How to Make Your Life Easier

Getting paid to do what you love? Finding your soul mate? Saying ‘No’ to a second helping of roast potatoes? These things are hard.

But, not everything has to be.

Here are a few of my favourite ways to soften, streamline and improve the way we do the day-to-day.

SUBTRACT – Learning what you don’t need and subtracting it accordingly is (probably)the fastest way to make your life easier. I am not just referring to all that crap we accumulate along the way that we know won’t make us any happier, but also the people, distractions, micro-stresses, obligations and endless decisions that clog up the arteries of our lives. Adding things to our lives costs us time and money, whilst subtracting usually has the opposite effect.

How? Learning to say ‘No’ nicely but firmly is a great place to start. If you don’t want to go to that dinner party, baby shower, networking event or karaoke bar you don’t have to. It’s one of the few saving graces of being an adult so embrace it. Pay attention to how the people you choose to spend time with make you feel and subtract any emotional vampires from the equation. Take a micro-stress audit and seek out solutions to the lost keys, forgotten password, never-any-change-for-the-parking-metre daily frustrations. Lastly, swap the angst of making the RIGHT decision by trying not to overthink it. ‘Satisficers’ (people who choose the first option that meets their threshold of requirements) tend to be a lot happier than ‘Maximisers’ who spend forever analysing every option in their quest to choose the BEST.

AUTOMATE – We make on average 35,000 decisions EVERY day (200 of those are just about what we put in our mouths), which from where I am sitting sounds e-x-h-a-u-s-t-i-n-g. We can make our lives easier by automating as many of them as possible. Based on the theory that there are only a finite number of decisions we can ‘get right’ every day, automation also helps with decision-fatigue which can lead to reckless behaviour or total inertia. Neither of which will make your life easier in the long run.

How? The easiest place to start is with your finances. Deduct your savings automatically, set up monthly direct debits for your bills and check out the bank accounts and ’round-up’ apps that divert any digital loose change into savings. Next up, automate all your boring-but-important appointments (teeth/eyes/wax/smear etc.), so they are set and forget. Make sure you have automatic backup switched on for all your devices so you never have to cry over lost photos or contacts again. Eat the same meals, wear the same outfits, do your washing on the same night/s every week. Save mixing it up for the stuff that gives you LIFE – so if that is food or fashion, then find other things you care less about (your exercise routine? the times of day you check your email?)and automate them. For extra brownie points find a morning (and night-time) routine that works for you, because getting out of bed is a hell of a lot easier when it’s done on repeat. Try Mel Robbins ‘5 Second Rule’ if your motivation is pants.

NUDGE – One of my personal faves. This concept (popularized by the 2008 book Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness) is just as it sounds. It’s a gentle push toward better behaviour, perfect for those of us prone to self-sabotage and who take a fast/binge approach to radical change. ‘Nudges’ are simply small environmental tweaks that improve your chance of doing the right thing (perfect for those easily led astray).

How? Seek out small ways you can make better choices easier. For example, deleting a toxic ex’s number (thus avoiding ill-timed texts), healthy snacks at eye level (to better deter you from the biscuit tin), leaving a book by the bath (so you read instead of scrolling whilst you soak). I am constantly on a nudge hunt, as my prominently displayed trainers/floss/thank you cards and apple cider vinegar will attest to – I encourage you to do the same.

OPTIMISE: Sure, everybody writes about the 80/20 rule, but only because it works. I find it super weird how we often spend ages doing something that is not that important whilst quietly ignoring THE thing that will properly move us forward (making that call/sending that resume/having that hard conversation.) Optimising is not about making everything perfect (although there are tons of productivity blogs that would fight me), it is simply about making the smart choices to make life less stressful (in the long run).

How? My top recommendation is to adhere to the comfort principle – spend your money where you spend your time. So, for nearly all of us, that is in the bedroom. Splurging on a decent bed, mattress and pillows (that will still be optimizing your life long after that pair of shoes have lost their shine) is a great place to start. If you work from home, a decent chair (I know – b-o-r-i-n-g) is worthy of your cash. If you are an exercise fiend or your wardrobe is 70% activewear, spending a chunk on decent trainers is not a waste. Equally, if getting a cleaner/ordering takeout/taking the odd uber means you actually get to spend time with your kids/husband/cat then do that (the boffins call this ‘time affluence’ and it’s an actual thing.) Other ways to optimise include eating your frogs first (I try and do all my hard stuff by midday), exercising harder but for (way) less time (torture me quickly and then set me free) and creating an email file called ‘old inbox’ and just dumping all the emails you want to save but can’t be arsed to file in there (this literally changed my life!)

So, there you have it – my four recommendations for, if not exactly living on easy street, at least hanging out in the same suburb. If you have any more, I’d LOVE to hear them – comment below or shoot me an email (contact up top) – your feedback is always appreciated!

This GET HAPPIER post is brought to you by someone who never met a short cut she didn’t like.