy/peaceful start and end for the day.
25. Declutter your clothes. If you are up to it go as far as a capsule wardrobe. There is nothing more therapeutic than having no clutter in this all-important area of your life.

Bonus Section

Make life easier when you want to improve your fitness & health

1. Look after yourself and budget time for health-related activities. This should never be postponed.
2. Take regular exercise. Aim for 30 minutes at least 5 days a week. This is the best habit that you will ever build. At a minimum the endorphins from exercise will ensure you have a feel-good day.
3. Eat healthy and plan your meals in advance so that you can make balanced choices.
4. Read the labels on the food you are buying. What you buy is going into you. Make those choices knowingly and wisely.
5. Don’t keep your phone in your bedroom. The sleep and health benefits of doing so are enormous.
6. If a place you’re going to is walkable, then walk there. Fresh air and exercise are the best friends of your mental and physical health
7. Practice self-love. Be kind to yourself.
8. The health benefits of sleeping well are manifold. The restoration that sleep provides in vital to maintain your health. Make sure you get 7-8 hrs of good quality sleep every day.
9. When it comes to health and fitness, God is in the routine and the little things done daily add up. So, make plans to build those habits.
10. Use phone apps to track and remind. They help in habit formation.
11. Have a YOLO (You Only Live Once) day. That in effect means a day when you will allow yourself to indulge on feel good food that may not necessarily be healthy or choose to be a couch potato or both. Any habit you form in relation to healthy eating or exercise cannot sustain in the long term without this.

Bonus Section:

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