you simplified handbook - 20103

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You, Simplified

Handbook for a Simpler Life

By Charley Forness yousimplified.net


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Table of Contents


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DISCLAIMER

Sorry, but I have to say this...I am not a physician. I am not a certified financial planner am not aprofessional organizer. I am merely another spiritual traveler on this human plane.

I've tried everything in this book and it has worked marvelously for me. Just understand that the

information in this book is meant for entertainment purposes only and should not be consideredfinancial or health advice. I share it with you so that you may pick and choose the parts thatresonate with you.

I am not a guru of any sort. I have my own daily obstacles that I do my best to attack diligently.

The bottom line is that youare the one person in the World who knows you best. You are acertified expert on yourself and your life.

As always, consult your physician before engaging in any new diet or exercise routine.

PUBLISHED BY SCRIBE FOR THE TRIBE PUBLISHING

Uncopyright 2010 by Charley Forness

All Rights Surrendered


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IntroductionI put together this little book for myself and any other readers like me whove longed for a moremeaningful life, outside the wheel that most of us find ourselves running on each day. I believethat life should be enjoyable and that we shouldnt be dreading each day as we wake. There areways to design the life you want. There are ways to clear the distractions so that you have theenergy and resources to create the life you want.

So, What's in the Book?

There are five major sections of the book, in order as follows

1. Life Design 101

Cleaning things up just for cleaning sake may help a bit with your sanity but the fact is that you'llfill up the empty space again unless you know what you want, exactly. This is the highlyintrospective part of the book, and being quite personal, you may have to work at one of thetoughest concepts known to humans...being honest with yourself.

It may be that you fill up your home and your time with mindless things because it helps keep yourmind off what's really troubling you...you yearn to lead a more authentic life. We'll dig in here withsome tools you can use to design your ideal life, and make it seem real to you as you learn to growinto this new role.


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2. Simplify Your Stuff

There really is quite a disparity in modern times between what most of us think we need to live andthrive versus what we actually need. We often can get by on much less that we currently have andwe find that it's much more manageable to care for our things that way.

This section will help define your possessions based on what you've determined in the first

Essential Area. I won't tell you what you have to get rid of, that can only be determined by you,but you'll get the techniques you need to make this process as simple as possible.

3. Simplify Your Commitments

Everybody has twenty-four hours in a day and time is your most precious capital. During these

lessons you'll assess how your spending your twenty-four hours and learn to align your tasks withyour goals and values.

You'll find that there are a lot of activities that don't really help you accomplish your goals. Like amaster surgeon, you will cut away the tasks that don't serve you.

4. Simplify Your Health

It does you no good to design a new life if you're not healthy enough to enjoy it. Of course, all ofthese concepts interlock, synergistically, so if you have little time and no equipment to work onyour health, well I've got some simple health hacks for you to give you all the functional strengthyou need.


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5. Simplify Your Finances

The steps to control your finances are actually quite easy. The follow through and perseverancecan be quite a different story.

Finance can be quite scary, and there are many financial pundits who paint it that way on purpose.If you make something complex, you create a need out there for experts to be able to help the

common folks like you and I.So, without further ado, lets get started.


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Life Design 101


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What Do you Want?

Seems like an odd place to start. Were trying to simplify our lives, right? Not complicate thingswith all this introspection.

Its pretty easy to identify what we dont want. I dont want my house to be cluttered, I dontwant to always be searching for my keys and my wallet. I dont want to feel so tired and sick all

the time. I dont want to keep running out of money before the end of the month. I dont want tofeel like Im always rushing around from one thing to another, always bumping up against the clock.

Okay, but what do you want?

This is hardcore life design and you are the architect.

That power can be enlightening, or it can be frightening. It means that, unfortunately, you have totake responsibility for where you are now in life. Yes, I understand that you may be a victim of atragedy that you had no control ofIm not trying to diminish that. Im talking about the everydaydecisions that we made a month ago or a year ago or a decade ago, they define our reality today.

Thats the bad news.The good news is that you can choose to make new decisions today which will drive your new realityfor tomorrow. Five years from now you can sit there with your new, totally awesome life and lookback on all of the decisions that were made to help bring this about. And thats a really greatplace to start.


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Why five years instead of one?

Anthony Robbins made an excellent observation several years ago in which, paraphrasing, he statedthat we generally over-estimate what can be accomplished in one year, and underestimate what canbe accomplished in five. With that being said, lets look at our lives five years from now anddecide what we want our lives to be like.

It helps to write out this new life in a journal. Some people like picture boards better, and thatsfine. Pick your favorite medium and really sit down, for a couple of hours or more, uninterruptedand work out your ideal life.

What do you do for money? What tasks do you do in your day job (if you have a job)?

What kind of business do you run (if you run a business)? Where do you live? Describe the climate, the neighborhood, your neighbors. What does your home look like, inside and out? What kind of vehicle do you drive? What kind of things do you own? What are your relationships like?

Who are your friends? Describe their lives as well. What do you do in your free time? What do you do for entertainment? What do you do to relax? What do you do for exercise?


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What do you look like?

What clothing do you wear? Are you at your ideal weight? Whats that look like? Describe your ideal day. Do you have children and a spouse? Describe them. What are your accomplishments? What are you planning for the next five years after that?

These are just some questions to get you started. Really, you want to describe in as much detail aspossible, your ideal life in five years. Yes, some of these things are out of your control. Youcannot magically transform your family or your neighbors. You cant impose your will on anyoneelse. But there is a lot you can do to bring yourself closer to this ideal picture.

(This next part sucks, but dont skip it because it will make the entire picture very enlightening).

Now answer those same questions about your reality, today. This picture is probably quitedifferent.

You may be pleasantly surprised that, for some of the questions, youre already at your ideal.

Great! Now you know where you are and where you want to be. Keep this picture handy because,for the rest of this book, were going to work on cleaning up the major areas of your life so you canmake room for your ideal life.


