If you look at some of the happiest people in the world, it’s not the concrete things that are bringing them joy. It’s about a lifestyle and way of being. And this way of being involves recognizing things for what they are, in the present moment, without the need to overcomplicated things.
For most of us, how to simplify your life can be a way of finding great joy and happiness in life.
Simplification definitely carries a different value for everyone. For some it means getting rid of everything but the essentials, eliminating chaos and busyness and spending time doing what’s important to you. For others it may just mean rearranging your schedule, time and money to be invested into the people and things you love.
However you look at how to simplify your life, remember it is a journey and not a destination. It’s a way of life and not just another plan promising overnight success.
Simplification is allowing you to get to the meaning and the purpose of life which brings about abundant success.
So don’t let another year go by living in the same predictable, overbooked, fast-paced chaotic life. Choose a different path and use the Nourished Planner to help break it down, creating a plan and schedule you enjoy. Here are five ways the Nourished Planner can help you simplify your life.
#1 the power of a plan
Time is one of the only commodities we won’t get more of. It is also something that can escape us ever so quickly especially if we’re not looking. Time has a funny way of filling itself. Our reality is that we can choose to fill time or something else will.
You may be like us, heading into the day with good intentions but finding ourselves stuck in the middle of yet another rabbit hole where we have yet to accomplish anything we’ve set out to do.
One of the greatest ways to maximize time and prevent the time-suck of those rabbit holes is through planning. Knowing exactly what needs to get done and scheduling time around appointments and meetings.
At the start of each week (we like Sundays or Mondays) sit down and schedule out the coming week. Add in appointments, meetings and to-do lists so you can work most efficiently and guarantee yourself time for what you love.
Use the Nourished Planner to schedule time by prioritizing your top five to-do’s each day.
Add appointments and other non-negotiable items to the white space and pull from the monthly view calendar to make sure all activities are accounted for.
Don’t forget the power of the daily to-do tasks. This allows you to prioritize and stay focused on those tasks and the others will fall into place. Don’t get overwhelmed with busy and instead just stay focused on your vision.
Always schedule yourself some buffer time in between meetings and appointments. Things often overlap and take longer than you think so giving yourself a little space makes keeping a schedule feel less rigid and more forgiving. Making habits to create a healthy, simple and nourished life that you love is too often overshadowed by the busyness of everyday life.
Tip #2: meal plan with ease
One of the biggest hurdles to eating healthy is the time it takes to cook. If you find yourself grocery shopping every day, or looking at the clock at 3:00 pm and realizing you’re going to soon be facing a hungry family and you have no idea what to cook, then you may want to try meal planning.
Meal planning is the simple act of writing out a list of what meals you will cook for the week. It takes the guesswork out of the every day and helps you to be prepped and ready for the busy work week ahead. Once you’ve created this simple habit to get you in the kitchen, warm home-cooked meals will still make it to the table even if life doesn’t go as planned.
How to do it? Just once a week, sit down with your Nourished Planner and make a list of meals you’ll cook on each night. Write it out, schedule it, and then make sure you have all of the groceries on hand to make the meal time stress free—or as stress free as meal time can be.
tip #3: harnessing go-to meals
Learning to harness the power of ‘go-to’ meals can be a life altering thing. These are the delicious meals that you’re able to throw together at a moments knowing you and your family love them. More simply put, they’re the meals and recipes you don’t have to think about you just do.
While variation is great in our diet, lets speak realistically for a minute. Having a good running list of go-to meals allows you the ease during the crazy work week to know what you’re going to make, know your family will eat it and better yet know it fits in budget.
Use the opening page of each month in the Nourished Planner to begin a running list of your go-to meals. These could be meals you know off of the top of your head like tacos or pancakes. Continuously add meals that are quick and easy to the list.
You could even cut out a recipe you found in a magazine and tape it inside the pages of your planner.
Aim for a few go-to meals to start with and add to the list as you make other recipes or come across them in a blog post or magazine.
Here is some inspiration to get you started:
- Taco Night {20-minute Turkey Taco Nachos}
- Blender Protein Pancakes
- 5-ingredient Honey Mustard Chicken
- Iowa Style Maid-rite Sandwich {or stuffed sweet potatoes}
- Spaghetti and Meatball Soup
Now keep adding and make your go-to meals fit you.
Photo Credits: @Dineanddish
tip #4: life mapping
So often in life we find ourselves just going through the motions. Not really certain of a path or clear vision for life but rather just repeating what we’ve done a thousand times simply because we don’t know where or when to take the next step.
Life mapping helps you to discover what you want for yourself and your life. It is the process of reflection and dreaming and through that creating realistic action to start you on your way. Ultimately life mapping allows you to have a clear vision creating better focus.
Use the tools in the Nourished Planner to help you reflect on where you’ve been. What has worked well and what hasn’t and continuously align all of your goals and daily action to achieve the end goal. The story of your life map. The Nourished Planner has designated pages each month to build on your life map through reflection and planning.
It is the tool that helps you reflect, know, believe and take action daily to finally achieve all you’ve set out to do.
tip #5: budgeting
Statistically finances are one of the most stressful aspects of a human life. No matter how hard you try to simplify your life, it is nearly impossible to mentally track every financial transaction in today’s chaotic world. Yet next to health, financial security is something we long for, seek out and make goals based off of.
One positive measure in reaching your financial goals is knowing where you stand and from their tracking expenses to make a plan for where to go. Also known as budgeting, this simple plan can help you to recognize the good, bad and ugly and create necessary changes.
You can use the Nourished Planner to track changeable expenses on your budget form such as groceries or dining out money. We use the meal planning sections to keep a running total of how much money we have spent on groceries for the month and keep the tally running. You can also use the monthly spread to keep track of all purchases and when bills are being paid so all pennies are accounted for.
It brings peace of mind, accountability and measurable change to your financial situation.
just the beginning
This is just the beginning of all of the ways the Nourished Planner can be used as a tool to help you simplify your life. Allowing your no’s to be no and your yes’ to be fully yes. To choosing life and joy and presence each day and fully taking action on the dreams and goals you have.
You can learn more about how the Nourished Planner can be used to simplify your life, create a sense of ease and put a focus back on your health here. We would love for you to join us in the this journey of a new way of planning your day. One to help you get more done in less time and focus on what is really important.
You can do a lot in 365 days, especially when it is well planned. To grab your own copy of the Nourished Planner click here!
the heart in the story
The heart behind the Nourished Planner was to help simplify your life. To bring a sense of ease, a one-stop shop to the endless schedules, sticky notes, random sheets of paper and thoughts stuck in your head. Through our own desire to have one book that combined all of the necessities for tracking and planning for a healthy well-intentioned life.
Created only partially out of selfish desire to not be the mom who forgot another conference, lost the grocery list when arriving at the store and always thinking but never actually creating a meal plan that worked for my family. Overrun with chaos, schedules and busyness of life, we craved something more. We craved simplicity, a sense of minimalism in our own way, realistic and yet lasting health, happiness and a search for more joy.
Through that the Nourished Planner was born and it has been everything and more my life needed. It was like the air in our breath and we want nothing more for you to experience the planner and allow it to form into your life.
Learn more about the Nourished Planner here and purchase one here. It’s never too late to simplify your life!
