Part Two

Will simplifying really make a difference?

We’re all so busy these days that we rarely take time to evaluate our lives fully. Clarity often only comes after we’ve given our lives a bit of a ‘spring clean’.

In today’s world of information overload (including emails, television, newspapers, magazines and mail) learning to eliminate both physical and mental or emotional clutter at its source deals with the problem at a root level. Don’t underestimate the impact your surroundings have – after all, the Chinese have an entire art based on balancing their surroundings – feng shui.

From a practical perspective, a pile of messy paperwork and unpaid bills on your bedside table will be the last thing you think about at night before you go to sleep and the first thing when you wake up in the morning – and no doubt you will spend much time fretting bout the due date, and if you will be able to access money at the right time.

For this reason, clearing clutter will help eliminate worry and ‘sweating the small stuff’, so you can focus on your bigger picture in life.

Traditionally, many of us view the onset of spring as the ideal time overhaul our homes, to clean from floor to ceiling and dispense with items we haven’t used for years.

I encourage you to spring-clean your home and life right now.

Why wait!

Part Three

Set effective goals

When it comes to simplifying your life, goal setting is important just as it is for any other area of your life like career, health and fitness. Set SMART (specific, measurable, attractive, realistic, timed) goals for areas of your life you would like to simplify. Do this by first considering the areas of your life that are complicated and messy. Imagine each area when it is as you would like it to be – notice all the details. Then formulate a specific goal – this will give the SIMPLIFY YOUR LIFE course some personal direction for the coming weeks.

If you need a little extra help in clarifying your life simplifying goals, use these self-coaching questions to refocus:

1. Can you put into one sentence, what you want to achieve?
2. Imagine your new simplified life when you are organised, efficient and have time for your priorities.
3. How will you know when you have achieved this?
4. When do you want to be in this position?

Before you begin to realise each goal, give yourself a reality check, by asking yourself:

1. What is happening now that shows you that you have an issue?
2. What is currently working that you want to keep doing more of?
3. What have you done so far to improve things?
4. Based on what you are doing now, what is missing?
5. What obstacles could potentially get in your way?

Use our top goal setting tips to simplify your life:

• Write your goals down, even buy a new journal to record your goals and track your progress.
• Use positive language when setting goals. Focus on what you want to create, rather than what you don’t want.
• Assess your goals against the SMART rule. Your goals need to be
  • Specific
  • Measurable
  • Achievable/attractive
  • Realistic
  • Timed to a deadline.
• Set short term goals to achieve within the next three months and longer term goals for six months or longer. This way you will build some momentum and continue to reach your life simplifying goals.
• Break down each large goal into manageable bite size segments or ‘action tasks’. For example clearing clutter at home, may involve several action steps like clearing your wardrobe, home office, filing cabinet, spare room and garage.
• Focus on two or three goals at a time. Don’t overload yourself with 30 different goals and achieve none.
• Regularly evaluate and track your progress, adapting to new options for a way forward as necessary.

In the coming modules you will be presented with many options to assist you to simplify your life. Start brainstorming your own options during the next seven days so you can choose the best options as they are presented to you to make a lasting difference in your life.

Part Four

Review your personal priorities and values

Values represent what is most important to us and they are foundation blocks for living life. Use your values as a reference point to keep your life simplifying goals on track. There’s no point simplifying your life if you don’t focus on your values.

This may sound like a vague, new-age concept, but put simply, values are your personal priorities. Values are the sum of your preferences and priorities. Identify your personal values and use them as a reference point in your everyday life.

Here’s a list of some values to get you started

• integrity
• learning
• loyalty
• money
• leadership
• privacy
• recognition
• relationships
• religion
• security
• service
• status
• travel

Explore the gap between what you deeply value and the reality of your daily life.

Check your goals and behaviour are aligned to your values. For example:

• If you rate health as your number one value, yet you smoke, drink excessively and don’t exercise, you are out of balance.
• If honesty is one of your core values but your work requires you to sell a product you don’t believe in you will find this imbalance will impact on your entire life.

By giving your values a reality check you are highlighting areas for action to bring the value into alignment.

Action!

Actions of the Week

1. Write a list of everything that bugs you at home and work

What are you tolerating? We will revisit this list in next weeks module on clearing clutter and use the information you have collected to start the process of clutter clearing.

2. Record your feelings

During the next week, keep a small notebook with you and record tasks that frustrate you or where you feel bogged down? Maybe when you sit down at your workspace, evaluate if everything is accessible. At home, is there a specific area of clutter that irritates you? Perhaps you procrastinate on paperwork at home because you have an inefficient system?

3. What can you simplify?

Continually ask yourself ‘what can I do to simplify my life’ as you go about your day,  to start the process of simplification.

4. Get SMART Goals

Write a set of SMART goals that relate to simplifying your life. Use the self-coaching questions in this module to set effective goals and reality check your current status.

5. Review Your Priorities

Review the values listed in this module and compile your own list of personal priorities. Then list your top 10 values in order of importance. Remember not to censor yourself, values are exclusively yours so focus on what is significant in your life.

NEXT WEEK: How to clear physical and emotional clutter to further simplify your life, plus plenty of tips and ‘how to’ advice.

Part Two

Clutter Clearing Tips

What’s bothering you the most?

This is usually the best place to begin. If you hate that pile of papers on your desk, start there. If your frustration is rising because you can’t fit another item on the kitchen table, then start there.

