5 Step Formula to a Clutter-free Life that Allows You to Travel More (Or do more of whatever you love doing)

I cannot focus on following my passions or dreams because

- I cannot find time from my daily routine

- I have some much more else to do

- I am not confident that I will succeed

- I am too lazy

Last time we spoke about Overcoming Personal Barriers to Achieving your Travel Dreams. I started off with giving example of the nature similar to above and spoke about working towards clearing those obstacles and ended up with a promise to give you practical tips on overcoming the same. So Here I Am.

Whenever I ask people what stops them from doing what they love the most I always get answers similar to the above. Money, Time, Laziness, Routine, Blah, Blah. This is what I call “Clutter”. In simple words clutter can be defined as state of disorder or confusion. I mean if you have some dreams should you not be simply working towards fulfilling them? But no, in the real world you have lot of others things that stop you from working on those dreams and you willingly entrap yourself in those and then wonder why you cannot live your dreams.

Okay! Lets do this! Write down 5 things that you are doing on a regular basis to live a life of your dreams. And I won’t define what is ‘regular’ here. Its up to you. Because you know what you want better than anyone else. Only pointer is that please have a direct connection between things you are doing and your dream life. I mean do not convince yourself with bullshit that you are working 12 hours a day for 3 years to get to the same designation as your boss so that you can earn more/save more to take 1 year off to learn kick boxing 10 years from now. Be honest. Please. See? You do not have those 5 things you are doing on a regular basis. But if I ask you what is stopping you? You will bombard me with 50 things, am sure. Get my point?  That , my friends, is Clutter.

So now that you understand what clutter is and what is holding you up, you can focus on avoiding those things. And here are those Clutter-free Life that Allows You to Travel More (Or do more of whatever you love doing)

1. Do Things That Help & Eliminate The Ones That Do Not. 

If you want to achieve whatever it is that you want to, does it not make sense to focus as much of your time and energies possible that help you get what you want? Why would you want to indulge in activities that do not help you get anywhere near your goals? If you want to run every marathon held in the country next year then why not get up early morning and train for it rather than spending every night partying with friends and waking with a hangover the next morning.  That list of 5 things you do to achieve your dreams, that comes in pretty useful here. Write down a list of 5 ( or 50, I don’t care)  and stick to it. And as much as possible force yourself to not do those things that are not on the list. I am not asking you to quit your job right away just because you want to be a painter. But those weekends that you spend watching telly! Swap the remote for that paintbrush, will you?

Source: bing.com via Krystal on Pinterest

2. Learn To Say ‘No’! To Others As Well As Yourself. 

I say this with the risk of making you think that I am asking you to be a jerk. But truthfully, you are wasting too much time by your inability to say ‘No’. I am not saying stop helping others. But when some one asks your for your time or energies ask yourself if you really need to do it. If a friend asks you to help you with a math problem for an assignment next week , go ahead help her. But you really need not accompany her to the visit to the mall to give her  your opinion on the shoes she wishes to buy. Remember that your time is valuable and what you are doing is important. And if you are girl it will be hard to stop yourself from not going to that shoe store. Use your discretion and do not give in to the temptation. Say ‘No!’.

3. Cut Down On Your Material Possessions. 

Reducing your material possessions does not mean that you have to live like a monk. It just means that you need to shift your focus from things to actions (or experiences you’d like to have). There is no point buying the latest Xbox if you want to be a photographer. At the same time you also need to realize that buying the Canon EOS Mark III is not going to make you a better photographer. You may just be bamboozles and lose all the interest perhaps. Learn composition first with the old Point and Shoot that you have. There will always be tools that will make life easier. But your attention should be  to the actions that you are committing instead of ordering  things on E-bay.

4. Be Creative.

Accept the fact that despite all your efforts there will only be a limited number of hours available  and there will only be so much energies you can put it to focus on your dreams. In situations like these it becomes essential to get creative in the ways you manage your time and energies and other ‘non-dream related activities’ (is that a term? 😐 ). There will be things you will have to keep on doing whether you like it or not. Delegate some of  these less important activities to some one else. Or multitask. For e.g. if you wish to be a freelance journalist spend that 1 hour to and fro work related commute writing pointers for the articles you want submit to the newspapers. Thinking out of the box is always a great tool to better your performance and productivity.

5. Hold Yourself Accountable To Someone. 

When I was thinking of starting this blog many of my friends questioned my commitment to it . Knowing me to be a lazy ass that I am. But despite that I went ahead started this and spread the word about this venture to as many friends as possible. Most of whom I was in regular touch with. So I knew that if now I do not make a decent job of it, it would be a very awkward at the next get together with friends when some asks me “So what about that travel blog of yours?” Being accountable brings about a seriousness to the task at hand and forces you to keep at it. This way a) You get your tasks completed b) It becomes a habit and c) you get better at doing it. And yes you can go to any extreme to hold yourself responsible. Like this guy who hired a slapper (that’s right, A SLAPPER) to stop wasting time and increase his productivity.

 Source: tumblr.tastefullyoffensive.com via Jessica on Pinterest

 

Remember, that none of this is going to be easy. There will be times too tempting to go to the movies with friends instead of inventing that new recipe. The point is to keep going. To have that life where you do less and yet do a lot more. When you decide to de-clutter your life it will be a moment of absolute freedom from all that’s stopping you. As if you have signed a declaration of independence and now are on your path to conquering the world or creating one that you love. So, now that you are done reading this go and get to that all important deal of changing your life! Cheers!

Was this write up helpful? Do you have any tips or experiences to share? Why not leave a comment and let me know

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