1. Eliminate Watching TV.
It has been estimated that an average American spends 4 hours and 45 minutes a day watching TV, which over the year adds up to over TWO MONTHS! That is two months of our life that we could have spent playing with our children, getting fit, writing a book, starting your blog, learning a new language, meditating, attending workshops, or just doing what we like to do. There is another weighty reason to reduce amount of hours we spend in front of the TV – it numbs out our emotions! Ever-growing scientific evidence indicates that people, who watch too much TV start living their lives through the characters in the shows and movies they are watching, ignoring their own feelings, goals and problems that need to be taken care of. Do not let TV rob you of your family time and your peace of mind. Turn it off!
2. Eliminate Worry. This is easier said than done. There are so many things to worry about from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to how to finish an important work project on time. But the problem with worry is that it is useless. No matter how much of our time we spend imagining the worst or mulling over what others might say or think, it is not going to improve the situation. Unless we do something other than worrying to change it! Do not let “tomorrow steal too much of your today”! Eliminate worry and you will have so much more energy to enjoy every second of your life.
3. Eliminate Perfectionism. The main idea behind our desire to ‘be perfect’ and ‘do perfect’ is a good one. It is based on our desire to become better, push our limits and improve our skills. It is the execution of the idea that is wrong. Ironically, our belief that what we do is not good enough becomes the biggest block to our growth. The first step to becoming better at something is to let go of perfectionism and allow ourselves to experiment, make mistakes and learn from them!
4. Eliminate tasks that you do not enjoy. Take a long hard look at your to-do list… Are there any tasks that you consider unpleasant, useless, or necessary but boring? Do you honestly think that accomplishing them would be the best use of your time? Learn to simplify your to-do list down to a few essential tasks, and you will sky-rocket your productivity and enjoy the process a lot more.
5. Eliminate clothes. Make some room in your closets by throwing, donating or giving away any clothes that you do not like or that do not fit anymore. It is natural that we might feel sorry parting with some of the things: “I can lose weight next year and fit in those jeans”… “I used to love this shirt”… “My aunt gave it to me for Christmas”. Do not try to find a reason why you will wear it in the future. Instead ask yourself “Have I used it in the past year?” If not, be merciless and eliminate!
6. Eliminate Emails. An inbox filled with hundreds of emails influences our mood and our work momentum in the ways that we cannot even imagine. Keep your inbox light and uncluttered by setting aside a few hours this week to eliminate and organize all those emails in your inbox, sent items, deleted items, or some other “items” folder. Believe me, it will make your life much simpler and stress-free!
7. Eliminate Clutter. Clutter has an amazing ability to spread, multiply and soon take over our house and our office. If we are not doing anything about it, our bathroom, closets, drawers, desk and garage quickly fill up with all those things that we do not need and never use (which by the way, makes it much harder to find something that we actually do need and use quite often). Here is your new life-improvement resolution for the next month: throw away at least one item each day for 30 days or until everything is gone! And witness peace, purity and simplicity fill your living and work space.
8. Eliminate energy drains. Practice shows that 80% of our worries, problems, and negative emotions come from only 20% of causes. There are certain things, situations and people that just take up too much of our energy, without adding any significant value to our life. Try to identify your biggest energy “drains” and cut them out. You will end up having much more energy and enjoyment in your life.
9. Eliminate Procrastination. We are all guilty of procrastinating once in a while. But as Bernard Meltzer has put it: “Hard work is often the easy work we did not do at the proper time.” If you often find yourself putting off today what you can do tomorrow, you are probably adding a lot of unnecessary stress to your life that you could have easily avoided if you had eliminated the habit of procrastination. Do not allow all those unfinished tasks to pile up! If you can finish doing something in 5-10 minutes – do it. If you cannot – start doing it anyway and even if you only do it for 5 minutes, it will still get you closer to your goal.
10. Eliminate unnecessary commitments. We all have hundreds of commitments in our life, and I am not just talking about work. Think about all those obligations that you willingly put on your shoulders: from side work to family gatherings at your house. Some of them we actually enjoy doing, but some of them are simply a waste of our time. Consider your commitments and the impact that they have on your life satisfaction and well-being. Then edit brutally by saying “no” to ones that stress you out the most. Of course, getting the project finalized for your team, or establishing good relationships with your co-workers and clients are extremely important, but having a balanced and joyful life should always remain your priority. So my advice to you is eliminate, eliminate and eliminate some more and you will be surprised how much fuller and rewarding your life will become!
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