Focus on a little bit at a time

Rather than thinking about the huge job ahead, break the project into smaller, manageable tasks. For instance, if you want to organise the boxes in your spare room, you might consider going through one box a day, until its completed. Or if your filing cabinet needs the once over, attack each drawer separately rather than fighting a paper war.

Reward yourself

While clearing clutter may not be that enjoyable for everyone, the end result certainly is refreshing. If you do need added motivation to get going, choose a personal incentive. You may promise yourself, half an hour reading a new novel if you clear a specific area of clutter or a coffee with a friend. A small reward will certainly ensure you get your task finished promptly.

Early bird or night owl?

Clearing clutter in your home or at work, does require energy and effort on your part. Work with your body clock and know your personal energy peak and plan to clear clutter then. Acknowledge your limits – do you prefer to work in long sessions or would you be more inclined to clear a little clutter for 10 minutes every day?

Use support

Buddy up with a friend, neighbour or coach and commit to dates and times to deal with your clutter. By doing this you will have added accountability.

Boost your spirits

The ultimate way to have fun while clearing clutter is to listen to a favourite CD, definitely a way to stay alert and it can make the more tedious tasks pass a little faster.

Not ready?

Sometimes it can be difficult to part with items that have been important to you at some point in time. Here’s a trick you can use to make sure you have no regrets.

Box up anything you are not ready to let go of and make a note to review it in the future. If you haven’t used anything from the box in six months time, you may feel more comfortable letting go.

Part Three

What next?

Cleaning out your clutter can be very freeing. You’ll find yourself boxing up items you haven’t used in 10 years, finding old treasures you had forgotten about and making room for items that you use all the time.

Throughout your spring cleaning sessions, if an item is of absolutely no use to anyone, be ruthless and throw it out. Consider selling items, donating to charity and recycling. Maybe hold a garage sale with friends or neighbours who have also spring cleaned their homes and lives.

Set yourself some ground rules when clearing clutter so you are propelled into taking action. Here are some ideas to get you started.

Kitchen

• Discard anything past its use-by date in the fridge or pantry.
• Put all your loose-leaf recipes into one folder or scrap book.
• Use a grocery list or copy a standard list and tick off your weekly requirements

Bathroom

• Discard old medication, especially those past their expiry date or not clearly identified.
• Recycle half used bottles of shampoo and body products.

Wardrobe

• Discard anything that doesn’t fit properly, hasn’t been worn in the last year, doesn’t make you feel great or something you simply don’t like.
• Don’t put away items that need maintenance – repair or mend.
• Sort similar items of clothing together so you can find what you need at a moments notice.

Paperwork

• Discard anything that is out of date, like old school notices, flyers for events that have already happened, brochures for products you have already bought.
• If you have a copy on your computer, plus a back-up, do you really need additional hard copies? Cut down on as much paper as possible.
• Magazines and newspapers piling up? Sort them out – will you really read last months Sunday paper? Unless you are absolutely dying to read it – recycle it.

Office

• Only have current work on your desktop so you have room to move.
• Clear your desk drawers and keep items you use daily easily to hand.
• Plan your computer filing system and back it up regularly.
• Make it a regular habit to put work away at the end of the day.

Part Four

Keep it up

Ensure you don’t fall back into old habits by putting in place maintenance systems. Don’t try complicated ideas, but stick to processes that are easy, work for you and fit your lifestyle.

Keep in mind that the new processes you put in place are to make you more efficient. So while a colour coded, cross referenced filing system may look like a good idea – will you really use it? We’ve all heard the adage ‘work smarter, not harder’, so continually ask yourself ‘what can I do to clear clutter at home or work?’ Maybe you will consider a 3 tray in-box, automatic email sorting, online banking services or a central household diary.

Module four will expand on these ideas to ensure that new systems work for you and help increase your efficiency.

Case History

Jacqui came to coaching feeling frazzled and disorganised in her life which meant she felt like she was seriously lacking in direction. She shared a compact inner-city apartment with friends and identified early on in our sessions that she never knew where to find anything and was always rushing around searching for her favourite outfit when she was late for an appointment.

At work, Jacqui was just as overwhelmed. She worked in a highly competitive industry and was constantly up against demanding deadlines. Meanwhile her in-tray bulged and other work went untouched for weeks. Her longer term career goals included more freelance work on project-based assignments. However she felt her main obstacle in achieving this was her lack of organisation as she constantly felt she was ‘fire fighting’ to meet the demands of her daily life.

Together we explored options available to help her organise her life. Top of the list for immediate action was clearing clutter at both home and work then implementing new systems to ensure the clutter didn’t return. Jacqui spent a full weekend spring cleaning her apartment – she organised paperwork in her home study, put systems in place in her wardrobe that would help her find accessories and clothing in an instant. She donated to charity the clothes she no longer wore and sold books she no longer wanted.

When she had finished clearing the clutter at home, she found she had much more physical space and felt relaxed and energised about facing the world now that her home life was in order. At work, she gave her desk and filing system the once over and set new systems in place.

Increasing her personal efficiency began by simply clearing clutter.

Part Five

Emotional clutter

Now that you have cleared physical clutter and seen the results, its time to think about yourself. Just like your home or office, take the time to evaluate what is cluttering your mind.

