Your Guide to Simple Living

Zen to Done –Your Guide to Simple Living

Do you marvel at people who appear to be in complete peace in the midst of total chaos? All the while when you are struggling with that familiar not-having-enough-time to the hundred chores running in your mind. You can’t help but wonderare such individuals born with genetic predisposition to serenity you are lacking completely?

But guess what, you too can be the boss of your life.It just takes some retraining to clear the clutter off your mind, so you can bring the focus on developing new habits.That’s the main idea behind famous blogger, Leo Babauta’s Zen to Done (ZTD) productivity system, which is a set of 10 habits to help you get organized, simplify your life, and get things done.Leo suggests instead of trying to implement all 10 ZTD habits at oncechoose one habit at a time and work on it for 30 days, then move on to the next one.

Habit 1: Collect

Carry a capture tool wherever you go. It can be a small notebook, a PDA, a phone or anything that works to write down tasks, ideas, reminders, phone numbers or anything else that pops into your head, before you forget. Empty your notes into your to-do list when you get back to your home or office.

Habit 2: Process

Make quick decisions on things in your inbox. An inbox is any place where you check your messages or incoming information such as emails, phone calls, notebooks, at least once a day. Letting stuff piled up comes in a way to delay yourdecisions.Start with the top item in your list and work your way down, make decision on each item, delete it, delegate it, file it, or put it on your to-do list or calendar to do later, until nothing’s left.

Habit 3: Plan

Set MITs (most important tasks) at the beginning of each week. These are the big rocks you want to accomplishthat week. Each day, create a list of 1 to 3 MITs, along with couple of other important things, and schedule them early in the day and to ensure that they get done. The habit of effective planning gives purpose to your week. You are not just checking items off your to-do list; you’re doing what’s important to you and what will take you closer to achieving your goals.

Habit 4: Simple Trusted System

Create a list for each area of your life, such as @work, @phone, @home, @errands, @someday, @maybe etc. ZTD suggests, instead of getting caught up with complicated tools and systems, keep your lists as simple as possible. Stay focused on what you have to do right now.

Habit 5: Eliminate Distractions

Keep your concentration on one task at a time and remain focused on it until it gets done, or work on it for a set amount of time, say 30 minutes. Eliminate all distractions before you get started; mute emails, phone calls, social media, internet browsing etc. If you get interrupted or think of something else that need to be done while you’re focusing on a task, write it down and get back to the task.

Habit 6:Everything in its place

Organize your life following two basic rules: everything you own should have a home, and when you are done using it, immediately put it back to where it belongs. Putting things where they belong is a great habit, focus on it for 30 days to turn it into something automatic.

Habit 7: Weekly Review

Create list of your life goals; they serve as your long-term goals.For each long-term goal that you choose to work on, choose one medium-term goal that helps you move closer to your main goal. Conduct a weekly review of the progress you have made in accomplishing those goals and determine actions you are going to take to move them forward. Don’t choose too many long-term goals or you’ll get distracted.

Habit 8: Simplify

Review your task and project lists, and see if you can simplify them. Remove everything but essentials, so you have attention right where it should be. Make sure that your projects and tasks lineup with your yearly and life goals. Do this on a regular basis, during your weekly review, and your monthly review, just do the stuff that matters.

Habit 9: Setting Routines

Tap into the power of daily, weekly, monthly routines and habits.Try the habit of creating routines to see if they work better for you. A morning routine could include meditating, setting your MITs for the day, going over your context lists, exercising, processing email and inboxes.You could also have an evening routine and a weekly routine; delegate time and day for what works best for you.

Habit 10: Find Your Passion

The last and most important ZTD habit might be a well-worn phrase, but has an amazing effect on your entire life. If you’re passionate about your work, your task list will not feel daunting to begin with. It's easy to fall into a routine that leaves you bored or unfulfilled. The habit to form here is to constantly seek things you’re passionate about,revive your dreams and passion, and make a career out of them.