Summary: If you've ever ready Steve Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (one of our all time favorite books), then you know that by doing just seven things, you can be well on your way to becoming more effective at what you do. Now, if you're ready to simplify your life a bit and really need a jumpstart, there are 7 habits you can develop to bring some serious simplicity into your life.<br> <br> <br> <br> Now, there are tons of things you can do to simplify, but we wanted to hit what we think are the top 7 things that have worked for us, and we want share them with you! So let’s get started! Read more...<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Topic: 7 Habits You Can Develop to Simplify Your Life<br> We want you to be able to take just these 7 habits...seven things you can start doing today, to have a better tomorrow, a better year, and a much better chance of achieving the lifestyle that you want for yourself and your family.<br> <br> So here goes...<br> Habit 1: Begin with the End in Mind<br> <br> <br> This one comes straight from our military planning background and also Stephen Covey’s 2nd habit in his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People<br> We call it “Desired End State” which we developed through our Life Plan process<br> Establish Priorities...we call them our Pillars (F⁵)<br> Once we have Priorities, we can begin working toward our goals<br> Vanessa really hit on working toward your goals pretty hard back in the “Tips for Successful Resolutions” in Episode 008<br> Keep you actions aligned with your goals and priorities to stay on target: <br> <br> The target is your desired endstate, or the end in mind<br> <br> My rear sight is my priority or my pillar<br> But the front sight is what I need to have in focus.<br> <br> <br> When you fire a weapon, you have to keep four fundamentals in mind: sight picture(SP), sight alignment(SA), breath control and trigger squeeze.<br> Let’s focus on just SA and SP<br> <br> Sight Alignment is Front & Rear Sights<br> <br> Rear sight = Priority<br> Front Sight = Goal<br> <br> <br> Sight picture is Front/Rear Sights and Target<br> <br> Target = End State<br> Front & Rear sights aligned with each other<br> Front & Rear sights aligned with your target<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> For instance, we may have an end state in mind, and we may have a priority, but if the actions we take aren’t aligned as we pursue our goals, we’ll never hit the target. It’s the same thing I talked before about back in Episode 32...it’s All About the Choices We Make<br> <br> <br> <br> Habit 2: Strive to Simplify versus Organize.<br> <br> <br> Our take is: Clutter is the disease, organizing steps are the cure, but simplicity is prevention!<br> Yeah, organizing is...well...kind of reactive.<br> We saw this when we gave our presentation at Organize and Energize a little over a week ago...and how different our message was from the different organizers who presented. <br> Much of the talk was about how to “maximize your space” to fit more in your cabinets and closets...which is all great stuff, too...but focused more about “editing your space” to give yourself some room and margin.<br> Now, Vanessa will be the first to tell you that organizing is still very near and dear to her heart, and is a wonderful tool to help maintain simplicity in your life.But, it’s very eye-opening when you clarify the difference between the two.<br> Vanessa advocates decluttering and simplifying your life first then organizing what’s left. And, she's starting to think of herself more and more as a “Simplifier” than a “professional organizer”....hmmmm.<br> <br> Habit 3: Embrace the idea of “less is more.”<br> <br> <br> Sounds so cliche, but the more you simplify, the more this is reinforced.<br> One of our earliest episodes….
