Personal Growth

50 Ways to Make Life Easier and Less Stressful

Life can be difficult, and if you don’t make a conscious effort to make things easier, it can quickly become overwhelming. The truth is that life is tough, but fortunately, there are some things that you can do to try and swing the odds back in your favor.

If you’re looking to make your life easier, we’re going to look at the best things you can do to try and get ahead of the crowd.

50 Things That Make Life Easier

Here are some of the best things you can try to help you simplify your life and reduce stress:

Prioritize Your Tasks: Not everything in your life is equally important. Define your priorities and tackle those first. Try tools like the Eisenhower Box to decide on and prioritize tasks by urgency and importance.

Organize Your Space: Physical clutter can lead to mental clutter. Keeping your work and living spaces clean can lead to clearer thinking and less stress.

Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle: Regular exercise, a balanced diet, and adequate sleep greatly impact your stress levels and your ability to handle stress. Prioritize your physical health to support your mental health.

Practice Mindfulness: Mindfulness is about being fully present and engaged in the moment, which can help to reduce stress. This could be through meditation, yoga, or simply practicing being present in everyday activities.

Learn to Say No: Overcommitting is a sure way to increase stress. Know your limits and learn to turn down requests or opportunities that are beyond them.

Develop a Positive Mindset: Positivity doesn’t mean ignoring the negative, but rather approaching difficulties from a more positive and productive perspective. Practice gratitude and positive self-talk.

Seek Support: Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. This can be from friends, family, or a professional like a therapist or a coach.

Take Time for Yourself: Remember to schedule time to relax and enjoy life. This could be reading, taking a bath, going for a walk, or pursuing a hobby.

Limit Technology Use: Unplugging from our digital world from time to time can significantly reduce stress. Try setting specific times to check emails and social media, and ensure you have periods of the day where you are entirely disconnected.

Set Clear Goals: Knowing what you want to achieve helps you to focus your energy and reduces unnecessary stress. Make sure to set SMART goals – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

Do you think you are going to be successful in life? Most successful people decide to set goals for them to measure how they’re developing. Ask yourself the question: where will you be in five years, or even ten years? And, where do you want to be?

This can be anything from saving a certain amount of money through to getting a new apartment for your family. You can make things easier by setting goals, as it helps ensure you don’t become distracted by the things that aren’t important.

Automate Tasks: Where possible, automate repetitive tasks. This can be as simple as setting up automatic bill payments or using a grocery delivery service.

Batch Similar Tasks: Group similar tasks together and do them all at once. This method, also known as “batching,” can save a significant amount of time and mental energy.

Delegation: If there are tasks that can be done by others, delegate them. This could apply in a work setting or at home.

Time Management Techniques: Use time management techniques, like the Pomodoro technique, where you work for a specific amount of time (like 25 minutes) then take a short break (5 minutes).

Journaling: Writing down your thoughts and feelings can be a great stress reliever. It can also help you to clarify your thoughts and identify patterns in your thinking.

Create Routines: Regular routines can help reduce stress by providing structure and predictability. This could be a morning routine, evening routine, or a routine for meal planning.

Practice Deep Breathing: Breathing deeply and slowly can help lower stress in the body and promote relaxation. Consider trying it for a few minutes each day.

Listen to Music: Listening to calming music can have a tremendously relaxing effect on our minds and bodies. Choose music that makes you feel happy and relaxed.

Spend Time in Nature: Spending time outdoors has been proven to reduce stress levels. Try to incorporate some form of nature into your daily routine, even if it’s just a short walk.

Try Minimalism: By having fewer material possessions, you can reduce the amount of time spent on cleaning and organizing. Minimalism promotes the idea of living with only what you need and truly value.

For many, thehome is the center of our heart. But sometimes, your home can cause stress more than it provides relief. This is where minimalism can come in.

With minimalism, the first thing you’re likely going to do is to declutter the interior of your house. This can bring a feeling of immediate relief, and make your everyday life easier than it was before. A clearer house can enable you to save space, and also save time when you’re cleaning too.

Laugh More: Laughter really is good medicine. It releases endorphins that promote an overall sense of well-being and can even temporarily relieve pain.

Use Technology Wisely: Use productivity apps and tools like calendars, note-taking apps, and reminder tools to stay organized and on track.

Keep a Consistent Sleep Schedule: Regular sleep patterns can help your body better regulate stress and increase overall health.

Develop a Regular Exercise Routine: Regular physical activity helps lower stress levels over time. Even a brisk walk around the block can be beneficial.