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Simplify Your

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tuff


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The Battle against the Bulge is something that Ive waged, on and off, for the last twenty years of

my life. Id go through periods of buying the shining things in the window, to dumping them for a

loss, then feeling like crap which was remedied by additional shopping. Shiny things in the window

still impress me today, but it took a fundamental shift in my thinking to change my relationship

about stuff. If we considered our relationships with people to truly be more important than our

infatuation with stuff, then we can declutter our homes in piece.

Your unused, unloved stuff is a symbol of the abundance in your life. Pass it along to someone who

could put it to better use. Those are the thoughts that should be remembered from this chapter.

If youre not approaching your decluttering in the manner, then perhaps youre not quite ready for

this step.

For those who are, the concept of simplicity is often reflected most strongly in scaling back the

stuff around their home. We consume gradually more and more as the years go on. Our holidays

are largely built upon additional accumulation. We often shop for shiny new things as a means to

bring temporary joy in our lives. We all know this at the intellectual level.We know that it takes physical space to store your things, and that the trend over the last fifty

years has been that weve had to increase the size of our homes to house our stuff despite the

fact that the size of our families has decreased in that time.


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We replace people and relationships with stuff.

Self storage units are a lucrative business these days, and as the Recession of 2009 has shown,

many folks are losing their too-big, too-expensive homes because we cant afford them any longer.

The good news is that you have a choice at any moment of your life. You can choose to bow out of

the consumerist rat race and scale back to a level of comfort and happiness, or continue down a

path of consumerism with no happy ending. Ive known former clutterers who made a decision at asingle moment in time and within weeks purged 95% of their possessions to become happy

minimalists. Others, like me, took several months to emotionally come to grips with it, and cull

down my possessions. Either is fine. You are you, and not me.

Was there ever a time when youve gone through a large decluttering exercise and not felt terrific

about the results?

We werent meant to be surrounded by mementos and junk.

Clutter is the manifestation of having more stuff than you can actively manage. Its stuck negative

energy. Be grateful for your abundance and then pass it along to someone else who may be readyto manage that particular item.

So, if youre at that point, then there are really only a few simple, but effective techniques that

you can use to clean up the physical distractions around you. Thats what this chapter is about.


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Realizing that there is a large disparity amongst people regarding the layout of their homes, well

try to address as many rooms as possible in a generic fashion.

The tools of the trade are as follows:

1. One or more boxes labeled Keep2. One or more boxes labeled Donate/Sell3. One of more boxes labeled Maybe4. One of more trash bags for actual trash

Take your tools and start with any room in your home. Start from one corner of the room and

assess every single object. Ask the simple question of each object, Do I really, truly needthis

object? If the answer is Yes, then ask yourself why? There should be a compelling reason in

that you need it for work, or it is a basic tool required everyday in your personal life. You may

allow some objects to remain that you also find absolutely beautiful, that take your breath away

each time you look at them, but be very careful. Allowing exceptions is what got you cluttered in

the first place.

So, if an object doesnt pass your rigorous questioning, it goes in the Goodbye boxes, or trashbags. Trash bags are truly for items that cant be of use if given to someone else. Ive often put

items out to the curb the day before trash day, uncovered, and theyll be picked up within minutes

by someone who can either sell the item for the metal content, or can put it to use themselves. If


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it doesnt go that way, and it cant be given to Goodwill or Salvation Army, then by all means, toss

or recycle it.The Goodbye box is for Goodwill etc. There are some of you out there who would rather take a

shot at trying to sell the items online or at a garage sale. By all means, do so, if you are so inclined.

For me, the monetary return is rarely worth the hassle, but thats just simply how Im wired. Id

rather spend the half hour to take it down to an organization that specializes in and would benefit

by, handling donations.

Then there are the Maybe boxes. This really shouldnt have a lot of items in it. You need to be as

quick and decisive as possible. Knowing that, even when I did this, I had some items that were

maybes, I suggest sealing those boxes up and dating them one year into the future. I use a year

because I live in a four-season climate, and it is reasonable that in a year, you will go through allthe stuff you need that may be seasonal in nature (Im looking at you, Turkey Carving platter!).

Clothing

Ive put some items on their own to talk about, including clothing here. There are certain items

that we find particularly hard to scale back on. For many of us, we have it ingrained that ourclothing defines us, and we are all guilty of occasionally judging people based on their appearance.

We hold on to clothing because it reminds us of a different time in our lives. We hold on to

clothing in the hopes that we may fit into it again someday. We hold on to clothing because we are


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afraid to admit that we fell in love with and wasted money on something at the store that really

doesnt look good on us.Unfortunately, holding on to these things makes us more miserable as they are constant reminders

of failure and regret.

First, have an idea in your mind about what you want your look to be now. Not having a vision in

mind means that you really dont know what youre assessing your clothing against.

For me, I wanted a few nice, classic pieces for dressing up at work three days per week and some

comfortable pieces for casual days at work the other two days of the week. I enjoy basic colors,

know that brown does not look good on me, and that everything should be easy to clean and press.

Im also a runner, so I needed at least two sets of running clothes, and some cold weather runningclothes too. I have no problem going out to run in the snow. In fact, its quite refreshing.

Im also an occasional performing musician/poet so I like to make sure my dress shirts look good

with casual jeans.

And Im a die-hard Buffalo sports fan with season tickets to hockey and lacrosse, so I have ajersey for each and a couple sweat shirts.

I like comfortable footwear, but dont like a lot of choices. I dont any jewelry or watches. Cell

Phones tell time just fine for me.


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With this vision in mind, it made it easier to go through my clothing.

Next, there are a few extra questions that youll want to ask yourself as you assess each item inyour closet and your drawers, as follows:

1. Does this fit me? - Dont let your subjectivism take a role here, literally try on theclothing. If it doesnt fit you, get rid of it. It doesnt matter if youre in the throes of a

successful weight-loss campaign. When you hit your ideal weight, treat yourself to some newclothes.

