[00:00] Welcome back to the Focus B show. This is Katie Sudddhart here aka the focus b. And on this show I interview high performers and leaders around the world to discover their secrets on peak performance, productivity, mindfulness and leadership. So if you want to take your performance and your leadership to the next level, then you're in the right place. Listen up and connect with the magic.
[00:35] Welcome to a new episode of the Focus B show. Today I want to discuss simplicity and why I feel that simplicity is a life changing magic or art, and why I feel it is so important. It is a topic that I don't think I've covered yet in my podcast or YouTube channel. And I feel that it is really a fundamental aspect of focus, of productivity, of anything really that you want to achieve in life. What happens is we spend a lot of time lost in details and we overcomplicate everything, literally. I'm pretty sure in all the areas of your life it is too complicated, too detailed, too unraveled in a lot of different things. So there are a lot of reasons why simplicity is so important. First of all, obviously the more scattered we are, the harder it is for us to be focused. And if we're not focused, then really we're less likely to be fulfilled. This is fundamentally one of the reasons I am so passionate about focus, is I feel there's a direct link between focus and freedom and fulfillment. They really go together. And this is why I believe so strongly in the power of focus. So this is why simplicity or simplifying things in our life is so relevant. Now, how can you go about this? First of all, we need to look at all the different areas and categories in your life. The most obvious place to begin is in terms of material possessions. This is why Marikondo, with her book of Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, did so well, because she aims towards slightly towards a minimalist approach, less material possessions, but also about material possessions that really spark joy in your life. Now, although I do not consider myself a minimalist, I do believe that it's important to have objects and material possessions that bring us joy and to not have too many. A cluttered space leads to a cluttered mind and it's also more responsibility, takes up more place, et cetera, et cetera, and can lead to more stress, as the minimalists explain in their podcast The Minimalists. And it is a really valid point. So you need to decide where you are on that spectrum of minimalism. Maybe you really like to have the bare minimum, which is absolutely fine. Or maybe you like to have lots of different things, but then maybe you can look at which ones really matter and add value to your life and which ones are just sort of clutter, really mental clutter, physical clutter. And do not add anything in terms of inspiration, ideas, nice decoration, and they don't really add much to your life. That's the first area of simplifying, which is often what we think about. And this is why simplifying is often related to minimalism. However, simplifying doesn't just stop at that. You can also look at your goals and ideas. I know that this is where I struggled most as a highly creative person, I like to have a lot of ideas and projects, which is great if it makes you feel fueled, but you can only focus on so many projects at one given time. So this might be a moment where you need to look at yourself, look at your projects, and have that brutal honesty with yourself and think which ones of these goals and projects are actually contributing towards your life. Your life purpose, which ones add value and which ones maybe should goals and maybe goals that you kind of fancy but don't make that much of a difference and really try and reduce them to the bare minimum both in your work and in your private life. Maybe you'll still have five. That's okay, maybe ten if it's work and life, maybe. But anything above ten is really detrimental to you actually reaching your goals. You might not want to hear this. I know I didn't want to hear this. However, that if we're realistic, focusing on more than ten big goals is really not, I want to say not possible. But nothing is impossible, as we know from Alice in Wonderland. However, yes, it is less likely that you will achieve your goals if you have too many. And this is only because we all have 24 hours in a day. We all have a limited amount of attention and energy. So the more cannibalized they are, the more likely you are to reach them. This can also be linked to hobbies and another area in which minimalism simplifying, having less is more is in terms of relationships. Now, I know that when I was younger, I like to have big groups of friends and write at loads of different people. But as time went on and as I started valuing my time and my energy so much more, the circle gradually decreased once more. We all have 24 hours in a day, especially if you have a family or a business or both, then it's really a matter of choosing whether you want to spend that time and energy. And although simplifying your social life might sound harsh, you will actually feel so much happier, so much more fulfilled, if you really spend that time and energy with the people that matter most to you. And not just people you feel you're obliged or you need to see or it's a should. So these were three key areas the material possessions, the goals, and the friendship or social group. But simplifying can extend to many other areas. You need to look in terms of your processes. What are you putting in place when you have a process in your work, for instance, or a process in your household, how you go about doing your chores in the household, how you do everything and look at the entire process from A to Z. And then ask yourself are there any steps that are not necessary? Things that maybe you've put in place out of habit but don't actually contribute to the end result. For instance, maybe if you have a podcast like I do, or a blog, you might have a whole series of things that you do before you publish the blog, before you publish the podcast. And maybe some of them are not necessary. Maybe some of these steps can be skipped and you don't need to go through the entire panoply or you can maybe delegate. Delegate is another way of simplifying your own life because even if you're still doing the entire process, even though you're not skipping any steps, it is still not you doing or spending that time and therefore it simplifies your life. And another obvious area I feel, but maybe it isn't obvious to everyone, is digital simplifying. And this can go both from the amount of email accounts that you have, the amount of social media that you use, or all the different folders you have on your computer and the more you reduce them to what you really need and what you really use, the easier it is. And this is the same in terms of your apps on your phone. So many digital areas where we are overloaded and cluttered once more. The less you have, the more present you can be. And this is the less you have. Maybe materially, maybe social group, maybe commitments. That's another area of simplifying. Simplify your commitments so that you're not committing to too many areas or too many projects or too many concepts or too many book clubs. I don't know if there's such a thing as too many book clubs. They sound good to me. But simplifying your commitments and goals and social groups, this might feel scary, you might feel that you miss out, you might have this fear of missing out. But really, once you start to do that, you'll be able to think so much more clearly. You'll be able to have this mental space. And then when you go about doing your tasks, doing your projects and activities, you'll have so much more joy and peace and you won't feel overwhelmed with all this more things to do and all this clutter and background noise. So you can really simplify by reducing so many areas. But then the areas you do spend time with, the friendships that you do invest in, then when you're with them, you can be fully present because you're not messaging a bunch of other people on your phone, for example. And meditation, I've talked about it before is one of the ways that it can help you both to have that clarity as to what you want to simplify in your life, but also will help you to have that extra mental space and to help you to be more present in your life, in your work, wherever you need to be. I hope this has been useful for you. I feel that simplifying is such an interesting topic and is so valuable in terms of our focus, terms of our presence and energy. This is why I feel it was important to go through this topic today and cover it in depth, or in some amount of depth at least. I hope that you've enjoyed it. Please feel free to share it with a friend or family member if you think it would be useful for them. Please subscribe to my channel. Leave a review, leave a comment. Let me know what inspired you and what other ideas you have on this topic. Thank you for joining me today.
[10:43] Thank you so much for tuning in today to the Focus V show. I would absolutely love to hear your feedback. So let me know in an Apple review or YouTube comment what was most valuable for you, and feel free to share this episode with a friend or a family member. Wishing you a wonderful, magical and focused day ahead.