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Simplifying not so simple By MARY JANE HOLT Last week after I wrote about simplifying our lives, I was asked "Just where do you suggest one begin." The truth is I don't have a response to such a query. I wouldn't even know how to make suggestions to family and friends whom I know really well. One's clutter or lack of simplicity is a very personal issue. I don't even have a set pattern about how to begin a project or tackle some overwhelming challenge that needs my attention. I might first make a list since that act gives me something I feel like I can control, even if it's just pen and paper. At other times, I might just jump in and get started. Certainly, I would be open to reading a book or books on a subject about which I know little. When one individual asked me about recommended reading, I went first to my own book shelves to look for a couple of books I had purchased several years ago. I actually managed to read one of them! Couldn't find them. Probably loaned them out. So I went online to Amazon.com where I found 87 "simplify" titles. Twelve of those that were listed as bestsellers or highly rated by Amazon customers follow. NOTE: I have not seen or read these books. - Focal Point: A Proven System to Simplify Your Life, Double Your Productivity, and Achieve All Your Goals by Brian Tracy - Simplify Your Life: 100 Ways to Slow Down and Enjoy the Things That Really Matter by Elaine St. James - Organized to Be Your Best! Simplify and Improve How You Work by Susan Silver - Feel Good: Little Changes to Simplify Your Complicated Life by Pamela Allardice - 52 Ways to Simplify Your Life by Lynn Gordon, Karen Johnson - The Simplify Journal: A Workbook to Help You Regain Control of Your Life by Janet Terban Morris - Simplify Your Work Life: Ways to Change the Way You Work So You Have More Time to Live by Elaine St. James - Organized
Chaos: The Key to Declutter, Organize & Simplify Your Life by Sylvia
Jessy, Teri - Good-Bye Clutter: Organize and Simplify Every Room in Your Home by Susan Wright - Simplify Your Life With Kids by Elaine St. James, Vera Cole - 365 Ways to Simplify Your Work Life: Ideas That Bring More Time, Freedom and Satisfaction to Daily Work by Odette Pollar I noticed that Elaine St. James name kept popping up. Turns out she was running a successful real estate investing business and was entrenched in an incredibly busy, complicated life. She says one afternoon, sitting in front of a time-management system "roughly the size of Nebraska" that was filled with names of people she needed to call, addresses of places she needed to be, and lists of things she was obligated to do, she had a moment of clarity. She realized that she desperately needed to simplify her life. She and her husband took a good look at what was making their lives so complicated, and gradually began the process of scaling their lives down. Today, with most of their old distractions, worries, inconveniences, complications, and headaches gone, Elaine and her husband spend the majority of their time enjoying each other, their families, and the things they love most, while still living quite comfortably. Yet, she now maintains that you don't have to do all hat she did. She says the purpose of scaling down is to rid your life of the things you don't want, need, or enjoy ... so that you can concentrate more of your energy and attention on the things that really do matter to you. Now, for a really enlightening moment I had while looking for book titles. On Amazon.com where they describe any book you might be interested in, at the very bottom of the page they list other books people bought when buying the one you are reading about. At the bottom of one page I found three other books on simplicity and one on menopause. Suddenly I wondered do we have to wait until then to simplify? I recall once asking a thirty-something woman I know well who may be just about the busiest woman in Georgia, if she had read a book I had given to her. She just looked at me. I figure it's on her book shelf waiting until the kids are grown, carpooling is over, gymnastics are ended, baseball is no more, three loads of laundry a day do not call to her, volunteering one day a week at her son's school is no longer in her schedule, providing snacks for special school events is not required all this while working at a "real" job for an employer who understands the value of a flexible work schedule. That look she gave me said much!
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