2.Do I feel comfortable wearing this? Some items fit but are rather uncomfortable. Everyrunning race I enter, there is usually a t-shirt given to the entrants. The shirts are nearlyalways scratchy and uncomfortable. Ive also dumped shoes that look terrific, but were

horrific when trying to get through a work day with them on.

3.Does it need repairs? If it does, set it aside to be repaired immediately. If youve beenholding on to the broken item for awhile, then take it to a seamstress. The cost will beoffset by the convenience of finally having it done. If youre not going to get to it now, then

get rid of the clothing.


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4.Do I have too many similar items? You dont need seven pairs of jeans. I dont care ifyou wear them every day of the week. You can get a couple wearings out of jeans beforethey need to be washed.

5.Whens the last time I wore this? - If the answer is longer than a year, then get rid of it.

6.Does this item easily match several items in my closet? If you really can only match theitem to one other thing in your closet, its probably not something you should keep. Mixing

and matching outfits is the best use of your resources. Even with suits (I own one black suit)

several of your shirts underneath should match. If you wear accessories, they too should

match most of your outfits.

7.Does this item fit into the vision I have of myself? Your jeans jacket from high schoolmay be classic, match all of your casual clothes, and you wore it to the Bon Jovi concert (I

cant believe theyre still touring and making music) last summer, but if it doesnt match the

vision that you are designing for yourself, then it may be time to pass it along.

Chances are that a lot of your clothing wont pass this seven question test but think how much

better you will feel with a closet that is preened, leaving only the best of the best for you to

choose from every day.


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Books

Books are one of the toughest categories for most people to pare down. We like to display our

books to show what our interests are, and how smart we are. The truth is, that most people

visiting your home dont care. Ive never had a visitor comment on any of the books on my

bookshelf except to say, wow, youve got a lot of books.

Still, this is another particularly thorny category for me. I read a ton of non-fiction but very

little fiction. If I read two novels a year, thats a lot. But Ive historically had hundreds of

non-fiction books. Ive reasoned that, as a writer, I may need to go back to these books some

day for research. The truth is that Ive rarely, if ever gone back to a book for research. Ive

waged war against my books in recent months with a couple of simple hacks to cull down my

collection.

1. When I read a non-fiction book, I take notes now (usually electronically. Yes, this slowsdown the reading process but it significantly increases my comprehension, plus I have the

best parts of the book on file for later research.


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2. I also look to see if a book is available at my library. I dont know why I am alwaysshocked to find out that my library has so many books. Ive rarely found a case where itdidnt have one that was in my home.

As a side note, its common advice that you should donate your books to the local library, and

then you can go check them out again if you need them. Ive donated hundreds of books over

the years and have never, ever found that theyve kept one in circulation. They sell them to

raise funds. Library editions of books are sturdier, and so most of the books you purchase

wont pass the test for a library to keep.

3. I look to see if the book is available on the Kindle. Im loathe to write about technologybecause of how quickly it changes from year to year. But as 2009 closes out and I am

writing this, I often use my IPOD Touch with the Amazon Kindle application to read

electronic books. The downside is, on the IPOD, its difficult to flip to a specific page in

the book, however, you will save a ton of room by keeping most or all of your library on the

IPOD Touch and its awesome for when you go on vacation and you dont have to pack a

bunch of books to take with you.


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So, if you really love a book, and its hard to find, and you intend to read it again, then its worth

keeping.Music and Movies

Seriously, there is no better time we find ourselves in than the digital age, which allows us to

store most of our entertainment in bits and bytes. The audio CD is going the way of the dinosaur,

and for good reason. How many times have you purchased a CD because you heard a great song onthe radio, only to find that the rest of the CD largely sucked? For me, I admit that Ive made

that mistake hundreds of times.

In the digital age, you can preview an entire album and pick the one or two songs that you really

like for a couple dollars. Why bother storing the rest? Its clutter otherwise.

Ditto with movies. Though I have several DVDs, Ive largely disposed of the cases. And if Im

honest with myself, Id realize that I only watch the same dozen or so each year. The great news

is that movies can also be stored digitally and many computer systems have as good of a sound and

video system as todays Televisions. Your favorite TV programs can often be found on sites like

Hulu.com without all of the commercials.

Who knows what tomorrows technology may bring? Im in the middle of a one year experiment

with my CD collection. Ive ripped all of the songs (not full albumsagain, who needs the filler

toons?) that I like to MP3 and boxed up the physical CDs several months ago. In that time, Ive


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grabbed two for my car because I dont have an MP3 hookup in my 2003 Jeep Wrangler (paid off

long ago, and still less than 60,000 miles on it). By the time I am ready to buy my next car, suchthings will be standard.

Collections of Doohickies

I wont spend much time on this, except to say that we often think that other people are

interested in our collections but the fact is that their interest level rarely is worth the effort oftaking care of your collections. I dont know too many people who enjoy dusting things. In my

teens, I was an avid sports-card collection. But trying to move that stuff around sucked and a few

instances of water in the basement ruined my whole collection.

I dont collect anything any longer. I wont say that you should do the same, but you certainly

should assess whether the items are worth taking care of.

Paper

Amazing how printers were supposed to save us from paperyet were inundated with more and

more every day. This historically has been another issue of mine. Between the health papers for

my children, the receipts for the apartments we own, and a cabinet full of research articles, Ive

almost always had paper everywhere. It is still something I must keep a watchful eye on.

With a good all-in-one Printer/Fax/Copier/Scanner theres really no need to have a lot of paper

around. You can scan everything electronically and throw away the originals. The only originals you


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need to keep around are items that have legal signatures on them, such as Birth Certificates,

Promissory Notes, Social Security Cards etc. These can fit in a small fireproof safe.I still err on the side of caution with tax receipts. I can scan them and box away the originals for

seven years. I personally worry about being audited with all of the properties so I still hold on to

those boxed originals.