Ask yourself:

• What am I currently worrying about?
• Am I concerned about something specific in the future?
• What have I been meaning to ‘take care of’?
• Am I managing an unresolved conflict with a friend or family member?

Imagine if you dealt with each item what you could achieve. How would you spend your time and energy now that the mental clutter has been taken care of?

Like physical clutter, either start with the difficult items or the ones that are easily checked off. Each item may involve a variety of actions, like focussing on your aspirations, being assertive or learning new communication skills. You may choose to write in a diary to help you resolve issues too.

Either way, the idea is to get started no matter what. When clearing mental clutter, always focus on the positive end outcome, that is, what you are ultimately trying to achieve. Brainstorm all the options available to you and choose a way forward that you are fully committed to.

Remember, nothing will change unless you take control and responsibility of your life.

Action!

Actions of the Week

1. Get started

Write a list of everything that is cluttering your home and workspaces and set effective goals to address each item

2. The 10 minute clear out

You can spare 10 minutes a day can’t you? Challenge yourself to a daily 10 minute clear out for the rest of this week. Walk through your home or work and find 10 items that you want to put away, discard, recycle or give away.

3. Keep a journal

Write about your emotional clutter in a journal. Use these questions as prompts:

• What am I currently worrying about?
• Am I concerned about something specific in the future?
• What have I been meaning to ‘take care of’?
• Am I managing an unresolved conflict with a friend or family member?

While making progress through your clutter and items that drain your mental and physical energy, constantly evaluate how you feel – do you feel a sense of inner relief as you are freed from these things?

Now that you have more space in your life, focus on the bigger picture – your ideal life, your dreams, goals and aspirations.

NEXT WEEK: Make time work for you – practical ideas on time management that fit your lifestyle and individual needs.

Part Two

Track your time

This concept involves logging your time over a seven day period so you can increase your awareness about where and how you actually spend your time.

By analysing this information, you can learn a lot about the patterns of daily interruptions and how to break them. Tracking your time is also important as old fashioned prescriptive time management plans often overlook your individual reality. Without knowledge of your current situation you are unable to make sustainable changes.

Take the challenge to consciously review how you spend your time over the next week and highlight any additional time traps that you may not have identified in the previous strategy.

Minimise time traps

Minimising time guzzlers can be as simple as screening phone calls. Sounds simple doesn’t it? And it can be if you identify where your time is being chewed through and eliminate it at the source.

Classic time traps include telephone calls, checking your emails as they arrive, endless meetings, interruptions, web surfing, not being able to say ‘no’ assertively, not prioritising tasks or a non-existent schedule. Be honest about the amount of your time that is being wasted and include time at home where a classic time trap is television.

Part Three

Plan a realistic schedule

Plan your day ahead of time using a weekly and monthly overview, plus a daily focus. Don’t wait for the day to begin and then enter a panic when you realise the 101 things that must be done.

Block out time for specific commitments so you can focus on your priorities and truly become effective. Set aside large blocks of time or designate time zones for specific kinds of activities.

For example:

1. At Work
   Time zones at work may include; administration, business development, meetings and clients.
2. At Home
   You may regularly block out time for study, sport, recreation, hobbies, home projects and of course chores and household management.

Whether you use an electronic diary, computer or paper based scheduling system is your choice. It will depend on your lifestyle and preferences.

Each system has its pros and cons, so choose what will work best for you and then stick with it. Whatever you choose, use only one diary, planner or organiser to avoid double-booking yourself. That said, I often encourage clients to visually represent their year on a large A2 wall planner which can give an instant overview and focus for the months to come.

The easiest way to plan a realistic schedule is to set sensible deadlines, prioritise your ‘to do’ list within your schedule and group tasks together.

In effect, what you are doing is reallocating your time for what’s most important in your life. Grouping tasks together like running errands, filing and paperwork also increases your efficiency. Prioritise your ‘to do’ list within your schedule.

Keep your ‘to do’ lists short and realistic

The top two or three things you must do that day. Having a list of 24 ‘must do’s’ in a day will just add to your anxiety and stress. Be brutal when planning your schedule – don’t include items that you don’t want to do, unless they serve a greater purpose in your long term goals.

Constantly review your schedule by allowing yourself planning time.

Half an hour a day will probably be ample for most people, and using this time will ensure you are clear and focused throughout the day. Also spend time preparing for forthcoming commitments.

For example if you are speaking at a conference in two months time, when do you want to prepare your speech and begin practicing so you deliver with full confidence? Plan in advance, factor it into your current schedule and you will reduce your anxiety.

Part Four

Manage phone use

We’ve already identified that phone calls can be a serious time trap. Unless you work in a call centre, phone calls can seriously interrupt your flow of work, not to mention your concentration.

Manage your phone time more effectively by getting to grips with the technology, learn to use speed dial and other special features on your phone. When there’s a backlog on your answer phone or voicemail, write the message down and delete immediately. This way you won’t have to scroll through redundant messages next time you check your messages.

In blocking out time for similar tasks it make sense to make all your calls together. Its much faster to make 10 consecutive calls rather then spread them throughout the day, it will definitely help you keep your calls short and effective.

Just as you would prepare for an appointment by gathering any relevant paperwork, do the same when it comes to phone calls – have all the information to hand that you may need to refer to.

