The irony of attempting to simplify your life is that it can end up being quite complicated. It should be easy right? Just let go of what is not important and doesn’t contribute positively to your quality of life.
There is a saying that “people will work harder to keep from losing something than they will to gain something new”. This is often the case with simplifying your life– you are (in a sense) going to lose or eliminate something that you once valued, or felt like you needed that has now outlived its usefulness.
Often times when we begin to attempt to simplify our lives we realize that we’re not exactly sure what it is we want, or even what’s important to us, we just know that something is not working and we need to change. Sales, services or collections can be done, but this can be for any number of reasons. Staffing can be a problem. We ourselves can be out of focus or burned out on something that we once loved, but are now tired of doing over and over again.
The tendency here is to let our historical or emotional attachments to things, people, places, etc. overwhelm us and prevent us from making real, meaningful and lasting changes that can and will have an impact on our bottom line for next year.
The 12 steps outlined below will help you get clarity and summon the strength to release whatever is no longer serving you and enjoy more peace and contentment throughout the process.
Here is a dramatic Truth that must be understood if we are to make any of this work for our businesses this coming week:
Life is not complicated. We are complicated. When we stop doing the wrong things and start doing the right things, life is simple!
Would you like to UN-complicate your life going into this next year? I bet you would!
A simple life has a different meaning and a different value for every person. For me, one of its meanings is getting rid of some of life’s complexities so I can spend more time with the people I love and do more of the things I love to do. Loving what I do for a living gives me the chance to never really have to work again! I have worked for other chiropractors and I will never do that again. Their ideas about chiropractic were antiquated, their managerial style bordered on criminal, and their attitude toward patients was as far from grateful as could be imagined.
This means getting rid of the clutter in your life, and eliminating all but the essentials, so you are left with only that which gives you benefit or value. For the cynics among my readers who might say that the list of ideas below is too long to be ‘simple,’ there are really only two steps to simplifying, so here is the short version in #1 and #2 below:
1. Identify what’s most important to you. Make a list and look at it every day, as this list can and will change over time, but make this list as the number one thing you do to start this week and the new year off right!
2. Eliminate as much as you possibly can of everything else.
Of course, the advice listed in #1  above is not terribly useful unless you understand how to apply these concepts to different areas of your life; so I present to you the points below as well. And since there can be no ‘one size fits all in our profession (Heaven Forbid!!), 🙂 as we outline this step-by-step guide to simplifying your life, I’ve compiled a good starting point and list of ideas that should help you move in the right direction nonetheless. Not every tip will fit your lifestyle, your practice or your business model, so just choose a few that do and apply them accordingly.
3. Learn to LET GO of what wasn’t meant to be. This is not an easy one to put in place, but it will have a dramatic effect on your life once you learn to do this every day! maybe this is a marriage that I am talking about, an employee who just can’t stop being a problem to you (but you had high hopes for), a relationship with a sibling that is mutually destructive and you need a breather from each other (for what? A month, a year, the rest of your lives?)
Letting go is part of moving on to something better. You will not get what you truly deserve if you’re too attached to the things you’re supposed to let go of.
Sometimes you love, you struggle, you learn and you have to move on. And that’s OK. You must be willing to let go of the life you “think” you planned for, so you can enjoy the life that is waiting for you. I would like to tell you that this is always better once you do this, but my own experience tells me that this can be a painful and growing experience. The bottom line is that it’s better to be who you are supposed to be instead of who you or someone else thought you should be. More on this idea later.
4. Stop berating yourself for being a work in progress. Life is a process. Healing is a process. Relationships are a process!
Start embracing it! Because being a work in progress doesn’t mean you’re not good enough today. It means you want a better tomorrow, and you wish to love yourself completely, so you can live your life fully so you can share that and more with others.
It means you’re determined to heal your heart, expand your mind and cultivate the gifts you know you’re meant to share. May we all be works in progress forever, and celebrate the fact that we are! That’s why they call what we do a “practice”. I’m now working on my 31st year and I am just now starting to figure out what I really want to do with most of the patients I see on a daily basis. My favorite patients are the ones that I have no idea on what to do first, so I have to check in with my mentors, my associates and my library to see what they suggest I do. We are all a work in progress so embrace this, keep learning and move on!
