Life Reboot: What Do I Want Less Of In My Life?
As part of the life reboot process, I have to figure out a target for where I am going. Monday I went through what I want more of. Today I need to look at the flip side of this: deciding what needs to be eliminated from my life.
Why Do This?
Looking at what we want less of in our lives is a basis for eliminating things that are impeding our progress, growth and happiness. They may center in us, in which case we can work to change ourselves. They may center in others, in which case we can change how we react to those others. They may center in our circumstances, which we can then change or improve.
Deciding What You Don’t Want
Much as I did for the list of things I want more of, I sat down and wrote things I want less of for five minutes. As with the things I want more of, some of the things on this list surprised me.
Things I Want Less Of In 2012
- Needless conflict
- Social media
- Time wasters
- Reading junk
- Thrash
- Frantic busy-ness
- Responsibility
- Tasks put upon me
- Doing things because no one else will
- Sugar
- Impatience
- Irritation
- Rush
- Uncertainty
- Lack of confidence
- Procrastination
These were just some of the things I came up with.
Getting Rid of the Negative
Unlike being more aware to get the positive things into my life, getting rid of things requires a different tactic.
For those things that are habits, such as procrastination, social media, and time wasters, I must replace those habits with positive ones. I can replace them with pauses to plan, create and think.
For the interactions with others, I can be aware of my own state of mind, and take appropriate action. For me, impatience goes to irritation and then to needless conflict if I am hungry, stressed or tired. I can make sure that I am aware of underlying conditions and deal with those.
For the tasks put upon me and doing things because no one else will, I need to either say “no” up front, or let them drop.
What are things you want less of in your life in 2012? How can you bring them about? Share below.
Photo by lejoe
Articles In The Series:
- Life Reboot: Where Do You Start?
- Your Ideal Evening
- What Do I Want My Weekends To Look Like?
- What Do I Want More Of In My Life?
- What Do I Want Less Of In My Life?
- Projects, Open Loops and the RAM Dump
- LThinning Projects
- Doing A Time Audit
- Eliminating Time Wasters
- Do You Have Brain Thrash?
- How To Streamline Inputs
- How To Plan A Month
- How To Make A Weekly Plan