Manage Email & Messaging

Increasingly both emails and online messaging of one form or another eat into our time. They are supposed to be time savers, and if used wisely they can be, but all to often are nothing more than distractions. Do you really need to be instantly available all the time?

Set times for checking your email, anything from once or twice a day to every hour, depending on how core a part it plays in your work. In between these times, especially if you work at a computer, turn your email software off. Seeing messages come in or hearing that ‘ping’ is an unneeded interruption.

The same applies to your SMS service, Twitter or any other text messaging system you use. Unless dealing with such messages is your job, turn them off or put them on silent and check them only at predetermined intervals.

Part Five

Set boundaries for quiet time

Imagine having an hour or two, free of distractions so you are able to concentrate on important project work. I’ve seen many stressed out executives, who as an absolute last resort close their door and say ‘no interruptions’.

Why not be pro-active and let your team or colleagues know why you need quiet time and how you can achieve it together?

In some corporate organisations we’ve worked with teams collectively set regular daily quiet times, while in other organisations individuals may put a sign on their door or workstation to communicate that they are concentrating and do not want to be disturbed.

Setting boundaries for quiet time does require assertive communication. This can often be the first barrier people face in setting the system in place. Once you’ve established the boundary make sure everyone knows you are serious about your new work habit by committing to the ‘do not disturb’ time slots you’ve diligently told everyone about.

When you plan your realistic schedule perhaps you may choose to set aside solid, regular blocks of uninterrupted time too. Designating ‘quiet times’ can work wonders at home too.

Action!

Actions of the Week

1. How do you spend your time?

For the next seven days log how you spend your time. Then review your log and either highlight or underline what is absolutely essential for maintaining the life that you want to lead. With the remainder of items ask yourself is it possible not to do the task, delegate or at least do it less often?

2. List your top 10 personal time traps.

Don’t let yourself get down about how much time is being wasted, but consciously address each time guzzler. What can you do to overcome each time trap?

When up against the clock ask yourself, ask yourself is this the best use of you time? Or is there a more efficient way to do this task?

3. Plan a realistic schedule and a framework for your time.

Use your computer scheduler or draw up a table on a piece of paper, dividing your day into reasonable time blocks. Think back to when you used a timetable at school. Common themes for timetabling include afternoons for client meetings, time for project work and regular daily time periods for administration.

Outside of work consider your routine of reading the weekend newspapers, socialising, designating ‘homework’ time for your children and family visits.

NEXT WEEK: Organise your daily life – everything you need to know about being more efficient at home and work!

Key 2

Manage paper flow

Before you even contemplate filing material learn to manage the flow of information. A simple system of paper trays for incoming, outgoing correspondence and a ‘pending’ file can work for many people. Beware of dumping everything into the ‘pending’ file though! Create a simple filing system for all your loose papers. Daily file categories could be sorted into action areas like call, order, pay, read, discuss etc.

A system that works well is hanging files labelled Monday-Friday for upcoming meeting and client notes, or a numerical file number 1-31 for days of the month.

Remember the key to any filing system is the index. Systems fall over because the same information can be stored under many categories. You can use a simple spreadsheet to generate an index or a more sophisticated software program. Also create a system for archive files for important information that you need to keep for legal purposes.

Again, strictly handle each piece of paper only once, especially if you can spend less than two minutes dealing with it. If you are sorting through information, correspondence and messages try to action immediately. If it will require more than half an hour of your time, schedule an appropriate time, don’t just put it in a ‘to do’ file. Use the 4D’s: for every piece of paper consider if you will do it now, deal with it later (but schedule time for this), delegate or ditch/dump it.

Bring it home

Many people mistakenly think that they don’t need to be organised at home as its not a business environment. Perhaps if you are already organised at work you could transfer a few ideas into managing your own household too. We all have bills to pay, bank statements arriving, school notices, invitations, magazine subscriptions and other information that can be effectively dealt with, delegated, done or dumped!

Key 3

Prepare ahead of time

Set your week in motion by identifying what you want to accomplish – earlier I discussed using a diary to plan your time to help you with this. Being prepared is one of the easiest things you can do to help simplify your life.

A key area that clients often ask for coaching on is preparing ahead of time for meetings.

Often, meetings use agendas to keep people on track – don’t use an agenda for the sake of it, use it to focus your team and lift your performance as a group. Circulate background information before a meeting so you can launch into a discussion rather than spending unnecessary time getting everyone up to speed. That way you can also do your homework before meetings, then contribute or ask intelligent questions that will ultimately move you all forward as a team.

Block out a specific time beforehand for doing this – preparation isn’t flicking through a discussion document in your 30 second lift descent.

Key 4

Delegate

Before you ignore this strategy let me explain that delegation isn’t just for managers in the workplace. Delegation is a skill we can all use in many area of your lives, including at home. The idea behind successful delegation is that taking charge of your life doesn’t mean doing absolutely everything yourself. Delegate what you feel most comfortable with and do this by making use of people’s specialist skills.

When you are overwhelmed with things to do it can feel like you don’t have the time to utilise delegation as a strategy. Don’t fall into the ‘I’m too busy to delegate’ or ‘its quicker to do it myself’ traps. Setting aside a small amount of time to decide what and how you can delegate will provide you with more time in the long run.

Don’t feel guilty dumping work on others as that’s not what you are doing. Its most likely that the task your are delegating is something you don’t enjoy doing or you realise your time could be better used elsewhere. We all have different skills and delegation works best when you match the right person to the job.

