“Why do we continuously make the simple things more complicated for ourselves?”.

An excellent question, and how does this apply to you?

What are the things you should stop doing so your life becomes less complicated?

i. Be Yourself
Trying to be that person who is accepted by others or relevant to a specific situation may have some short-term benefits. But in the end, in my opinion, it will cause you more problems than it’s worth.

Once you remove the complication of trying to be everything other than you, you will become more comfortable and confident. As that is happening, it will allow you to educate others about who you are and, in the process, remove complications around who you have to be for this person instead or that.

ii. Happiness through reality, not perception
More has benefit, more has detriment, and more can make like complicated. So stop trying to acquire more of the worldly things and work hard at achieving more of the essential things:

Understanding
Perspective
Learning
Respect
Belief

But if your desire to have more is in line with trying to outdo the Joneses, then it will be unfulfilled life that is dictated by others as opposed to you being led, controlled, and directed by you.

iii. Control
Control what you can and leave the rest alone. Stop trying to change things just for the sake of change or to keep up with the Joneses. Stop trying to change/control others. Alternatively, use yourself as a reason/example for why they might want/need to change.

iv. Context
Nothing is ever as good or as bad as it seems. Don’t average emotions but at the same time, don’t overreact and build things up to the point where there is no choice but to fall short of expectations—yours or others.

v. Plan
Don’t make your plans complicated. After all, isn’t the whole concept of the plan to remove complications? However, at the same time, don’t just react and go off full of emotion and then realise you don’t know what you are doing. Invest with time and thinking upfront. Remove the complication and confusion from the way forward and then proceed positively and proactively.

vi. Indecision
Indecision is the theft of opportunity. And although the wrong decision may lead to complications, not making a decision usually sees you end up in the worst place. Have a method to help with your decision making, understand the difference between careless and calculated risk and make your decisions.

vii. Time and space
In this fast-paced world, we live in, we need to be nimble, we need to be quick, and gee sometimes we need to jump over the candlestick. But sometimes, we need to give ourselves time and space to work stuff out. Don’t procrastinate, but allow yourself the opportunity to understand what is going on and what you need to do.

viii. Deal with stuff and then move on
Don’t be held to ransom, don’t hold onto things and at the same time, don’t just let things slide. Have a strategy for dealing with issues so they can be resolved (one way or another), and you can move on. Don’t have stuff hanging over your head. It will cloud your thinking, judgement and ability to move forward.

ix. Present and future
Think Bruce Springsteen’s song ‘Glory Days’. There will always be good times from the past, but if all you ever do is long for what has been, you will miss out on the incredible opportunities of the present and future. Then the cycle will grow because nothing ever good happens anymore. It was always better yesterday. But in reality, only if you make it so.

Enjoy reminiscing about your past but don’t be held to ransom by it.

x. No short cuts
Do I really need to give you examples and reasons as to why taking shortcuts never work out? Of course not. Stop doing it. If you know there is a better way, then do it and as you do, watch as…

The Journey Continues!