Embrace Imperfection: Let go of the idea that things must be perfect. Striving for perfection often leads to unnecessary stress.

Practice Forgiveness: Holding onto anger and resentment can cause stress. Learning to forgive can help you to move on from past hurts.

Enjoy Art: Engaging with or creating art can be a great stress relief. This can be painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, or any other form of artistic expression you enjoy.

Keep a Gratitude Journal: Regularly writing down things you’re grateful for can help shift your focus from what’s causing you stress to the positive aspects of your life.

Develop Resilience: Resilience helps you to cope better with stress by allowing you to bounce back from adverse events more easily. This can be cultivated through positive relationships, keeping things in perspective, accepting change, and maintaining a hopeful outlook.

Stop Putting Things Off & Learn New Skills: Skills like cooking, basic home repairs, or financial planning can make life significantly easier by promoting self-sufficiency.

Procrastinating and putting everything on hold does nothing, and instead, you should look to learn new skills that can help build your repertoire of competency. It’s our aim to get perfection, but it’s more imperative that you start now, even if things aren’t perfect.

We get caught up procrastinating so much that it means we never actually address the problem. So, make sure that no matter what you do, get started today.

Meal Planning and Prep: Planning meals in advance and prepping them ahead of time can save you a lot of stress during the week.

Learn to Manage Finances: Being in control of your financial situation can significantly reduce stress. Take time to create a budget, save where possible, and regularly review your financial goals.

Break Tasks Down: Large tasks can seem overwhelming. Break them down into smaller, manageable parts to make them easier to tackle.

Limit Multitasking: Multitasking can often lead to mistakes and increase stress. Try to focus on one task at a time.

Practice Mind-Body Techniques: Techniques like Tai Chi, Qi Gong, or progressive muscle relaxation can help reduce stress by focusing on the connection between mind and body.

Join a Support Group: Whether it’s a professional group, a hobby club, or an online community, being part of a group with similar interests or experiences can provide social support and reduce stress.

Pet Therapy: Spending time with animals has been proven to reduce stress and anxiety. This could be with your own pet, or consider volunteering at an animal shelter.

Try Aromatherapy: Scents like lavender and chamomile can help reduce stress and promote relaxation.

Create Art: Painting, sketching, or crafting can be therapeutic and help manage stress. You don’t have to be an expert to benefit – just enjoy the process.

Travel: If possible, taking a vacation or even a short day trip can help reduce stress by taking you out of your regular environment and providing new experiences.

If you’re feeling run down, one of the best ways to combat this is to travel somewhere new and take some time away from the grind. There’s only so much that you can do, and making our own life easier can only be done when you have a conscious and clear mind.

Practice Active Listening: By fully focusing on the speaker, you can improve your communication skills, build better relationships, and reduce misunderstandings, thus reducing stress.

Use Public Transportation or Carpool: This can cut down on the stress of commuting, reduce costs, and give you some free time to read or relax during the ride.

Use a Planner: Using a daily or weekly planner can help you keep track of tasks and deadlines, making it easier to manage your time.

Embrace Change: Instead of resisting it, accept change as a natural part of life. This can lower your anxiety about the future and make transitions less stressful.

Volunteer: Helping others can take your mind off your own worries and add a sense of purpose and fulfillment to your life, reducing stress.

Try Hydrotherapy: A warm bath, a hot shower, or a visit to a hot tub can help to relax tense muscles and reduce stress.

Learn a New Hobby: Engaging in a hobby you enjoy can act as a great stress reliever. This could be anything from gardening to playing a musical instrument.

Use a To-Do List: Make a list of what you need to get done. It can help keep you organized and prevent you from forgetting important tasks.

Maintain a Balanced Diet: A diet full of fruits, vegetables, lean protein, and whole grains can help you feel better physically and mentally.

Establish Boundaries: Setting boundaries in your personal and professional life can help ensure you have time for self-care and prevent you from overcommitting.

Setting boundaries is a necessity if you want to make your life easier, and it can be done in just a few minutes. Make sure that people that are draining you have limited access to your energy if you want to ensure you’re as productive as you can be.

Conclusion

Making your own life easier starts by analyzing your current situation and seeing where you can improve. Then, you can begin to create your own everyday routine that helps bring some structure to your life, which makes your entire life a little more straightforward.

All in all though, we should all reflect on our lives at some point and see where we can improve if we want to be the best version of ourselves.