POWER OF SIMPLICITY (continued) 

3. IDENTIFY THE HIGHER YES - Once you are clear about your purpose and your identity and what you value, you have to put a firewall around them.  One of the best practices is to learn to say "No".  This can lead to greater simplicity in our lives.  Part of our challenge is that we want to do it all.   We can do almost anything we want, but we just can't do everything we want.

Every "No" needs to be rooted in a higher "Yes."  The higher "Yes" is your purpose, your values, your core talents and you replenishment cycle.  The "must do's"  of your life.

Saying no to watching Jimmy Fallon could be rooted in the yes of getting up early to exercise the next morning.

Saying no to a business dinner could be rooted in the higher yes of being at your kid's soccer games.

Saying no to a requested meeting could be rooted in the higher yes of needing "think time".

Hans Hoffmann said, "The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak."

Here is my equation for simplicity and note that the order is important"

Clarity + Courage + Calendar = Simplicity

1. Clarity = what matters to you.  What are the things you really value? What are the "must do's" of your life?
2. Courage = the resolve to make change.  Will you have the resolve and discipline to recalibrate your life around that which is most important to you? It takes courage to eliminate the nonessential.

Questions to ask: Are you overextended? Are you spending time and energy on something that's not a core value or priority? Are you doing things simply because it is an expectation from others?  What do you sense you need to stop doing?

3. Calendar = the discipline to execute.
Your calendar will help you become who you want to become.  You calendar can be a bit like a junk drawer.  It can get filled with all sorts of random things that clutter your life.

Let me encourage you to find some time to get alone and reflect on this question:  What would it take for me to move toward a life of greater SIMPLICITY???

Thank you, Lance Witt, for this great information.    healthyhabitstoday.net 
tomharriet@aol.com     For any questions.