Simplify your lifestyle......Simplify your message

Simple living encompasses a number of different voluntary practices to simplify one's lifestyle. These may include reducing one's possessions or increasing self- sufficiency, for example. Simple living may be characterized by individuals being satisfied with what they have rather than want. Although asceticism generally promotes living simply and refraining from luxury and indulgence, not all proponents of simple living are ascetics. Simple living is distinct from those living in forced poverty, as it is a voluntary lifestyle choice.
Adherents may choose simple living for a variety of personal reasons, such as spirituality, health, increase in quality time for family and friends, work–life balance, personal taste, frugality, or reducing personal ecological footprint and stress. Simple living can also be a reaction to materialism and conspicuous consumption. Some cite socio-political goals aligned with the anti-consumerist or anti-war movements, including conservation, degrowth, social justice, ethnic diversity, tax resistance, and sustainable development.

A life of true contentment
Any smart fool can make things bigger, more complex and more violent. It takes a touch of simplicity to move in the opposite direction.
Even as a young boy I desired simplicity. Less stuff, being free from clutter and able to move freely and use my imagination. It seemed so elementary to me that if one had less to take care of, less to worry about, fewer unnecessary problems to deal with, that there would be more time to do exactly as one wished. And as I’ve grown up, the lesson and this simplistic approach to living has become even more permanently cemented as I go about my everyday life.
Choosing to live a life of simplicity (not as a simpleton) takes conscious effort while the opposing lifestyle is actually something that occurs without thought, happens easily and tends to be an effect of not knowing where one wants to take their life.
Let’s take a look at the elements one must include in their day to day living to ensure they can live a life of simplicity which results in the ultimate goal of living a life of true contentment.

1. Discipline
There is great freedom in simplicity of living. It is those who have enough but not too much who are the happiest.
Having self-discipline, the ability to say no when something doesn’t fit into your life plan, your value system or would take away time from your priorities, is the key to ridding out the unnecessary and freeing up your schedule for exactly what it is you do want to focus on.
There may not be a tremendous amount of support in certain scenarios when you say no, especially when you are the only one; in such instances, you must find the courage within yourself to trust that the life you want is more important than peer approval.
2. Patience
If something is easy, it usually isn’t worth having, as most people will take the route of least resistance and because it came so easily most likely won’t appreciate it. Patience is required to allow the true quality of any relationship, work of art, experience, or valiant effort produce its fruit. Just as we wait for the tomato to ripen on the vine, we too must have the patience to wait for the rewards of our labors to produce themselves.

Raising mature, independent children, writing a book worth reading, cultivating a plan for educating our youth – these things along with so many other worthwhile goals take time, and we must not rush them or give up before they’ve had a chance to mature into their greatness.

Too many times, we become impatient and create problems and drama where there need not be. Perhaps by saying too much, by buying too much, or eating too much before our bodies have time to tell us they are
full. Do the necessary work, then take a step back and take a breath. The results will appear in due time, which is not always on our schedule.
3. A Clear Direction and Purpose
You must know where you are going otherwise you‘ll end up someplace else.
The only way to know what to say no to and be discriminating so as not to complicate your life, is to know where you want to go. Once you understand the life you are attempting to create for yourself, self- discipline becomes significantly easier to practice.
It is the uncertainty that complicates life and prevents us from living simply.
4. Discovering the ways in which our consumption either supports or entangles our existence.
A large part of the unnecessary stress people bring into their lives is that they trust that what society wants for them is what they should want for themselves. And while a free market enterprise is a wonderful thing, it requires of the consumer to be savvy, knowledgeable and clear about what they want and need.

There is a reason advertising agencies are hired by businesses. Businesses want to know the best way to convince you to buy their product, and once you understand the rhetoric behind their approach, you can unwrap the mask of their presentation and look at the actual product. Once you see the product, the next question should be, do I need this and does it contribute to my life goals and priorities?

Regardless of the celebrity that is endorsing it, the statistics that they present or the sappy music they are playing, always answer these two questions first. By doing so, you will end up with fewer unnecessary items, more money in your bank account and less unnecessary stress.
5. Behaving in a civilized manner
Behaving in a civilized manner is to live respectful of others, the community you live and wish to cultivate, and to choose to do so even if no laws were there to provide consequences if you didn’t.
Being more violent is not in tune with doing something simply because it is not hard to be violent as it reveals an inability to control emotions, anger and aggression.

