This is Optimal Living Daily Episode 2879, how to maintain motivation when simplifying your life by Corne Carver of BeingMoreWithLess.com and I'm Justin Molick. Welcome to Optimal Living Daily, OLD, or OLD to show where I read to you from articles that I think are amazing with Permission from the Authors. So that will get right to the post as we optimize your life. How to maintain motivation when simplifying your life by Corne Carver of BeingMoreWithLess.com.
Have you ever started a big closet clean out, started to pay down your debt or tried to simplify your life in other ways, only to lose motivation midway through? Be stopped because you didn't have a strong support system or felt too hard to continue or life happened. The thing about simplicity is that it isn't always easy, especially in the beginning. In most cases, it doesn't happen overnight either, so figuring out ways to maintain motivation is essential.
8 Ways to maintain motivation when simplifying your life. The good news is that with each thing you release, you feel a little lighter. The new space and time you create will serve as motivation and inspiration to keep going. So here are 8 ways to maintain motivation to simplify your life and possibly inspire people around you to simplify too.
1. Surround yourself with support. As a family aren't always ready to join in and support you at the intensity you may be ready for. Be patient and surround yourself with support in other ways.
Reading books and blog posts and listening to podcasts is a great way to stay inspired as you pay down debt, declutter, and begin to live a simpler life. When the people around you begin to notice the changes you're making and how those changes are changing you, they may be curious and become more supportive and interested in simplicity too. 2. Get your heart in the game.
If your heart isn't in the game, permanent change doesn't stand a chance. Really understand your motivation to change. What's pulling on your heart? For instance, simplifying your life for the sake of clean countertops may not speak to your heart, but simplifying your life for better health, less stress, and more presence in your relationships?
Now it's a matter of the heart. Why do you want to simplify your life? My simplified for better health and more love. I can't tell you what your reasons are, but I do know once you identify them, vocalize them and write them down, you'll never look back.
Once your heart is in the game, you'll find the strength you need to let go of the clutter, the busyness, and all the other things standing between you and what matters most. 3. Change your subscription habits. Unsubscribe from emails and publications that encourage you to spruce up your wardrobe and buy things that eventually contribute to your clutter.
Like over anything that suggests you need to buy more stuff to be more you. Let your media consumption habits inspire motivation and not derail your efforts. You may not be able to avoid all advertising temptation, but a lot of it is within your control. 4.
Curate your social feeds. Fill your social feeds with inspiration to simplify. Join me on Facebook or Instagram and follow your favorite simple living authors and advocates. If part of simplifying for you is cutting back on social media, try a digital fast for 24 hours a week and set a timer when you do engage.
It's so easy to go down the Facebook rabbit hole, but if you set a timer, you'll be reminded to unplug and go for a walk or do something else you enjoy. 5. Live it now. You don't have to wait until you're debt-free, clutter-free, or living as simply as possible to enjoy your life.
Find little ways to enjoy the simpler life you're creating each day. Take a long walk, cook a simple meal, spend a phone-free evening with people you love. The success of this journey does not depend on the end result, but instead, how you live it every day. 6.
Have fun with it. We aren't motivated by tasks and chores. Take your simplicity journey fun and lighthearted by hosting a minimalist scavenger hunt or play other games. 7.
Don't force it. Expecting motivation when you're exhausted and overwhelmed isn't fair. Sometimes you have to let go and rest instead. Interestingly, letting it go makes space to create more of it.
8. Be good to yourself. Big change usually comes with some slipping and sliding, a few steps forward and then even more steps backward. Don't beat yourself up or let guilt hold you back from trying again.
Be good to yourself. Take care of your body, heart, mind, and soul. Good things say time. You've got this.
If you want to maintain motivation, experiment with these recommendations. Your progress will come from slow, small, consistent steps, so instead of being hyper-productive, give yourself permission to be gentle. You just listen to the post titled How to Maintain Motivation When Simplifying Your Life by Courtney Carver of BeMoreWithLest.com. Thank you, Courtney.
For me, surrounding myself with things that remind me to minimize and simplify can definitely help a lot. Obviously, I do a podcast that talks about minimalism, so that helps. Having that constant reminder is great, but I'm also in Facebook groups, which, by the way, end up taking over my Facebook feed, but I think that's a good thing because then that's what I'm consuming instead of the opposite types of things, things that drag me down. Often, what we see from friends and brands are so highly curated that it doesn't really represent reality.
It's a bit distorted on social media. It's really their best foot forward life. And that can really affect how we feel. Sometimes in negative ways because it makes us question our own lives.
We shouldn't be comparing ourselves to that. So by changing what we consume and our feeds to good messages and positivity, inspiration, simplifying, things like that, it serves as a nice reminder and can reverse the problem. I should probably start moving mine more towards health and fitness so I can get more reminders about that. But anyway, I do like that recommendation so we curate our feeds ourselves instead of letting others do it for you with stuff that might not be too helpful.
So work on that curation, have a great Friday, and start your weekend if you're listening in real time, and I'll see you tomorrow where you're optimal life. Awaits.