If youre going to scan, have at least two backups. Thumb drives typically easily hold 16 gigabytesor more at the time of this writing and are expanding all the time. You can also keep a copy of

them online at Google Docs. An external hard-drive is nice but can be a bit overkill as they

typically run over 500 gigabytes (again, at the time of this writing, but increasing in size all the

time).

So, weve covered the most common areas of clutter. The techniques and thought processes can

work for any of your other trouble areas (i.e. kitchen gadgets). Once you have your stuff under

control, we can move on to simplifying your time management.


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You, Simplified

Simplify Your Commitments


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In this chapter were going to cover editing your time commitments. Many of us have a multitude

of commitments we have in our schedule every week; the PTA meetings, drinks with friends orcoworkers, Rotary Club, adult softball league, playing soccer mom or soccer dad etc. Which of

these play an important role in the life youre trying to design? If youve identified family as

critically important then playing soccer mom/dad may be on the important list. To someone else it

may not.

For me, my baby triplets are incredibly important to the life I am designing. Their needs will

generally come before mine but as a parent, I will set limits on after-school activities. That is not

only my right but my obligation to them to help control their time commitments till they are old

enough to do that for themselves.

Theres no magic trick to evaluating this. Basically, you need to list out all of your recurringcommitments on paper. This list even includes the work-related commitments. If you have the

ability to decline regular meetings at your work, youre often better off. Very little gets done in

most corporate meetings. But I understand perfectly that much of the time,

I speak from a decade of experience working my way up as an executive for a Fortune 500

company. Ive taken some time management classes at work over the years, for more than one

company, and they typically speak to our tasks as one of four types:

1. Urgent But Unimportant2. Urgent and Important


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3. Unimportant, Not Urgent4.

Important but Not Urgent

Its not uncommon that we spend much of our day in the first category, taking care of whatever

fire drill that comes across our desk that, when accurately assessed, really isnt very important

for whatever Project youre working on.

In our personal lives, we experience much of the same, while also spending a good deal of time inthe third category.

When I first saw the four categories, I thought that it was best to spend your time on the Urgent

and Important. Of course that ignores the fact that, with proper planning, few tasks, if any,

should get to the Urgent stage. The reality is, though, that many times, someone else is giving you

work that theyve been given which is already in the Urgent and Important category.

It should be obvious that we want to spend most of our time in category 4, with some time

inevitably spent in category 2. With proper planning and a rigorous screening system, there is no

reason we cant design our days to concentrate our time in the Important But Not Urgent.

Time Tracking for One Week (Including the Weekend)

If you go to see a nutritionist to improve your diet, one of the first things they will ask you to do

is track what youre eating over a typical week. They want to know everything that goes into your

mouth. Its a pain to track, but its very enlightening. We talk in the Finance chapter (later in this


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book) about tracking every penny that you spend for a month so that you have an accurate picture

of what youre doing with your money.Why wouldnt we do this with our time?

If we want to know where the heck our day has gone, the only way to get to the bottom of it is to

track every minute. Okay, maybe thats too much, but you could and I have.

A better idea is one that I will borrow liberally from the corporate environments Ive worked for.

For Billing purposes, we track our work day down to fifteen minute blocks for tasks associated to

projects. For example, on a Monday, I might attend three hours of planning meetings (one hour

each for Projects A, B and C), spend an hour and forty five minutes working on writing Business

Requirements for Project A, reviewing design documents for Project B, and four hours reviewingtest cases for Projects. Oh, and you managed to squeeze a lunch, two coffee breaks and four

bathroom stops in the other fifteen minutes.

Each of those work tasks gets billed against the budget or either Projects A, B or C, so its

important to accurately track that.

Pretend for a moment that youre a contractor and every task in your life gets billed against a

project. You have a Project for sleep (it would be soooo awesome to get paid to sleep!) a project

for watching TV, a project for grooming, a project for eating, a project for shopping, a project for

yard work, a project for managing the family budget, a project to bill PTA Meetings against etc.

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Track everything you do in fifteen minutes blocks (dont be like my lawyer who makes phone calls

for three minutes and then bills me for an hour). You will likely have two to three dozen projects

in a given week.

If you total all the time against each project, youll have an accurate picture of what tasks you

currently give most importance to in your life. You may be surprised as to how much TV you watch,

but if its five times more oftenmthan youre allocating to exercise then its clear, whether

intentional or not, that you feel TV is the more important of the two.

I think its more effective if you can do this for a month, or even pick it up as a permanent task.

It has been written that multi-functional genius, Buckminster Fuller, kept a short journal account

for every fifteen minutes of his waking life for decades. It can be done, yes it takes a bit of time,

but it is extraordinarily helpful if you feel like youre spinning your wheels and getting nothingdone.

If youre only tracking time for one week, still take into account those less frequent meetings such

as the monthly Rotary club meeting. You need all of those time obligations written down so that

you can assess them one by one against your new vision for Life Design.

We all have exactly twenty four hours in a day. Whether youre a highly productive individual, or a

lump on the couch, you still fill up those twenty four hours with tasks. Sitting on the couch

vegetating is a task, as is attending your fifth daily planning meeting to plan the next five daily

planning meetings. These are all tasks that take a spot in the sphere of your twenty four hours.

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When you have your list of tasks that take up each day, you have the ability to barter with new

tasks that follow your new life design. Watching five hours of TV each day? How about

exchanging that with one hour of learning Spanish for your trip to Spain, two hours writing a book,

one hour exercising and one hour of intimate time with your spouse / significant other?

This is where I have to bow out with my personal opinions. Only you can assess how youre spending

your time. Its not up to me to judge whether your tasks are essential or not. If you run a blog

about Pop culture, spending five hours a day watching TV may be an essential task. For the rest of

us, its an opportunity to trim things down so that we can fit in new tasks that support our Life

Design.

