Ruthless and Aggressive

I've come to the conclusion in the past few days that if I want to SIMPLIFY, I must be ruthless and aggressive in my efforts, that it truly is a war against clutter and the terrorist organization from which it receives its funding, Chaos International.

It is a war that won't be won outright, but each day I either make ground or lose it, and of course, I want to make sure I have more days in the black than in the red. Of course, I feel this way about my diet, the budget, my chore list, work, etc. We can table for another day your need, dear reader, to psychoanalyze my contextualizing everything as wars or just how many fronts I can reasonably fight on at once. (Another recent thing I've come to accept: "You can have everything, just not every day." - admitting that if some things must be every day, other things will average out to rarely or never.)

So, I'm keeping that front and center at all times: How can I simplify?

I've unsubscribed or opted-down on a few more newsletters, deleted some more apps, and just generally cleaned up my phone. No more hunting for an app because I couldn't recall if it was in "Utilities 1" or "Utilities 2."

For the most part, I've all but banned folders from the first screen on my phone and getting there on the second. What good are folders if it takes more work to find something I use regularly. Worse yet, something I should be using but don't because it's not front-and-center? You'll notice social media didn't make the cut. I spent too much time on Facebook and Twitter this past year at the expense of stuff I *know* was more important.

I also chose a photo from last summer on the jogging track reminding me to exercise. And the lock screen photo is of ferns from our backyard reminding me of the day I took it: I sat out there and drank coffee while my children played on the playset. It was a morning where I wasn't stressed or frustrated or anxious.

Next steps are to plot out the major things I want to accomplish this month and year and then make sure they align with my family's goals. No sense in having a desire to do something if it isn't in my family's plans or I think it will just lead to more frustration on my part. I also have a massive backlog of chores I keep delaying every day. I need to coordinate with Lori on how frequently they really need to b done because either I'm doing them too often, or I'm prioritizing other stuff too highly. Or I need to enlist my family's help more if these are all as important as I think they are.

I've also got a lot of posts in draft on Blogger (the new iApp is pretty decent) instead of carrying around random stuff in my head. I might soon promote it to the firs page, but right now I'm trying to remove some from the first page so I can see more of the track.