5 Little Shifts that Will Make life much Easier

The little things define you. All the results in your life come from the little things. Regardless of your unique life circumstances, or how you define success, you don’t suddenly become successful.  You become successful over time from all the little things you do every day.

In the same vein is the occurrence of failure. All your little daily failures that you don’t learn and grow from come together and cause you to fail. Even the seemingly insignificant aspects of your life can produce ripples of consequence for better or worse.

So, how are you managing your life? We are going to talk about making little, sustainable shifts in your behavior and then letting them build on one another so that it can grow to be a habit. Shall we?

1. Focus inward for a few minutes every day to find clarity.

The best time to take a deep breath is when you don’t have time for it.  Most times, we are told to hustle and get things done to get to the top of the ladder as fast as possible. Too many of us spend the vast majority of our lives climbing the ladder of success only reach the top and discover that the ladder was leaning against the wrong wall.  This happens primarily because we are always hustling around and rushing so fast that we are utterly exhausted when it comes time to make some of life’s most important decisions.  So we end up selecting the ladder that’s closest and easiest to climb, which also happens the one we don’t really need or want to climb.

Ultimately, many of us eventually realize that it’s better to be at the bottom of the ladder you want to climb than the top of the one you don’t.  Do you best to take this to heart right now.  There’s absolutely no reason to be in such a mad rush that you end up pursuing someone else’s agenda instead of your own. Dedicate time every day to focus inward – mindfulness, journaling, prayer, gratitude, reflection, etc. – and bring clarity to your daily circumstances and decisions.  By doing so you will undoubtedly open your mind to important ideas and opportunities you simply can’t comprehend in the midst of mindless hustle.

2. Gradually eliminate the excess.

When you stop chasing the wrong things, you give the right things a chance to catch you. It’s all about getting organized and conscious of how you are allocating your limited time and energy, so you can put yourself in a position to build the future you want.  Very few people have focused their time and energy in a way that exclusively prioritizes truly important and meaningful objectives over everything else that pops up. The smartest and most effective way to move forward in life is not doing more, but instead doing less by stopping the behaviors that are holding you back.

Rise above the needless excess trying to draw you in. Organize yourself. Focus on what matters nd get rid of everything else.

3. Allow most things to simply be the way they are.

Some things are worth changing.  Stepping back and allowing certain things to happen means these things will take care of themselves, and your needs will also be met.  You will have less stress and more time and energy to work on the things that truly matter. This means showing up every day in your life with the intention to be your best self, and to do the best you know how, without expecting life to go a certain way.  Have goals, have dreams, aspire and take purposeful action, and build great relationships, but detach from what every aspect of your life must absolutely look like to be “good enough” for you.

4. Forget your big goals for a while and just focus on the small daily rituals that support them.

Our big goals are important.  But too often we spend our time and energy thinking about the desired end results of a big goal, instead of actually doing the little things that need to be done today. It’s all about turning your big goals into small, actionable daily rituals. If you are not willing to make it a daily ritual and actually work on it a little bit every day, you don’t really want to improve your life as much as you say you do. Create a small, actionable ritual and live by it daily.

5. Track what’s going well and give thanks before bedtime.

When you get lost in worried thoughts about a life situation you think you “should” have, you end up missing the beauty of what you do have.  Every evening before you go to bed, write down three things that went well during the day and their causes.  Simply provide a short, causal explanation for each good thing. That’s it.

Do you want to add more points to the list? Head over to the comment section to share your thoughts.