Extending the metaphor of billing by project, lets take a look at each of your primary values as

you defined at the beginning of the book. Each one of those can be considered a major project foryou to bill your tasks against. For example, I had the following major values when I evaluated mydaily tasks:

Devotion to Family (6) Being creative (5)

Creating Freedom (4) Financial Security (3) Increasing my knowledge (2) Health (1)

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The numbers in parentheses indicate the value of the project. The higher number means its morevaluable and the numbering is limited by the number of tasks you have. Stay with me, this makessense when we start scoring everything.

You may have more or fewer values, but for me this was sufficient to work with. I would notsuggest having too many more important values that this as youll be risking spreading yourself toothin. Also, the task list is ordered in level of importance.

With your list of tasks in hand, you would then assign each task to a project. If a task doesnt fitinto a project, then they get a score of zero and those are the first to decide whether to cut outor not. If you are heavily resisting removing a task, then try to assess what value that taskpertains to. You may just need to re-assess what Values you have and add or substitute in a newone.

Once you have your tasks assigned to a project, its time to assess the importance of each task.Does the time and effort involved to do this task yield significant value? Assign a value based onthis of 1 10, 10 being the most valuable tasks.

So hopefully this is a little clearer now. Youll see for each Project you will have a bunch of tasks

listed. Each Project is labeled in terms of importance as is each task. If you multiply the value ofthe task by the value of the project youll have a scoring for everything that you do each day.

A task can fit into more than one project. i.e. finishing project plan by due date, would rank highin Devotion to Family, Health, possibly financial security (at least in the interim) and perhaps evensome of the other categories based upon the trickle down effect of not completing that task.

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Maybe if you dont finish the project plan your job is in peril and as such, so is your perceivedfinancial security (no paycheck and you have nothing in the bank), your devotion to family (nomoney for food, clothing and shelter).

The point is that your answers are completely subjective and are based on your currentcircumstances. You dont benefit from this unless youre completely honest in assessing everythingin your life.

So, obviously, your highest scoring tasks are the ones you should be building around. And yourlowest value tasks can go under scrutiny. If you cant find one task that can be cut, then there isnothing you can do for your schedule. Youve decided everything is essential and valuable. I wouldthink that even in your most important project, there are some low-value tasks that you canremove. This just creates a bit of space for you. The time freed up has to be attached to new

tasks or extending the time you spend on the remaining tasks. It also allows you to start new tasksthat are in line with your primary values.

There are a few other tips that Ive incorporated in my life that are extremely simple and easy tooperate. I do not advocate complex systems, or even electronic systems. If youre looking forsomething clever like that, there are many better places on the internet. I dont believe that one

should have to spend a lot of time managing their system, and I see way too many people getcaught up in their systems. If you have a system that works for you, then terrific keep doing it.

In order to manage to dos you need the ability to capture information and process it. It is a lotsimpler than most people make it out to be and if you only do the few steps below, you will be milesahead of 99% of the world who are reactive instead of proactive with managing their tasks.

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Capture It

First, you need the ability to capture any idea or thought that needs tracking. This is forreminders to pick up the milk, to new blog ideas, to reminders to call back Joe on that assignment.It is a capture for anything you need to remember. For me, its simply four to five index cards heldtogether by a tiny binder clip. Thats it. It goes where I go. One of the cards is my list of Tasks todo today for Work, one similarly for home. And the other two or three are for any other ideasthat come in my head. Never lose an idea. I swear, by this alone, practiced over several months,will do wonders for you. You will inevitably have a brilliant idea or two.

Some people like to use a micro-recorder, or note taking software on a PDA. The fact is that anySmart Phone on the market these days can do both. If thats your preference, then do it. Ivetried it out a few times with Remember the Milk on the IPOD Touch and AK Notepad on the

Motorola Droid. I prefer pen to paper and I quite enjoy the act of writing. Its sacred meditationin its own right. Whatever capture mechanism you want to use is perfectly fine, but the simplerthe better.

Process It

You then have a need to process the thoughts youve captured. Do they go on your work to do list?How about the one for home? I have another notebook devoted slowly to blog article and bookideas. The notebook is big enough that I couldnt carry it around in my pocket, but it is the one-stop storage place for my writing ideas. If I have an article idea written on my index cards, it getsentered into this notebook as an article waiting to be written. I might then have a to do task towrite an outline for the article idea.

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If its as simple of a thought as, we need butter, then it gets entered on a grocery list at home.

The important thing is to not have too many homes for these things, but some are probablynecessary. You could only work off your index cards but if you didnt institute a strict first in,first out policy, then you run the risk of having a three inch thick pack of cards in your pocket.

Single Tasking vs. Multitasking

This is a popular topic for productivity gurus. Unfortunately, the recommendations are all over themap, as is the definition of Multitasking. True multitasking is difficult to do. You really cant

write a book while having a conversation on the phone. You can write for thirty seconds, stop to

talk, then pick back up and write again. These are really serial tasks. The problem is that stopping

and starting different tasks too often is highly inefficient.

Its been proven that batching similar tasks together into time blocks is the most time efficient.

This means that you combine all of your emails into a single one hour block. You do all of your

research in a separate block. You batch your phone calls all together as well. This helps you get

more done. But more done is not necessarily the goal. Its getting the important things done,

and nothing further.

Mary Kay of network marketing fame was a proponent of writing down six things on an index card

each day as a To Do list and nothing further. In contrast, Leo Babauta, writer of the Zen Habits

blog, advocates completing only the two or three most important tasks each day. The number

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doesnt matter so much, as there will be days in your life that are busier than others. I try to

stay between the two and six, but if there is a day when there are ten things on my list, I try to

take the time to understand why.

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Simplify Your Health

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Ive had many gym memberships over the years, and Ive also trained for and run a couple halfmarathons, as well as the debacle that was the 2008 Buffalo full marathon (I was one of the last

dozen people off the course). I used those situations to really challenge my body, in the hopes ofimpressingI really dont know who. Being able to run a marathon is overkill for everyday cardiojust as spending hours in the gym is overkill for functional strength.