Give serious consideration to delegating jobs you aren’t good at doing or simply don’t enjoy.

Consider repetitive tasks like gardening, grocery shopping, book keeping and housework and then look to special projects like decorating, planning a holiday, buying a new car or computer.

Delegation is a three stage process that involves presenting the task, being available for guidance while the job is being done and then evaluating the outcome. When you delegate a task, people need to know they are making a valuable contribution and are part of a team. Even if you are paying someone to help a ‘thank you’ is always a powerful acknowledgement.

Key 5

Schedule spontaneity and interruptions

Avoid planning your day in such minute detail that you aren’t able to cope with unexpected demands that soon become high priorities.

In our first coaching session, Duncan (49) identified a need to seriously rearrange his schedule to cope with demands in his senior management role. He was extremely frustrated at the ‘fire-fighting’ or unexpected interruptions he was expected to deal with and manage on a daily basis.

Instead of planning enough work for a solid eight hour day, he choose to plan for a 5 hour workload, which left 3 hours to deal with staff demands and unexpected items.

In short, do plan on being interrupted – if its inevitable that your day will have constant interruptions it is vital to allow room in your schedule rather than becoming sidetracked by them. Like Duncan, don’t necessarily expect to do a solid eight hours work in an eight hour day.

Instead schedule six hours for work (or whatever is realistic in your work situation) and block off two hours for interruptions or rather, spontaneity.

Key 6

Make it a date!

This is a strategy numerous clients have adopted to provide non-negotiable time for events that are important in their lives. Whether its time specifically for exercising, your partner, family or ‘me time’.

Recently Susan (34) who was working towards a goal of creating a home environment to nurture her children’s development designated Wednesday evenings as ‘family night’. This simple idea ensured all the family were together to enjoy a meal and relax in each other’s company. A regular family night can be especially effective for families whose working week seems to be entirely consumed with after school activities and events.

If you find it hard to catch up with friends use the same idea and ‘make it a date’ for a regular Sunday brunch or night out once a month. This means you can all commit to a fun time and can plan childcare in advance if its needed. You also don’t have to waste time trying to match gaps in your schedules to see each other.

Finding time for ourselves as individuals however, appears to be the most challenging. You keep appointments with other people, so how about making appointments with yourself for the things that really matter. Do you often start the week with all the best intentions of exercising but simply run out of time by the end of the week? Factor in fitness by scheduling in your gym classes, use a personal trainer who you are committed to or join a sports team so you will stick to your appointment.

Also dedicate time for yourself to relax, unwind and rejuvenate. Running your life at 100km per hour is not sustainable in the long term as you’ll learn in module six.

Key 7

Be smart and multi-task

We’ve all heard the saying ‘kill two birds with one stone’ which means to accomplish two separate tasks in a single effort. Its smart to multi-task.

Consider cycling or walking to work to double up on your commuting and exercise efforts. Why not try exercising with friends so you can socialise and get fit at the same time. Make two meals at once and freeze one – this saves time, effort and power. Make use of travelling and waiting time by returning quick phone calls or catching up on reading.

Action!

Actions of the Week

1.  Organise your files

Test if your current filing system is working for you, set aside five minutes to find this information; last year’s tax return, a bank statement from January 2003 and your life insurance policy.

This action task illustrates that whatever system you use the true test is being able to instantly locate information you need. Think logically about where you file your records and then you will be able to locate them in a second. Use this experience when you are planning your new system.

2. Practice the Four D’s

Next time you pick up a piece of paper in your home or work environment ask yourself can you:

• Do it now?
• Delegate it?
• Ditch it?
• Deal with it later?

3. Do some delegating

List 10-20 tasks that you dislike doing and then delegate them. Find someone who enjoys the tasks you loathe and either pay them or do something for them in return.

4. Identify Multi-tasking opportunities

Revisit your time log, review your newly formed schedule and identify areas where you can creatively multi task.

Maybe its doing your banking when you are at the supermarket? Writing birthday cards or letters while at the hairdressers? Having breakfast/lunch meetings for work?

List 10 ways you can simplify your life through multi-tasking.

NEXT WEEK: Manage your money better – let’s take the next step in transforming your life and learn how to simplify your finances, a must for everyone.

Part Two

Set financial goals and make a plan

Generally clients tell me that they want more money, it’s a key financial goal for most of us. You don’t need to be a financial wizard to realise that there are two ways to create more money – earn more and spend less!

Forget about get rich quick schemes and buy now, pay later bargains. Financial freedom all comes down to planning and goal setting.

Use the same principles that you would use for your career or relationship. Having specific financial goals will increase your motivation levels too. People regularly tell me how much easier it is to save money when they are working towards a holiday or house deposit. If you are aware that you operate in this way, continue to set goals that relate to your financial resources.

If you’ve put planning for a secure financial future at the bottom of your to do list, now is your chance to make some positive changes. It’s never too late to take control and set financial goals as a way of simplifying your life once and for all.

Common areas for setting financial goals include;

• implementing a budget
• reducing debt
• paying off student loans
• establishing a 3-6 month emergency fund
• buying a house
• funding care for elderly parents
• generating passive income
• retirement planning
• investing
• home renovations
• a wedding
• starting a family
• a dream holiday.

Be wary though of financial goals that are centred around spending money rather than making it! Remember, once you’ve decided on your financial goals, turn them into effective SMART goals as discussed earlier in module one.

