Simplicity… Clarity… Peace of mind… When was the last time we experienced that in our lives? When was the last time we felt truly happy just being in the moment? When our thoughts were not occupied by planning, prioritizing, analyzing or worrying?

There are some days when I just want to step back, close my life, take a long deep breath, and feel tranquility and peace wash over me.

If lately you too have been yearning to bring simplicity and clarity into your life, here are 7 easy steps that will help you to do just that:

1. Get rid of clutter.

I recently stumbled across a funny picture of Albert Einstein who appeared to be looking for something on his extremely messy desk. Below the picture was a quote “If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk?” – Albert Einstein.

And although, Einstein’s witty comeback made me smile, an empty desk does not necessarily imply an empty mind. Very rarely does clutter help us think and be more productive (like in the case of Einstein).

Usually it is quite the opposite. Psychologists have noticed that working at a messy desk impedes concentration and noticeably decreases productivity. Just as living in a cluttered house, may drain our energy and negatively affect our mood.

The first step to simplifying your life and to bring peace into your soul is to simplify the space you live and work in. Everything that is old, unneeded, unused, broken or spare needs to go! Be honest with yourself about what you truly need and what you have been holding on to without much thought. You will be surprised how refreshing it feels to reclaim your space back.

2. Get rid of mental clutter.

It is not only our homes and offices that get cluttered. Our minds get overwhelmed too with new ideas, important dates that we need to remember, things we must do and all the “where did I put it?” questions. Our mind works non-stop. Processing. Prioritizing. Remembering…

In reality uncluttering our mind is not that different from organizing our office desk – you bring order into your thinking, by not trying to keep everything in your head. This is what I do to organize my thoughts:

1. Make to-do lists, where I write down important tasks or events that I am afraid to forget.
2. Keep an idea journal for all the good ideas that I might have. I just write it down and take it off my mind.
3. Have “junk-thought” sheet by my computer, where I dump all of those negative, meaningless and distracting thoughts that keep cycling over and over, junking up my mind! Sometimes I can fill up the whole page in 15 minutes, with all those random thoughts that come to my mind. But after I am done, I always feel much more focused.

For some reason writing your thoughts down works like magic when you are trying to calm an overly agitated mind and gain clarity.

3. Separate your family from your professional life.

When we have to sacrifice our family time in order to finish an important project – we feel guilty. Whenever we are spending time with our family and think about how much we need to get done – we feel anxious. In any case life gets complicated, because you are not focusing 100% on work and you are not really being with your family. Keep your professional life separate from your personal life. When you are at work – work, when you are with your family – enjoy it to the fullest! And you will see how much simpler life gets.

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I accidentally stumbled upon an Elizabeth Wilson’s book “Stress-proof your life: 52 Brilliant Ideas for Taking Control”. There was one productivity technique that did not make any sense! I read it and thought, “Are you kidding me?! It contradicts any time-management or efficiency theory!” Not to mention that it sounds ridiculous to anyone, who believes that distractions and interruptions are the “ultimate evil” of our times and that you can only be productive if you work in uninterrupted blocks of time.

Fortunately, before making a final decision that this technique was the silliest thing I had ever heard, I decided to try it.

I am glad I did, because to my great surprise I finished most of the tasks on my to-do list in record time. And guess what? Thoughts like making a cup of tea, checking my emails once again, watching a video on youtube.com or chatting with my friends on Facebook, had not even crossed my mind!
If you are struggling with procrastination and regular productivity techniques do not work for you, this might be the perfect solution to your problem.

Here is how it works:

1. Make a list of the tasks you want to accomplish. This step is pretty obvious and most of us already do it every day. Yesterday I had 6 tasks on my to-do list that I could “play” with, but it was probably too much. I would recommend you start with 3-4 tasks. If there is a task that seems boring or that you do not feel like doing – definitely put it on the list (I will explain why this is important later)!

2. Download a stopwatch. If you do not have a stopwatch set one up on your computer, you can download one. Or if it seems like a lot of work, you can try the on-line version I was using.
Here is the link: http://www.timeme.com/timer-stopwatch.htm. It is very intuitive and incredibly easy to use!

3. Set your timer for 5 minutes and start working on the first item on your to-do list.

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Script: 5 minutes of your life.

You are sitting at your desk trying to concentrate on your project.

“I really need to get it done by the end of the day… Let’s see… What are the numbers for the last month?… Hold on. Is that a new email? It might be from Terry.”

You open the email box…
“No that’s just spam. Why would I want to buy a Rolex watch?! … Where was I? Numbers for the last month… God, who is writing to me on Facebook? I’ll just say I’m busy… Finally!… Numbers for the last month should be right here… Great!”

Janice from her desk: “Oh my God! Look at that! Hold on! I’ll send it to you!”

You accepting an image file… waiting for it to download… opening it. It is a picture of a KITTEN!

You to Janice, “It’s cute!” while thinking, “Why in the world would she send me a picture of a cat?! I really don’t have time for this! Where was I? Right… Numbers for the past month…”

Distractions can be very annoying, especially when you are trying to get some work done. They are like thousands of midges swarming around you and following you everywhere you go, making it impossible for you to focus on important tasks.

Just by eliminating those daily distractions alone you will instantly improve your focus, double your productivity and avoid unnecessary stress.

Here is how to do it:

1. Block out the noise. Our brain actually starts to deal with distractions the day we are born. A large portion of the incoming information is blocked to prevent us from feeling overwhelmed. The two main senses that we rely on the most are vision and hearing.

The results of much psychological research show us that we mainly get distracted by visual stimuli as well as unwanted acoustic information. The solution to the distraction problem is genial, because it is so simple – get ear plugs or put on a pair of headphones without listening to any music. When you block one of the senses, the other senses become heightened. But it also helps to improve your focus.

2. Avoid visual stimulation. It has been shown that we only block out about 20% of what comes in through our eyes. This is why we need to keep all visual distractions to a minimum. Most of us do not even notice that our eyes are repeatedly turning to email pop-ups, flashing banners, clutter around our desk, tens of icons on our desktop or the person sitting in front of us.

Therefore, turn off your IM, Twitter, Facebook, email notifications. Remove all the clutter from your desk and your desktop. If you work in an open-plan office, find a spot where you will not be directly facing someone. At home just close the door (lock it if you can) and inform your family members that you will be busy working for about an hour.

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