The fact is that it really doesnt take much to get into functional shape.

Functional shape means how it sounds. This is the fitness level you need to be in to be able toprotect yourself in modern society. Your definition of this may differ based on your personalcircumstances, but for the sake of argument, this really means being able to propel your ownbodyweight, swim a few hundred yards or run a half mile to safety, or being able to quick burstsprint away from immediate danger.

There are several small workouts that you can space throughout the week, none taking more thanfive minutes to accomplish that will provide you everything you need.

While I still spend six months out of the year training for the Buffalo Marathon, in my off months,I engage in one of any of these five minute workouts, several times per week.

Five Minute Strength Workout

One Minute of Stomach CrunchesTwo Minutes of Hindu PushupsThree Minutes of Hindu Squats

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These are all fast-action exercises and there is no reason you cannot whip out 25 50 repetitionsof each. If you do only this five minute workout daily, you will be utterly amazed at how much

stronger you feel after two weeks.

Its difficult to document how to do a Hindu Pushup or Hindu Squat in an eBook, so I highlyrecommend checking out YouTube for some prime examples. It will be worth the ten minutes ofresearch to learn how to do it right. I find that the Hindu Pushup, in particular, is vastly superiorto the regular pushup and the Hindu Squat is terrific for lower body explosive functional power.

Five Minute Stretch

I prefer Yoga, and will talk about it the next chapter where I give a compelling argument as to whyit is very beneficial for Men and for Women. However, picking five or so simple stretchingexercises is all you need. Knowing the basic poses helps a lot, and you can learn all about them onYouTube. I usually work with the Cat and Dog poses, the warrior pose (for Balance) and someTables and Backbridges. By all rights, I should work on an exercise video, but that will waitsomeday till I can borrow a video camera.

Five Minute Cardio

There are two things that you can do here, each terrific for quick cardio gains.

1. Jump Rope for Five Minutes2. Do Hill Sprints of about 100 meters, five seven times and a 20 degree or less incline, jogging

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back down the tract to your original starting position.3. Five minutes straight of swimming laps (either indoors or in open water)

Hill sprints build power and speed, and nothing gets your heart moving like jumping rope. Again,dont make the incline too steep. Its challenging enough that its not flat ground but gentle enoughthat youre not popping your knee out of place.

Thats it, people. Its not rocket science. Youre building functional strength, not a rocket to the

moon.

How I Implement It

The Five Minute Strength workout can be done nearly anywhere that there is open room on a floorto do so. I generally do this in the morning, either before I shower or just after. Its a great pick

me up for the day. I will do this workout daily, occasionally taking a weekend day off, but there isno reason to. It becomes part of the morning ritual just as showering, shaving, and brushing yourteeth. The Five Minute Cardio workout happens less frequently, perhaps one to two times a week,often as a warm up before marathon training.

The Five Minute Stretch is a nice pairing before or after my meditation, and I try to do this a

couple of times per week, or more as needed. While we have an exercise mat, I rarely take thetrouble to roll it out and use it. I find the carpet in my home works just fine.

If you dont have five minutes each day for these, then find a minute, or thirty seconds. Anythingis better than nothing at all.

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Nutrition

This is perhaps the most confusing area of all due to the myriad of conflicting information thatsout there about what to eat. Ive come to realize that there is a reason why there are so manydiets out there and why they all work for some people, and dont work for others. Its because weall have different genetics and come from different ethnic backgrounds. Theres a reason whyIndian food, despite how yummy it is, always takes a toll on my body.

Its because Im Scottish, German and Italian, and in my own little personal laboratory, Ive provenday in and day out, that my body reacts best to those ethnic foods. So, while I want sit here andadvocate a specific diet (i.e. vegetarian vs. meatatarian) Id suggest looking into the foods thatyour recent ancestors ate, especially if youre having trouble with your current diet.

By recent, I mean in the last few hundred years. The primal eaters camp would have you believethat 10,000 years ago, all humans were hunters and gatherers who ate largely the same thing.There really isnt evidence to support that. There is more recorded history by culture in the lasttwo hundred years, so its better if you research your ethnic foods on Google in that manner.

Aside from that little tidbit, I have some tips on how to eat, that will prove helpful no matter

what your ethic diet.1. Drink 1 2 large glasses of water about ten minutes before you eat, and then do not drinkanything during or after dinner (for one hour). The water helps you feel fuller, thus preventingovereating. A piece of fruit can do the same. Not drinking while eating or for an hour afterprevents you from diluting the important digestive juices that help break down your food.

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2. Eat Slowly Masticate your food. Allow the fact that your mouth naturally produces salivaryamylase to digest your food to become your ally. I suggest chewing each bit of food 20 25 times

before swallowing. It takes your brain about twenty minutes from the start of eating to realizethat your body is not hungry anymore. So, eating slowly helps you get to that twenty minutethreshold with less food.

A decade ago, in my searches, I read a rather famous authors book who claimed it was best to eatalmost exclusively meat, gulping it down in one or two bites so you can give your stomach a workout.He also advocated purchasing an herbal concoction, not sold in the United States, which would helpyou eliminate your waste since eating an all meat diet would bind you up. Does any of that makesense? Should I need a special exotic tea to go to the bathroom?

It didnt stop me from trying it. The tea was god-awful tasting, took ninety minutes start to finish

to brew, and all I got for my efforts was indigestion and operative hemorrhoids. Decidedly un-simple. Lesson learned, and I have only myself to blame. I was pleased to find that eventually thisdoctors work and reputation were discredited as I feel that his recommendations were dangerousstuff, to say the least.

3. Turn off the Distractions Try to stay away from eating while reading or watching TV. When

distracted like that, its easy to forget how much youre eating. Yes, I realize that makes SuperBowl parties and Movie Night kind of lame, but you can allow yourself these exceptionsoccasionally, as long as you realize the potential that you may overeat.