5. Don’t wish your life away. Tragically I see some people I know do this every time they buy a lotto ticket. They live in a wishful world instead of the real world we actually live in and they can miss so much when they do that. The truth is, your whole life has been leading up to this moment. Think about that for a second. Every single thing you’ve gone through in life, every high, every low, and everything in between, has led you to this moment right now.
This moment is priceless, and it’s the only moment guaranteed to you. This moment is your ‘life.’ Don’t miss it. If you believe there is something greater than you do you think that this higher power will be understanding of you when you wasted the life you were given?
6. Forget what everyone else thinks and wants for you. This one is tough for me, so I know there are a lot of you out there just like me who struggle with this.
One of the greatest freedoms we can enjoy is simply not caring what everyone else thinks of us. Sometimes you need to step outside, get some air, and remind yourself of who you are and what you want to be. The best thing you can do is follow your heart. I went and got four different degrees before I finally settled on what it was that I really wanted to do. Many thought I was crazy or stupid or wasting my life and told me so on a regular basis, but in the end, I knew that this is where I needed to be. When it stops being fun, I will change my life and do something different, based on everything I have just written about here in this blog. 🙂 Take some risks.
7. Stop worrying and complaining.
Start focusing on the things you can control and do something about them. Take the same energy you are using to think negative things or worry and instead use that energy to create something more positive! You will find in the end that no “extra” energy was needed to be positive instead of negative. Those who complain the most accomplish the least. And when you spend time worrying, you’re simply using your imagination to create things you don’t want. It’s usually only as good or bad as you think it is. Wake up every day with a positive affirmation that you say out loud to yourself while looking in the mirror and soon you will believe it. It works!
8. Start taking action!
Sometimes we ask questions not to seek answers, but to affirm anything our soul knows already. This disguise of acting like we are doing something is a huge waste of time! You’re not doing yourself a favor by merely hearing the same answer from the same people surrounding you over and over again. Leaders who do this are just asking for trouble. It is more about accepting the truth, making a conscious change and finally moving on to other things that is the answer you really want. Give your soul a chance to explore the life you are meant to live. Stop asking the same questions – at some point you have to make a decision and take action. Start today!
9. Focus on being productive, not on being busy. The results are always more important than the time it takes to achieve them. Stop and ask yourself if what you’re working on is worth the effort. Is it taking you in the same direction as your goals? Don’t get caught up in odd jobs, even those that seem urgent, unless they are also important and on your list!.
10. Look for the silver lining in every tough situation.
When things are hard and you feel caught up in the middle of all that, take a few deep breaths and look for the silver lining – the small glimmers of hope. Remind yourself that you can and will grow stronger from these hard times and how they affect you. Remain conscious of your blessings and victories – all the things in your life that are right. Focus on what you have, not on what you don’t have. Your bosses/customers/clients/patients can see and feel the difference when they are with you. No one wants to hang around someone who sucks the life out of everyone else they come in contact with! Don’t let that person be you!
11. Spend more time with the right people.
These are the people you enjoy, who love and appreciate you, and who encourage you to improve in healthy and exciting ways. They are the ones who make you feel more alive, and not only embrace who you are now, but also embrace and embody who you want to be, Unconditionally. Remember, Leaders have mentors! Managers have bosses. Which do you want to be? It really is your choice.
12. Let things be less than perfect. This is tough because those of us who are doctors get held to a level of perfection every day with those we come in contact with as patients. I’m not talking about that here. I always want you to be the best doctor/health care provider/ parent, teacher or boss that you can be. Instead, I‘m talking about living life here. Smile every chance you get; not because life has been easy, perfect, or exactly as you had anticipated, but because you choose to be happy and grateful for all the good things you do have, and all the problems you know you don’t have.
You must accept the fact that life is not perfect, that people are not perfect, and that you are not perfect. And that’s okay, because the real world doesn’t reward perfection. It rewards people who get GOOD things done. And the only way to get GOOD things done is to be a little “imperfect” 99% of the time and love yourself in-spite of that fact!
via Blogger http://chiropractic-lane.blogspot.com/2013/12/2014-12-easy-ways-to-make-life-simple.html
Recent Comments