Get help if you need it

If you think all this financial planning involves too much paperwork or you don’t understand what it all means, get expert advice or increase your knowledge so you can take control of your finances.

A financial advisor recently told me that the simple line between financial struggle and success is usually due to knowledge. You can increase your financial intelligence by reading specialist books, using online tools, attending seminars and courses to learn more.

Aim to understand what your accountant, advisor or banker is saying so you can make informed choices.

Would you rather not think about your money situation?

I find most clients don’t want to know the truth about their financial situation as it means they will need to address it. The great thing about money management is its very tangible, you can use bank statements, receipts and budgets to track and measure your progress.

Let’s now take a closer look at how you can simplify and organise your finances on a day to day basis so that you spend less time worrying about whether or not you have the funds available to pay your rent or phone bill.

While many people see organising finances as particularly tedious, especially if you like to be spontaneous or are a creative soul, it will also help you build your wealth so you are able to live the life you want in the future.

Take Action

Consider the question, if I continue on the same financial path where will I be in 15 or 20 years? This will highlight the need to take control of your finances and simplify wherever possible.

Part Three

Establish your reality

Just like clearing clutter and managing your time, money is no different – you need to start by being totally honest with yourself. The best thing you can do to take control of your finances is determine exactly where your money goes. What is your income, what are your expenses, what assets do you have, what are you really worth?

Many people don’t have a clear picture of their financial status, so here’s a net worth equation that everyone needs to complete:

Net worth = assets (what you own) minus liabilities (what you owe).

Your net worth is a snapshot of your financial position.

First, write down what you own and what you owe – the difference is your net worth.

It’s a simple idea, quite frightening for many, but if you have more assets (property, cars, investments) than liabilities (mortgage, loans, debts) you are in a good position. With more liabilities than assets, not an ideal position, but at least you have a realistic picture of your current financial situation and can begin to plan accordingly.

Take a closer look at how your investments are performing (if you have any) or if you are simply spending more than you earn.

This process is meaningless unless you give yourself a reality check on where the income you have is actually going and areas you may like to change. Let’s get back to basics and start by listing all your monthly outgoings. I often find that few people have any idea what they are actually spending their money on each month until they sit down and itemise every single expense.

Yes, that includes newspapers, chocolate bars, lunches and gifts.

This will give you a realistic idea of where you are right now and what you can do to organise your finances more efficiently. No excuses for lost receipts, obtain copies of your bank and credit card statements for the past few months and list all your expenditure.

Take Action

Give yourself a financial reality check and calculate your net worth (assets (what you own) minus liabilities (what you owe).)

Part Four

Be brave and budget

It’s not boring to budget – it’s what successful people do to keep themselves on track and it will certainly simplify your life.

A budget is a plan of income and expenditure. It will tell you where you are now and will help you get to where you want to be. Your budget doesn’t have to be restrictive and it can allow for some impulsive spending. Setting and using a budget will encourage you to make conscious choices regarding your finances. Like any goal, be realistic when setting your monthly budget. It may seem like stating the obvious, but if your expenditure exceeds your income, find ways to minimise your expenses and increase your income.

Set your budget to suit your pay period and review after every pay. Evaluate your progress by comparing your actual expenses with your budget. Here are standard budget areas you may incorporate:

• Rent/mortgage
• Savings/investments
• Loan repayments
• Insurances (health, life, car, home and contents etc)
• Groceries (separate supermarket from other food like lunches)
• Power (gas, electricity)
• Telephone (mobile, landline)
• Car or commuting expenses (petrol, maintenance)
• Big ticket items (furniture, white ware)
• Medical (include dental checks, optometrists etc)
• Fitness (memberships, equipment)
• Clothing (include repairs, dry-cleaning)
• Grooming (include beauty products, haircuts)
• Entertainment (include dining, movies, music etc)
• Travel/holidays (flights, accommodation, campsites)
• Gifts (for family and friends).

Also consider your lifecycle – for example are you saving for imminent retirement, your children’s education or an overseas holiday? If so, budget for it.

Take Action

Keep it simple and write down exactly how you have spent your money over the last month, every bit of cash must be accounted for to give yourself a reality check on where you money goes.

Using the budget categories listed in this module, compile your own monthly budget accounting for all your income and expenses.

Part Five

Automate

The biggest improvements to our banking system in recent years have been the introduction of phone and internet banking.

If you are a visual person you may prefer to ‘see’ your bank balance online compared with listening to your balance on the phone. Either option you choose should offer you benefits of being able to automate. Admittedly technology is moving at a fast rate, but keep up with the advances. If you’ve always used phone banking, find an hour to look at the options available to you online. Then decide which option is best for you.

Make life easy for yourself by paying your regular bills like power, rent and telephones by automatic payment. When you reconcile your accounts and check against your budget you will be able to ensure correct payments have been processed.

Find out from your bank their current transaction fees and see if you can operate your accounts more efficiently. If you are disciplined you may decide to reduce your fees and simultaneously earn air points by paying all your bills automatically via credit card. Pay your credit card off every month and you will reduce individual transaction fees.

Take Action

Automate your money management with internet, phone banking or direct debits wherever appropriate for regular payments.

Part Six

Reduce debt

We all experience debt at varying stages of our lives, but when you decide to get smart about your money management seek advice on how you can best reduce your debt.