4. Be mindful of food combinations during a single meal. Despite the side note in point number 1above, it is ok to have a meal completely composed of meat. Eating meat and starches (grains,

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fruits, vegetables) in one meal can have explosive implications for many sensitive stomachs. Ifyoure reasonably healthy, keep on doing what youre doing, but if youre having regular stomach

issues, I would try out the following rule for a month.

If you are a meat-eater, eat meats exclusively as a meal. Then balance it by having one to twomeals of only starches at different times of the day. Due to the fact that your digestive systemreacts differently to each, it can be quite painful to combine the two, as we are accustomed to inmodern culture where food Is much more plentiful for most of us.

If youre a vegetarian, then I admire you greatly, and Ive dabbled here and there in vegetarianismover the years, only to find myself craving chicken wings and sliding back into the StandardAmerican Diet. For you, I suggest separating out vegetables and grains with a single meal, andfruits by themselves with a separate meal. Proteins like Eggs and Dairy (if you are Lacto-ovo)

should again be a separate meal.My best health has followed prolonged periods of minding my food combinations.

5. The Mini-Fast I highly suggest mixing in a Mini-Fast as often as once per week ofapproximately 24 hours. This isnt as difficult as it seems, and once you do it a few times, you will

get used to it, and even look forward to it. All you need to do is start after dinner one night, anddo not eat again till dinner the following night.

You are allowed water, green tea, or my favorite, the Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar Cocktail. Butapart from that, refrain from any other foods.

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The Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar cocktail is normally taken twice daily (morning and evening). Therecipe is as follows:

2 tsp. Apple Cider Vinegar1 tsp honey (I use dark raw organic honey, local if available)8 oz water, room temperature if possible

Relaxation

Finally, for relaxation, Ive about given up on a good nights sleep with infant triplets in the house.Sleep is the most important, restorative form of relaxation. My body is adjusting but I do feel thestress when I have to get up a couple of times each night to feed the babies in turn. Someday, Ishould be able to resume to the standard 6 8 hours needed of sleep.

Get your sleep, and make sure your bedroom is conducive to sleeping. You shouldnt havetelevisions, stereos, or bookcases in your bedroom. It should be free of electronic gadgets andother distractions. You use the bedroom to either sleep or have intimate time with your mate.

Apart from a good nights sleep, I highly recommend working in a few minutes of meditationeveryday.

Five minutes of meditation I can fit into my schedule. I always fit this in once a day, whether Ihave to hide in a bedroom, or in my car at the parking garage near work. I have a meditation timerprogram on my phone, which counts off the five minutes for me, and wakes me from mymeditation.

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Five minutes buys peace of mind, and you dont need to get overly spiritual about it if you are notinclined. Just find a quiet place to sit comfortably, close your eyes, and concentrate on your

breathing. Thats all you need for simple meditation.

We all know that stress is generally bad for you. There are good types of stress, such as thatwhich, when overcome, makes you stronger, smarter, happier etc. The bad stress is the stuff weinternalize, when we let things worry us that we really shouldnt; when we worry about things thatmay never happen. Its easy to say dont let the stress get to you, but much harder to do inpractice.

So relieve the stress regularly by treating yourself right. Book a regular massage, or Reiki session.Go to the spa once a month. Spending some money on relaxation is only beneficial (DISCLAIMER This is not a license to engage in Retail Therapy!).

With that being said, lets go on to the Chapter about Simplified Finance.

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Simplify Your Finances

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Theres nothing simple about finance, you think. It can feel that way, much of the time. Cable TVhas several dozen channels of financial pundits who preach every manner of the spectrum and rare

it is that any two of them agree. This means that, whatever you do, youre wrong in someones book.

I am not a financial expert and I will never claim to be. I will say that Ive had one goal since 2003,when I bought my first investment property, and that was to be able to build a monthly residualincome that could some day replace my unpleasant day-job income as I transition into designingthe life of my dreams. So, I cover the basics here before presenting my financial plan. Again, thismay not work for every person in the world, but it should get your creative juices flowing to createyour own plan. The point is to try to take charge where you can with your finances.

Give Some Money Away

What?

Im up to my eyeballs in debt and you want me to give some money away?

Yes, I do, quite seriously. If youre approaching your finances with a sense of lack, with a sense ofhopelessness, then your turn-around is doomed from the start. Pick a sum, whether its $20 or$100 and give it away. Be a better tipper, give to the Salvation Army collection posts at holiday

time, give ten bucks to a homeless person, donate to your favorite charity, whatever. Just do atleast one thing to break the pattern of feeling like theres not enough.

AND DONT SKIP THIS STEP!

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Build an Emergency Fund

Protect yourself against the inevitable emergency with some money in short term savings to softenthe blow. That amount differs based on your circumstances. For the college student, it may be$200, enough for an emergency ride home, or to cover unexpected school supply expenses.

When the student graduates and takes his first job, it may be $500 $1000. When married andwith family, it should never be below a thousand.

This money is for an emergency only, not a, we could really use a new mattress fund. Once theEmergency fund is in place, its on to step 2.

Bad Debt, Bad

Basically, I am talking about the credit card balances and the personal loans. Youve made mistakesin the past; Ive made mistakes in the past. Own up to it and address it. You need far less income ifyou dont have monthly credit card and loan bills. It makes it a hell of a lot easier to jump ship andstart anew with your life design when you arent giving away your money to the finance companies.

You need to break free of the psychological chains of debt.

The best psychological (not necessarily mathematical) way to do this is to line up your consumerdebts from lowest to highest and write down the minimum monthly payments. Take the smallestdebt and find some way to pay extra money on the minimum each month until it is paid off.

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A variation on this is to attack the debts in order of what bothers you the most. For example, ifyour jet ski loan makes you sick, especially since you never use it, then perhaps you should pay that

loan off first.

