Simplicity is the highest form of Sophistication

I spend a lot of time trying to find ways to simplify my life - to make things easier. I like things to be simple because, mostly, life tries to be complicated.

As I have got older and taken on more responsibility -career, mortgage, wife, dog, daughter and everything else in between- I have come to realise just how precious time is. Time is the one true universal currency and how we choose to spend it is what differentiates us from one another. This is probably not news to anyone reading this. Time pressures challenge us all on a daily basis and often we are left wondering why there aren't enough hours in the day.

Time pressures are often as a result of distractions and the world we live in -our modern world- is absolutely full of distractions. We live in the age of information where technology brings swathes of instantaneous data to our fingertips. Ubiquitous Internet connectivity via Mobile Phones, Tablets and PCs allow us to connect to Email, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, so we can find out what everyone is doing -around the world- in real time. I can watch millions of videos and films, browse photos on every device I own and listen to every piece of music ever recorded - I've even tried doing all this at once. Adverts for products and services I never even knew existed are continuously pumped into our information feeds -with increasing degrees of accuracy- using every imaginable angle to persuade me to buy them. All of these distractions are trying to steal our time and emotional consideration.

I am not saying all these wonderful things (and they are awesome by the way) are bad. I just think, like anything, if they are not harnessed correctly they will end up harnessing you. It is hard to stay focused in the Information Age.

As well as distractions, I am going to suggest that emotional energy levels play a big part in our ability to maximise the time that life gives us. Emotional energy is crucial to motivation because, without it, time is wasted and meaningless. However, the thing about emotional energy is that most of us aren't as aware of the concept as we are time. To check the time, we simply look at our watch (or any other device that matter) and we get a very decisive readout. To check our emotional energy levels we require a very high degree of self-awareness and honesty - unfortunately, there isn't a device or even an app that can do this for us... YET!

I have had too many days where I have been non-stop busy -accomplished nothing- and then wondered why I felt crap when I got home. It's simply because I haven't managed my emotional energy properly. Emotional energy levels need to be replenished just like our bodies need food for fuel. Emotional fuel is drawn from completeness (we conduct ourselves according to our values - heart, body, mind and soul), congruency (our behaviours are in line with our goals) and from the very humble and incredibly simple sense of 'just finishing something of significance'. 

What I have learnt is that if I focus on completing a task (1 or 2) at a time (without distractions), I end up finishing them and finishing them well. This makes me feel good and fuels me emotionally for my next engagement. Simple but effective.

I could spend all day talking about the subject of Time and Motivation theories but I will spare you as I just needed a little bit for the context in this Blog. If you are interested in reading more on things like focus, time management and motivation I can recommend two very good books on this subject: The Power of Less (Leo Babauta) & The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (by the late Stephen R Covey).

So, in summary, awareness of distractions and emotional energy levels are vital if we wish to use our time in ways that make us happy. So, with this new found knowledge (which has been sinking in -to varying degrees of success- over the last 4 or 5 years) I have been working on couple things worthy of reporting on:

Firstly, de-cluttering my physical world. Allow me to elaborate.

I bet you have a lot of stuff in your homes, stuff that you haven't used in years -but you keep it anyway (just in case). My house was full of this kind of stuff. However, I now share my home with a baby and a dog and, as any parents or pet owners out there will know, space comes at a bit of a premium now. Clutter in it's the basic form is a distraction and it prevents you from using your home or other spaces in the ways that you would like to (or even need to). Think of clutter like junk mail. It's a distraction and should be treated accordingly.

I started out by taking stuff I classed as clutter (qualifying question: have I used this in the last 6 months?) and putting it in the attic (out of the way but not gone forever). If I didn't get it down and use it a further 6 months later, it went in the bin. Simple. Over a year I have managed to claim back my garage, my shed and a spare room. It's great because I now use those spaces for useful things (like exercise, reading, playing with Amelie and her toys, working from home, etc).

The other thing I have started doing is de-cluttering my virtual world - what websites I check/use; what I use to store my personal files on; the applications I load on my devices and the notifications they all send me... 

I haven't finished this process yet but so far so good... I have all my email coming into one device. I have one view of all my personal files which are synchronised to all my devices and I have consolidated my apps/websites down from over 50 to 20...

I'm getting closer to pure focus, but still a lot more I can do. The more time and emotional energy I can claim back from distractions and disappointment the more enjoyment I can get from the things that matter - like my family, my friends, my career and of course walking Winston and riding my bike up steep hills!

Thanks for Reading, having a great week!

Chancey