Choose to get out of debt and improve your financial position immediately.

Why pay nearly 20% on credit card debt when your savings are only earning 5%? While there are two schools of thought on debt reduction and savings, based purely on numbers it makes sense to use any savings on hand to pay off debt. Then you can start saving for your future.

Consolidate  your debt for a lower interest rate so you can gain control of your financial life again – especially if you have mounting debts from numerous credit cards, hire purchases, outstanding rent and overdue payments.

Take Action

Review your current debts, can you consolidate your debts for lower interest payments?

5 Tips!

5 EASY MONEY MANAGEMENT TIPS

• Repay your credit card debt every month, this way you can utilise low bank fees and minimise high interest payments.
• Always reconcile your bank statements so you are fully aware of fees or any errors that may occur. This is always a good way of giving yourself a monthly money reality check.
• Save interest on loans by reducing the term.
• Don’t be trapped by a special promotion of 12 months interest free hire purchase. Make full repayments over 12 months and there is no interest incurred, however after that time, the interest starts kicking in. Signing a contract – read the fine print!
• Always keep an emergency fund of three months salary. This isn’t a savings fund but to be used if you lose your job or are in genuine need.

Part Two

Understand stress

We’ve all heard of the ‘fight or flight’ response that has been passed to us from our ancestors. The stress response is part of our programming to prepare us for danger. Admittedly these days we very rarely need to run for our life from a predator or hunt our food to survive. However, we now need to cope with pressurised daily lives, working long hours, commuting, arranging childcare, caring for family, study and socialising.

Stress occurs when we think the demands of a situation exceeds our ability to cope. It is your perception that makes it threatening. This is why if you are working as a project team to a deadline one person may rate the stress highly while another seemingly copes. The main difference between those who cope with stress and those who don’t is the varying interpretation of what is happening around us and our subsequent physical and emotional response to that demand.

Stress-prone people will perceive a situation to be stressful even when the same situation is not perceived stressful by another person. When you receive an unbalanced demand your body reacts both psychologically and physically. In short, your level of stress is directly related to your thoughts and whether you feel you can meet the demand that is being placed on you at the time.

Many people fail to act on the warning signs of stress, the symptoms of which vary from person to person and situation to situation. Physical stress symptoms can include neck ache, headache, muscle tension, tiredness, feeling rundown, rapid heartbeat, increased speed of breathing, change in sleeping patterns, stomach upsets, colds and infections. Emotional changes include feelings of anxiety, irritability, tearfulness, aggression, confusion and a lack of concentration. You may also notice behavioural changes like a drop in your work productivity or an increase in smoking or drinking as misplaced coping mechanisms.

Generally, health professionals agree, there are three types of stress. As you read this consider which stress mode you most often encounter.

• Anticipatory stress
  When you worry about something that is yet to happen. For example you may have a performance review next month and you are already anxious about the outcome.
• Situation stress
  When there is an immediate threat, for example your car sliding out of control on a wet road. Typically, these are external pressures like an accident or death.
• Chronic stress
  Usually experienced over a long period of time and may include stress from a difficult working environment or an unhealthy relationship. Excessive amounts of stress, to the point of not being able to cope can lead to mental illness, including depression which requires immediate professional medical assistance.

Part Three

Look for your personal stress triggers

Once you know how your body displays stress, it makes sense to take a step back even further and identify your personal stress triggers. This is what you are actually worrying about or what is causing stress. At this point understand that you may not be able to control a situation, but you can control your response. For example rush hour traffic and a toddler’s temper tantrum aren’t going to disappear in an instant, but your stress can be reduced by managing how you respond. Like many things in life, it’s mostly about your attitude!

I’ve seen stressed out executives take a week off work to unwind from huge pressures however on their return the stress levels immediately return as they haven’t changed the original situation. This highlights the importance of identifying the actual trigger and not just managing the symptom. Time out of the office or away from the kids may reduce your stress levels temporarily but certainly won’t fix the problem.

While not a comprehensive list, here are some common home and work stress triggers that clients regularly share with me:

• a demanding manager
• personality clashes with work colleagues
• unreliable staff
• redundancies
• being alone
• commuting
• having no social network
• a health issue
• disagreements in a relationship.

A recent US study reported top stress triggers in this order

• personal finances
• career
• too many responsibilities
• marriage
• health
• children
• loneliness
• sex
• relatives
• neighbours.

Part Four

Stress management

What if you could actually reduce stress to create more balance in your life?

This isn’t a trick question, because you can make the choice to manage stress. I can already hear you suspiciously asking ‘is it really possible to manage the level of stress in my life?’ It’s a concept that sounds almost impossible to achieve. I suggest a simple approach of dealing with your stress triggers. A word of warning – reducing and managing stress is a process, there is simply no short term quick fix.

While you may have identified your stress triggers, the important part of the equation is knowing when its time to act. Learn to recognise when you are being affected by stress – that’s the symptoms we looked at in the last section. Often your friends, family or colleagues may notice the symptoms of stress you are displaying before you logically realise them. So be quick to tune into the feedback you receive, whether it’s a caring word from a friend or a shooting pain in your shoulders as you rush to meet a deadline.

Can’t find time to deal with stress?

It’s simple, you just have to find the time. Unless you downshift your life the stress is here to stay. And worse still, if you ignore stress its going to build until boiling point. Something has to give. Create a saner, more balanced life by managing stress.