There are dozens of hacks to find a little extra money. Take a second job, deliver newspapers,drop a bad financial habit, collect bottles for refunds, be a tutor, write an eBook, stop buying thelarge latte, etc. If you evaluate your spending for a month, and I mean every dollar you spend,youll easily see some holes that you can close up. If you sit down with a pen and paper and jot down

fifty (legal) ways to make more money, youll definitely find something that you can do to bring in alittle extra money to help here.

The time to start thinking about increasing your income may be as your building your EmergencyFund.

Yes, this does mean that your efforts to simplify your time management may take a brief hit asyou work harder to get your debt under control. This is not a contradiction to the advice in theTime Management chapter. Depending on your need, spending time to increase your income may beconsidered an essential task.

That extra money, whatever it is, goes on the first debt. When the first debt is paid off, roll thatmoney over on to the second debt.

This is an extremely simple yet effective debt reduction strategy popularized by John Cummutaand Dave Ramsey. It is strong, proven advice.

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Double Your Emergency Fund

Enough said. Youre now debt-free; lets get a little more padding in there so youre not at risk forcreating new debt. This shouldnt take nearly as long as it did to create your initial emergencyfund. Since youre not paying money to the finance companies there should be more around.

Contribute to a 401K or Roth IRA

If your company offers a match of your funds in a 401k, at least take advantage of the free moneycoming from your employer. If you dont have the luxury of the 401k, contribute something,anything to a Roth IRA. Now I know these types of accounts are largely a United States concept,but most countries have something similar. The point is start contributing a little but dontcompletely sacrifice the present for the future that you cant guarantee will ever arrive.

Thats contrary to what a lot of financial gurus recommend today. They say to max your retirementnow, when youre young, so that youre taken care of when youre old. The problem with that is thatyou lose the ability to enjoy life while youre still young enough to.

Additionally, its often recommended to put money away for your childrens college fund. We docontribute to 529 Plans but we are conservative about it. Is it better to max your childrens

college fund or to make sure youre well-funded for retirement? I think if you ask your childrenwhether they would rather have money for college or would they rather make sure mom and dadare financially secure so they dont have to live with them in retirement, the answer would beobvious. Children can work their way through college. You shouldnt have to work your waythrough retirement.

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Balance is the key. Have some fun now, do some planning for tomorrow.

Invest the money in Index funds. Yes, I am writing that in the midst of a horrible global recession.That doesnt change my advice. Let the experts (meaning the overall indices) manage your assets.Unless its something you truly enjoy doing, its not worth the time to research your own stocks andkeep up on it on a daily basis.

Look for Other Income Streams

This is somewhat controversial. Many would suggest saving for a home. I made my homes income-producing streams. Every home that Ive owned was a two family home that Ive rented out one ofthe units while living in the other. It is only now, in my most recent transition, that we are movingourselves and our baby triplets to a single family home, that is paid off, thanks to the income fromthe rentals.

I concentrate on the rental income. Therefore, Im not bothered when there is a housing marketcrash. In fact, when there is (God forbid) it actually means more potential renters.

There are definitely pros and cons to owning a home. In the area of the United States where Ilive, home prices are very affordable, but taxes are sky high. Yet I can command rent that will pay

for up to 90% of my mortgage and allow me to live for nearly free.

As I said at the beginning of this chapter, my goal has been to create income streams to replacemy current day job income, thus allowing me to transition into a more meaningful life. This is justone approach to effective Life Design.

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This is not the only means to create residual income.

You can invest in Bonds, a CD Ladder, or Dividend-paying stocks.

You can create a product, book, membership site, anything based on your expertise that can bringin royalty and residual income on a regular basis.

Finally, Buy and Pay off Your Home (Optional)

Homes are not the awesome investment that they are played out to be. Anybody who lost their

home in this most recent recession can tell you that. There are bloggers who advocate renting

only. Renting is throwing your money away, but in many ways, so is owning a home. An apartment

comes with less responsibility but again, theres that whole throwing your money away thing.

Even when you pay off a home, theres still Taxes, Insurance, and associated User fees to pay for.Thats where the anti-home buyer bloggers chime in. They say that this is all throw-away money.

As with everything, the lines are blurry.

You have to make that choice for yourself.

Whether its a home or an apartment, it should be no bigger than what you need. Given that youvegone through the Simplify Your Stuff chapter, you shouldnt need as much square footage for a

home or apartment. Buy what makes sense for you.

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Conclusion

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So, now that youve put some tips into practice to reducing your life to the absolute essential,

where do you go from here?

First, its important to note that life is a journey. It makes sense to do everything you can to be

present in this journey and enjoy it as you go. Life is not a series of goals and destinations. Its

not about accumulating bigger and better, its not about dying with the most money.

Its about fostering relationships.

Its about discovering and developing your gifts.

Its about sharing your gifts with the world.

Its about loving and being loved.

Keep this in mind every day, after you close this book.

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ResourcesThe Simple Living Network A nice community of simple livers that also includes a great series of

discussion boards. http://www.simpleliving.net

Mnmlst A blog written by internet legend, Leo Babauta. Leo puts out weekly articles on

minimalist concepts. http://www.mnmlst.com

Miss Minimalist I love that her and her husband are both into the minimalist lifestyle and they

sold off almost all of their stuff to move overseas. http://www.missminimalist.com

The Everyday Minimalist This is a different side of minimalism. She is very stylish and does

accumulate things related to style, but is minimalist in things that arent important to her.http://www.everydayminimalist.com

Simple. Organized. Life Lots of great articles about all things simple.

http://simpleorganizedlife.com

Becoming Minimalist Another family who is going through the process of minimalizing, mostlytogether. http://www.becomingminimalist.com

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Thrilling Heroics Life Design is a new interest of mine. I love this new paradigm where people

are begging out of the rat race and doing things that make a difference in the world.

http://www.thrillingheroics.com

You, Simplified A little shameless self promotion. I hope to make half the impact of the

wonderful people listed above. http://www.yousimplified.net

you simplified handbook - 20103

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