SIMPLICITY OUT OF COMPLEXITY

How do you feel when you start the day with massive to-do lists that you know you have no chance of actually getting done? And how do you feel when you have an email inbox of 200 unread messages and you are being pinged every two minutes with a new one? Understandably, you probably feel daunted and maybe a little anxious.

To reduce the daunting nature of the things you have to do, simplify them. Simple systems are easier to understand. When we have more simplicity, our minds have less distraction.

Even when we have a lot to do, we can still only pay attention to one thing at a time. Therefore, we only need to have our attention on what we are doing, with a level of reassurance that we have capacity to do the important things we need to do today.

By representing the things we have to do more simply, we can ease some of our mental burdens. Note that we aren’t simplifying our work, just how the work appears in our calendar.

The main areas where we need simplicity are in our email systems and calendars. We are not going to touch on email here, as there are plenty of systems out there for dealing effectively with it. The main principle is to keep your inbox for new messages only and empty your inbox daily. We will look at creating a simplified calendar.

By simplifying our calendar and making it appear easier on the eye, we can feel more in control of our schedules.

Consider that your calendar is part of your workspace; make it look tidy and inviting.