7 Ways I’ve Made My Life Ridiculously Easier

7 Ways I've Made My Life Ridiculously Easier

Want to make life easier? I do. But not just easier. I only want to make life easier if it also makes life better and creates a healthier outcome. Because sure, it’s easier to let dirty dishes stack up in the sink day after day, but the eventual cockroach infestation is a big turn off.

In my life, I’ve found a number of ways to make things easier that I want to share with you: 

  1. Calm the self-critic: Berating myself for mistakes was exhausting. Now when I get something wrong, I acknowledge that it sucks, then remind myself that it’s perfectly human to mess up, and give myself grace (thank you, Kristen Neff, for this cool exercise). The mental energy I save is liberating.
  2. Plan food and follow through: This saves drama and makes it 10x easier to not overeat or make food choices driven by emotion. Deciding ahead of time means I’ve taken into consideration the things that are important to me (health, stamina, taste) and I don’t have to spin and wonder what to eat, or second-guess my plan. Do this and you can trust your choices were made from love for your future self and a desire to be your best.
  3. Let people be who they are: I want to change my husband’s behavior. And people I work with. Some family members, too. Come on, I’m a coach. I have great ideas that will make life better if they just listened to me. Turns out, people don’t like to be coached against their will. (Or told what to do by anyone.) I may have influence in the lives of people around me, but not control. I trust that someone may know something I don’t, and have a better understanding or approach than I do. I relax when I let go of the mental scheming of trying to change someone else and allow them to have their own journey.
  4. Stay focused on the task at hand: One small way I’ve done this is with my morning getting-ready-routine. I used to break away midway through the first coat of mascara to check email or start breakfast. Inevitably my attention was drawn away for longer than planned. Task switching wastes time and, more importantly, saps your brain’s energy. 
  5. Allow people to be disappointed: In a desire to please others, we fib. We don’t want to go to that function or do that thing, but instead of politely saying so we make up excuses, which feels icky. And we have to keep the excuses straight. Or, we give in and do it, grumbling inside. Trying to manage how other people feel is draining and takes away from anything productive or relaxing you may want to do.
  6. Get it out and schedule it: Clients tell me it’s overwhelming to continually carry over to-do’s they don’t complete, or have 17 tasks in their head that they keep “remembering” need to get done. The minute I notice something nagging at me, I realize it’s only in my mind. Right away I get it on paper and calendar it. Relief! And I don’t plan 13 hours or work for an 8-hour day, or allow tasks that are weeks out to get continually copied onto the next to-do list. They are scheduled and forgotten, until I need to do them. 
  7. Love the toddler, but don’t give her the wheel: My toddler brain acts up often. Like when it’s time to shut down social media and she begs to scroll. Or when I take out stir-fry ingredients to prepare dinner and she argues that pizza is better and quicker. Whenever I allow my toddler to take the wheel, regret follows. Because I didn’t accomplish what I wanted, which means I didn’t keep my word to myself. I’ve learned to acknowledge my toddler and understand why she wants what she wants, but then let her know I have a different plan. And I’m sticking to it. 

I know my seven ways to make life easier are not quick hacks. You’ve probably employed all the easy ones and you don’t need me for that. 

And yes, these take focus and effort to implement. But I promise that if you cultivate the mindset shifts and habits I offer, your life can be ridiculously easier in all areas. By the way, coaching can help with that. 

7 Ways I've Made My Life Ridiculously Easier
Photo by Kristin Brown on Unsplash

How to stay on track even when you don’t feel like it

How to stay on track even when you don’t feel like it

You’re going along, following your plan. You feel great. Your clothes are loose. And then you have one of those days. Or weeks. And you think…

I’ve been so good, I deserve a break.

I just don’t feel like it.

I’ll get back to it as soon as…

Sound familiar?

Life comes at you fast. Which means you need to expect those days. And weeks. And you need to execute consistently to not only get results, but maintain them. That is…

What gets you there, keeps you there.

That’s why the first four steps are critical to stay on track. They set and then build on a foundation that is doable for the long-term. And by long-term, I mean your life. All of it. 

