There is nothing simple about me. Except maybe my skin care regime. That is pretty simple. It looks like water and coconut oil.
Otherwise, no dice. I am a mess.
So here you go, one complex woman’s guide to simplification.
1. Absorb the storm.
My car is a mess. It is sticky and has a weird smell—no matter what I do. The smell is there to remind me that I will never, ever be in control. It is very Zen in fact. Perhaps my superpower is in reframing bad things into good.
Nonetheless, I found this: and lo and behold—their trick about putting a back of charcoal in your car to absorb smells just got a gold star in my book.
So I took this new Zen approach to all the stinky smells in my life. I have baking soda in my microwave and my sons’ shoes.
If it stinks and you cant’ fix it—just absorb.
2. Cut through the noise.
Everywhere I go it is loud. My house is loud. The internet is loud. We are in a constant state of bombardment of content and input and advertising. It is much too much.
The conflict though is that I totally care. I want to know what the heck is going on in the world. I want to contribute something of value to the noise.
So please meet Feedly—it is a tool to organize the internet for you—pulling content from all the places you don’t have the time or energy to visit. You can pull from websites, social media and even photo sites.
Now, if someone could just invent a Feedly that worked for the real world… maybe that is a personal assistant? Yep. Totally.
3. Know enough. At the very least.
My new internet BFF is The Skimm
She is like the smart girl in high school who knew the answer to every question but never seemed to study. If I had a “handler” who helped me through social events it would be The Skimm. Quick doses of what-the-hell-is-going-on and enough info for me to determine if I want to dig deeper. If only she was real and knew the name of the mom I see EVERY day on the playground and can’t ask her name without looking like an ass.
4. Recognize your weak spots.
Paperwork will kill me. Or the laundry will. Either way it will be death by drowning.
I am terrible at tasks that need to be repeated. I like projects that can be DONE. This is not the case with paperwork and laundry. Somehow I need to reframe them into something that can be finished. I look to the experts over at Real Simple (so well named)
They seem to have figured out both Laundry
and Mail
However part of recognizing my weak spots is knowing that systems or not, I will let it pile up. Setting up systems that work the way I work is imperative. Things like a laundry blitz (note: this is NOT the method suggested by Real Simple) are more up my alley. A simple tip for me to achieve this is to have 30 pairs of comfy underwear allowing me a long window of time to achieve Maximum Pile Capacity.
5. Acceptance
I am complicated. Simple as that.
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