Happy & Healthy

HOW TO GIVE YOUR OWN LIFE A PRIORITY AGAIN

In three steps

I recently had to say ‘yes’ to the following four questions. Complete torture. Check this.

1. Do you often feel as though your day ‘only’ has 24 hours? 2. Do you feel slightly overworked and going insane from everything you still need to do? 3. Do you find yourself saying ‘yes’ a lot when you really mean ‘no’? 4. And do you always feel busybusybusy, but not really productive?

Well, those were four yes’s on my end. Can you relate to the above mentioned questions? Make sure to keep reading this because I’ve got three tips/steps that are going to help you get your life back in your own hands. The idea is that you turn into an essentialist, based on an idea from the author Greg McKeown.

Step 1.

More is not always more. Or better. I’m currently running around like a mad(wo)man trying to tick off my to-do list. As if I enjoy doing one hundred things at once. As if I expect someone to slap me if I ever say anything other than yes. But… I’ve just realized that this mind set is completely wrong. You don’t build your career by running  head first in full speed. It won’t make your private life any better if you’re out of breath. It’s time to start saying no. To learn that there are some things you just don’t have to do. Because they’re not made for you. Because you don’t have the time to do it. Because they’re trivial for you. And not vital.

Check this out to see how to bid farewell from a job (in the chicest way possible).

Step 2.

It is important that you learn to accept the secret to saying no. In doing less. As scared as you might be that people might hate you. There will always be things that you’re even better at then you were in the past, and this will help you score an extra few points. Plus, it’s more fun to do things that you are good at. It’s a conscious choice that you made.

Step 3.

One of the things Greg McKeown says is:  ‘If you don’t design your life, someone else will. If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will.’ This was a real eye opener for me. The idea alone. I mean; isn’t it weird to let someone else take control of your own life? Wouldn’t it be awful if the only thing you controlled in your own day is what you put on in the morning? Or that someone decides what you watch in the evening? Or what kind of chocolate you get to eat? See what I’m saying? Do something about it!

Sources: Levo.com and JeffSanders.com

Read more about this topic in the book Essentialism: the disciplined pursuit of less.

Written by: Renske Hoff