In fact, to act or perpetuate violence is an act of regression to animalistic behaviors acted upon when one’s survival feels threatened. But because we are human, we are gifted with the ability to behave in a civil manner – to communicate our frustrations in a manner that is not violent, and in doing so solve problems using compassion, compromise and love.

6. Simplicity in character, in manners, in style; in all things
To live a life of simplicity is to live life consciously.
To be aware of your direction, to be respectful of others, yet strong enough to go your own direction requires knowledge of oneself and the courage to step out on one’s own to understand who that self is capable of becoming.
And when things don’t work out as planned, it is the mature person who takes the lesson and moves forward, rather than remain pouting on the floor where they tumbled.
Simplicity requires you to not induce extra harm by blaming or whining, while doing so would complicate one’s life unnecessarily.
When we choose to do so for the betterment of society and the respect of others, we are revealing our level of moral development, thus our maturity. It is a choice to become mature, as simply being of an adult age doesn’t mean you are mature. Behaving in a mature manner requires great self-discipline, self-examination and a desire to understand the world. Yet more evidence that living simply is indeed complex.

So, yes indeed, a life of simplicity is not easy to cultivate, but once it is cultivated and continues to be tended, it can produce a life that fosters time and energy for the growth of your most wildest dreams. Had you complicated your life with extras and the unnecessary, he flowers (dreams) in your garden (life) would have been strangled by the weeds.
 

Simplify your message
Why didn’t my message connect?” “Why didn’t they understand me?” These questions come up so often, it’s a wonder we haven’t all figured it out yet.
We are all guilty of this mistake, but we do it over and over again. That mistake is making things too complex.
How often have you tried to fluff up your writing with or complicated or technical words? Who doesn’t want to sound smart when they are writing or talking?
The problem with this line of thinking is complexity adds too many layers of thought. The greatest orators and writers in the world simplify their message. How else could you get so many people behind your message?
Your messages must be clear and easy to understand. The last thing you want to do when telling your story is making it hard to understand.
The next time your message falls flat, think to yourself, “Is my message simple enough?” If it isn’t, try framing it in a way that makes sense to a five year old. When you write, make sure your message is simple enough for everyone to understand.

Contending that our increasingly complicated corporate universe has made it more difficult for companies to grow and prosper.
I propose a radical new tack: simplicity.
By boiling everything down to its essential elements, they maintain, managers can ignore new fads and hot consultants and instead focus on the true business at hand. Fascinating in its own unpretentious, logical manner, follow a future without chaos and disorder. Addressing the basics involved as well as specific management, leadership, and people issues, they hit a variety of applicable themes--including information, competitors, mission statements, goals, and motivation.
Chapter Eight
Don’t add complexity to your clients’ lives
Not long ago, I heard a client complain about an alarming lack of clarity in his consultant’s explanations. Unfortunately, it’s not an uncommon client complaint. Too often, the language of “expertise” is needlessly complicated and drowning in jargon.

The consultants I know would agree that we’re not supposed to add complexity to our clients’ lives. But sometimes we do so unintentionally. We all know the rule: keep it simple. That’s often harder than it sounds. Especially under the pressure of deadlines, you can lose track of the power of keeping things simple in all your client communications.

If You Want a Simple Answer...Don’t Ask an Expert
It’s easy to understand why simplicity gets sacrificed in so many client interactions. For starters, simplicity is often (wrongly) associated with a lack of sophistication. According to conventional wisdom, no one wants to be thought of as simple. But think about Apple’s iPod or Amazon’s Kindle. Both are built on amazingly complex technology, delivered in deceptively simple, elegant designs.
Naturally, client issues aren’t iPods. Their situations are rarely simple and the solutions to tough problems are usually complex. And it is important for you to understand all the angles and options before taking a stand.
Still, clients will reward those who can organize and explain the most complex matters in a way that “non- experts” can easily understand. That way, clients can use their brains to evaluate–not decipher–what they hear.
If anything, it takes more effort to distill what you’ve learned and communicate it with the appropriate degree of nuance and insight. But when time gets tight, simplicity is often the unwitting victim of expediency. It’s common to hear a consultant claim that, “I’ll simplify this presentation when we discuss the project with the client at the meeting.” Somehow, that never happens.

Maybe it seems safer to tell the client everything you learned to avoid the risk of being caught without a fact at your fingertips. But top practitioners know their job is to make the complex seem simple. Or, as Albert Einstein once remarked, “Things should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.”