Finding Calm Within Despite Money Problems
Leo Babauta, author of “The Power of Less: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential” shares his thoughts on finding calm and focusing on our essential life goals.
Commitment: How do we simplify and find calm in the chaos? What are five ways we can stop feeling overwhelmed?
Leo Babauta: We simplify and find calm by setting limits and making the conscious decision to focus on the essential, and only the essential.
Five ways to stop feeling overwhelmed:
• Check email just twice a day, and only send a few but important emails.
• Clear your desk to create a sanctuary of calm.
• Focus on just three Most Important Tasks each day.
• Focus on one task at a time, clearing away distractions so you can find focus.
• Get out of commitments that aren't essential to your life, to free time for the things you love and value most.
Commitment: What are some things a person can do who is very disorganized but has great ideas they can't seem to get off the ground?
Leo: Focus on one project at a time, and really put your energy into it until it's completed. When you're working on that project, clear away distractions and just focus on one task at a time. If you do these two things, it doesn't matter if you're
organized or not -- you don't have to organize just one thing.
That's how there's power in simplicity -- it really helps you focus your full energy and attention into what's important, without having to worry about being organized.
Another important tip is to start small. Often we try to do too much, but if we start small it's much more achievable.
Commitment: What advice do you have on setting daily routines that can make our lives more manageable and less stressful?
Leo: A great way to start your daily routine is to actually start the evening before -- look over your calendar and to-do list, and identify the three Most Important Things you want to accomplish tomorrow.
Prepare your clothes and anything else that will help reduce stress the next morning.
I also like to start my morning with a peaceful routine -- something that will get the day started with a positive, relaxed tone, such as exercise, meditation, reading, writing, yoga, or just sitting and having a quiet cup of coffee. When you start your work day, clear off your desk, and review your three Most Important Things.
Do the first of those three things before you start on email or phone calls or meetings. Try to focus on one task at a time , and do the important things early in the morning. The less important things, such as email, paperwork, errands, phone calls, meetings, and so on, can be done later in the day.
Commitment: What are ways we can live more effective, less stressful lives?
Leo: First, by learning to focus on the essential. Again, set limits to force yourself to choose the essential and eliminate the non-essential. Make room for what's important, and reduce the clutter in your schedule.
Second, by learning to focus on the moment -- whatever we're doing, right now, instead of worrying about the future or thinking about things that have happened in the past. Most of us have busy minds, always worrying about things that haven't happened, going over things that already happened, but not really focused on the present.
When we focus on the present, including the task that's before us, we get rid of all the stress about what we have to do or what we messed up on earlier. There's just one thing in front of us, and that's all we need to think about.
Third, by doing less, but choosing high-impact tasks and projects --things that will have a huge impact on our work and our lives in general. Often we can crank through a whole day of busy work, without getting anything important done.
Instead, just do a few high-impact things, and you'll get important tasks done every single day without working as hard.
To purchase The Power of Less click here.
Leo Babauta has been a reporter, editor, speechwriter and freelance writer for the last 17 years. Babauta lives in Guam with his wife and five children, where he posts regularly on www.ZenHabits.net.