Part Five

Eliminate it!

This may sound harsh, but its obvious – if you are stressed out, identify the source and eliminate it. Here are some self-coaching questions you can ask yourself when you are experiencing stress:

1. What is the issue or problem?
2. What led to this or caused me to become stressed?
3. What can I do to change or eliminate the situation?
4. What is the best option for me to reduce stress?

This may all sound easier said than done, so here’s some real life examples of how to eliminate stress.

Like many of us, Sarah (29) has a common daily routine that heightens her stress responses. At the end of a busy working day she returns home to prepare a meal, feed pets and manage her household. On top of this the phone seems to ring incessantly, quickly raising the stakes.

Sarah has chosen a few simple ideas to eliminate stress in her evening, she now screens calls using an answer phone, buys occasional healthy takeaways and shares cooking responsibilities with her boyfriend.

Sarah has been surprised at how her new calm has come about, by making small changes to a series of activities that previously bothered her immensely.

One of the most common issues we deal with in our coaching practice is clients trying to cope with the stress of an excessive workload.

Before you discuss your workload with your manager, first take control by working through the action tasks in this course and committing to positive plans to simplify and increase your efficiency. Evaluate how you can manage your time better, how you can improve your flow of work, what needs to be different for you to be able to manage the work you have. If you are taking on more work than you can actually cope with, try delegating or negotiating more realistic deadlines on your projects. If the stress you experience is mainly associated with your workload, revisit modules three and four for ideas on how to control the influx of information in your daily life.

Use the strategies outlined to restructure your day to minimise stress wherever possible. Set new boundaries for how you interact and relate with others.

Part Six

Create time to slow down

In today’s fast paced world we often forget to relax.

It’s common for people to have lots of things to do, to cram their life full of things and to get a kick out of the fact they seem to manage it and get a stress rush. You will know that you need to slow down if the pace of your life is affecting other areas of your life. Maybe stress at work is leading to a breakdown of a close relationship. Perhaps your work or personal life is so hectic that you rarely prioritise your well-being, leaving you run-down and prone to illness.

To live a balanced life and reduce stress it is vital you create time to slow down, no matter how demanding you think your life is.

How to slow down

The key to creating time to slow down is to find relaxation techniques that work best for you and fit your lifestyle.

Just because your best friend swears by dawn beach walks, doesn’t mean its ideal for you, instead you may prefer evening yoga sessions. Relaxation takes many forms and can include exercise, reading, listening to music and walking. Finding a mere 10 minutes a day to sit, close your eyes and simply do nothing can have a profound impact on your ability to cope with stress.

Many of my clients have chosen to set aside some time every day to centre their thoughts, either first thing in the morning, in the evening or escaping at lunchtime to a nearby park.

I recall a client telling me he drives home after work and before going inside sits quietly in the car listening to a jazz CD for 10 minutes of solitude before switching to his home mode. Another escapes a hectic work day before the stress reaches boiling point and retreats to the bathroom to sit for 10 minutes, focussing on her breathing. She often uses the time to focus her energy before giving important presentations while everyone else is madly rushing around making last minute amendments.

Whether your opt for meditation or a brisk walk, solitude is essential for surviving stress.

All the health experts I have spoken with agree that managing stress is best achieved by living a healthy lifestyle – eating well, exercising regularly and relaxing. Without a doubt, good health is the foundation for managing stress and balancing energy in your daily life.

In coaching clients on a range of issues the best guidance is not to try and make too many changes at once, especially when it comes to healthy living. You may decide to stop smoking, reduce your alcohol consumption, stop eating junk food and begin an exercise programme. Just pick one area to begin with and focus on it 100%.

As the changes become part of you regular daily habits build on this momentum by making another change. For example, as you increase your fitness, then you can add in a healthier eating plan to ensure that your lifestyle improvements are long lasting. Just as you brush your teeth every morning without a second thought, aim to have your new healthy living habits incorporated into your schedule in the same way.

Action!

Actions of the Week

1. Identify your stress triggers

Think back to the last time you experienced stress and recall how you displayed it. Did you feel tense, tired or grumpy? List all the physical and emotional symptoms you experienced. Use this information to help you identify stressful situations in the future.

2. Keep a stress log for a fortnight

At the end of each day recall when you were stressed and what triggered the situation? Rate your stress levels on a scale of one to five. Once your log is completed, identify any patterns or trends that show your personal stress triggers.

3. 10 minute challenge

Spend 10 minutes every day simply doing nothing!

For a lot of people this is not at all easy at first, but a physical and mental break of just a few minutes can have a very powerful effect on how you deal with the rest of the day. And everyone can spare 10 minutes.

Make this part of your regular self-care as a way of switching off, decompressing and relaxing. You may choose to meditate, deep breathe or do gentle stretches, but best of all is just to sit somewhere quiet and comfortable and close your eyes.

4. Draw up a list of 10 ways you like to unwind and relax

Look at how you can incorporate at least one relaxation technique in your daily routine.

Congratulations!

Remember the famous quote ‘it only takes one person to change your life – you!’

You have committed to six weeks of self-guided learning in how to SIMPLIFY YOUR LIFE. Throughout the past month and a half you have cleared clutter, learned to manage time better, organise your daily life, take control of your finances and minimise your stress. Keep it up!