Tuesday 17 December 2013

Don't Complicate Your Life

Recall the movie - Jab We Met. The hero was a gone case , he was lost - no aim in life , perceived his life so complicated that nothing could be done. In the second half of the movie, his personality was completely changed
and he starts resolving issues just like a kids play. Why should we also complicate our life ? Can't we be simple problem solvers , in a nut shell - सुलझा हुआ इंसान.

Symptoms of the complications could be something like this - you get confused while making a decision , you spend lot of time in thinking as what to do and still not confident on the action that you yourself decided. You are confused , try to linger-on, feels lazy in doing work , try to find excuse for everything at first, you procrastinate. When you go for shopping with your family , you get confused in buying things and shop those things more that were not at all in your list , then later you regret. In work life, have you made decisions with a lot of hesitation?

I have seen many such people in my career who created a big issue for even a small thing.They would constantly raise it in meetings even if the solution has been given or solutions is very quick and straight forward, will make lots of noise all around and would go in series of followups in the name of resolving that issue. Simpler things are projected as the most complex ones and the story continues. The benefit is that they enjoy a longer work free period in the office and get more personal time. Also, when they complete the so called complex work, they can project themselves as hero and would gain some limelight. 

Everyone of us including work and family seniors n juniors must have gone through these stages or may be experiencing it. 

While my stay in USA, I observed closely one of my senior, the way she handled her home and work life was awesome.Every bit of time was important for her, she never thought of postponing work for tomorrow , in fact she did complete the work immediately, be it office related or home related. She was so active using every bit of her time constructively always that she had no piled-up work for her resulting into no stress , no tension and simplified life.
Since she had one thing at a time to focus on , she was able to take accurate decisions quickly.I applied the same principle in my organization, people were fighting over one of the issue that who is responsible for it and as usual trying to put the ball into others court , I watched for sometime , and then I said, OK stop fighting, I will do it. Everyone was surprisingly happy specially my boss , the fight ends here. 

It is on us to make our life simple or complicated. Keep things simple and small as much as possible. Spent time with your family and appreciate their presence in your life , you will feel the difference.

So much of life is not in our control…the weather, sickness, traffic, etc.  I get that.  However there are many things that we have going on in our lives that we are allowing to happen even though we don’t have the time, space, money or energy for them.  Why do we do this? 

We buy stuff and then complain about all the clutter in our homes. We drag our kids from activity to activity and complain about how tired everyone is and how no one cooperates.We eat out a couple of times a week and then complain about how we can never lose weight. We buy stuff for our homes, eat meals out and enroll our kids in expensive activities and then complain we are in debt. We say yes to way too many ministries or activities and then complain we are never home for our families.We plant a garden and then complain that we have no time for it or that no one helps weed it. We buy a treadmill and then complain we don’t have the energy to use it. We plan elaborate dinner parties and then complain about how much work it is. We spend time with friends on a daily basis only to complain to them about how we don’t have time to organize our homes. We menu plan a week’s worth of time consuming recipes that we can’t get to and then complain that menu planning doesn't work for us.
Are we complaining just for the sake of complaining or do we really want to make a change?  Either way let’s stop complaining.  Either decide you aren't  going to do something about it and move on OR decide that this is the time for change.  Negativity isn't good for anyone.

Having a garden could be something that you find totally relaxing and enjoyable but if you are 9 months pregnant, perhaps this isn't your year to put one in.Having people over for dinner might be something you are keen to do but if all the work frustrates you then change it up and go potluck style instead.If living in a cluttered home drives you crazy then maybe it’s time to make a small change that propels you to a less chaotic life.

Life is complicated enough without us having to make it anymore so. Are you complicating life unnecessarily?  What one thing can you change TODAY to stop that?

Pay attention to the things in your life that leave you stressed and frustrated and figure out why.  Drill it down.  What kind of positive change can you make, even if it’s a hard one, so that you aren't living with nothing but negativity day in and day out.

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