If that sounds scary, take a pause. Consider that everything you do or don’t do – small and large – impacts you down the line.  We don’t consider that very often. But I think we need to start. And not in some judgmental I-just-ate-a-cookie-and-I’m-a-fat-pig kind of way. I’m talking about being thoughtful with the things that are important to you. 

Do not confuse this with being hyper-vigilant. Obsessive. Perfectionistic. I’m recommending that you be intentional. Otherwise you’ll fall back into default mode, which for most of us is NOT following through.

We’re wired to conserve energy. To take the easiest path. It helped keep us alive for most of human history. But today we need to recognize that the easy way is often the hard way. 

What?!

How to stay on track even when you don’t feel like it
Photo by Steven Lelham on Unsplash

A client of mine once shared with me the adage: you can do what’s easy and life will be hard, or you can do what’s hard and life will be easy. 

Consider what taking the easy way gets you down the road. Like spending money you haven’t budgeted or ordering another drink, even though you’re at your personal limit. In the moment what’s easy becomes the hard you deal with later. And that later can be weeks or years later, from a budget shortfall for the month to not having enough to retire when you want. From feeling not-so-great the next morning to still struggling with excess weight ten years later. 

This final step in my 5-step process – executing consistently – requires that you keep the other steps in play. That means regularly uncovering then transforming your sabotaging thoughts so that you continue to take action towards your health and weight loss goals. It includes being clear on your “why,” keeping it front and center. And then continually experimenting with your plan, noticing what works, refining and doing it all again. 

Executing is about living a lifestyle that gets you what you want, and keeps you there. Set yourself up with foods you enjoy and activities you like. Make follow through as easy as possible to stay on track. Keep looking at your thoughts so that you notice when your brain sneaks up on you and starts telling lies (you know, the ones about it being too hard or that you’ll never succeed…yeah, those crummy thoughts). 

And don’t wait for it to get easier to stay on track. You’ll simply look up one day and notice that it is.

Stay tuned…because execution is critical, next I’ll talk about “How to keep consistent with healthy habits when life throws you off track.”

A Challenge from Your Weight Loss Coach: Prove Yourself Wrong

As a weight loss coach for more than 20 years, I’ve heard it all. There’s no excuse (er, I mean, reason) that surprises me. As King Solomon noted “there’s nothing new under the sun.”

If I were to survey, coming out near the top would be the issue of time. Say, not having enough time to plan, exercise or meditate. When I dig in, clients tell me that everyone and everything else comes first. They feel like if they take the time to do the things, that everything else will suffer. They will disappoint others. Responsibilities will fall through the cracks.

Now, if you relate to feeling that way, I could mount several arguments to convince you otherwise.

I could tell you about the high-powered people who make time for themselves despite their busy schedules.

I could give you the oxygen mask analogy – that you can only take care of others (and other things) really well when you take care of yourself first.

I could give you statistics on burnout and over-work.

But you know these things. If they haven’t made a difference, my repeating them won’t either.

So how about an experiment? During a clients-only group call, one client suggested the idea of proving it wrong. Brilliant! (Of course, she has an extraordinary weight loss coach 😊.)

Pick a period of time and commit to one thing. Like walking a minimum of 5 minutes everyday for 30 days. Do it and see. Does everything fall apart? Go to hell in a hand basket? Do your family and coworkers think you’re a selfish flake?

Probably not.

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

I don’t know what your particular excuse is. And I’m sure you have more than one. (I do, too.) But choose one and set out to prove it wrong.

Because I do this work every day as a weight loss coach, I’m on to myself about my excuses. Most of the time. But when they “feel” real, I’ve got to poke holes in them.

Defending our excuses makes no space for transformation. Excuses lead to a default future that will simply happen if we do nothing to change it.

So, pick one excuse and poke the hell out of it. Prove it wrong. Repeat.

Live into an intentional future. Not a default one.

8 Quick & Easy Ways to Kickstart Feeling Better and Getting Fit.

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