Why Is It So Difficult To Simplify?

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When I welcomed 2014, I stated that this was going to be my year to “simplify”.  Everything from de-cluttering my desk, learning to eat better, to simplifying my job search – making things simple would be my focus.

Hubby doesn’t think the word “simplify” is in my vocabulary, saying I have a slight tendency to complicate matters.  I disagree.  It’s just that he and I look at something and see it very differently.

When he says, “Let’s run to the grocery store”, he sees a quick trip to pick up groceries.  I see a multi-step process that includes an inventory of the pantry and refrigerator, making a list and checking recipes for ingredients that need to be included on the list, and visits to three different stores.  Hardly a simple task if you ask me.

Hubby is guilty of complicating things too.  When we were newlyweds, Hubby volunteered to clean the bathrooms in our apartment while I tackled the kitchen, the dusting and the vacuuming.   I had finished my chores and went to check on his progress, figuring he’d be taking a nap.

To say he took scrubbing seriously is an understatement.  Standing in the tub in his tighty-whities, the bathroom shone.  But he hadn’t finished one bathroom in the time it took me to clean the rest of the apartment.  Talk about over-complicating something – we didn’t have to eat in there; just shower!

So here I am in now 2014 trying to simplify – and it seems like I’m failing miserably.  My desk remained clean for a day; now a pile of stuff has mysteriously appeared.   What’s up with that?

Simplify – it’s one stinkin’ word!  I have an MBA and years of experience. Why can’t I make any progress?

So I decided to do something about it.  I made a “To Do List”.

It’s beautiful.  It’s organized. It should be laminated.  Yet it’s so long that it certainly doesn’t look very “simple”.

On the top of this lengthy list: Fix our high-tech tank-less water heater, which started intermittently shutting off.  There is nothing like enjoying a steaming hot shower with your hair full of suds, only to have the spa-like sensation ruined by an arctic blast of icy water.

When this happens, whoever is in the cold shower has to run across the house naked and dripping wet to pull the attic stair down, climb the stair and reset the water heater. This usually involves lots of cursing.  The dog runs along too, thinking this is some sort of new game.

Determined to tackle The List and simplify our morning routine – and because I was tired of being a human Popsicle – I did what I thought was the right thing: called the plumber.  After all, I’m a smart, educated, career woman, but I don’t have plumbing skills. 

Perhaps I should have plumbing skills.  After about an hour of the plumber’s time and my checkbook ringing up dollar signs, the plumber asked if I had called the equipment manufacturer.

Uh, no; I’m smart – I’m simplifying things, so I called you.  Apparently I’m not as smart as I thought.

In my haste to simplify, I complicated my problem by failing to do a quick internet search which revealed a customer hotline with online chat.  How much simpler – and cheaper – can it get?

The plumber spent about an hour on the phone with the manufacturer, pressing buttons and running diagnostics; all things I could have done myself.   After he left, I consulted with a neighbor who had similar experience with his water heater.  And as luck – or fate, or karma, or whatever – would have it, the problem is not so simple to fix.  It has to do with weather and gas pressure and temperature differentials.

Hubby came home and I was happy to report that I had tackled one of the items on The List. I was proud to share my new-found knowledge of our water heater, recommending that we take our neighbors’ advice rather than spend more money with the plumber.

The good news: I’ve crossed one thing off The List that will simplify our morning routine.  The bad news:  Looks like there are about 100 more things to on the list.

I guess simplifying things is just complicated.

Simplify: My Word For 2014

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Desk stack

Happy New Year!  I don’t know about you, but I am so ready to greet 2014 and to kick 2013 to the curb.  2013 wasn’t the worst year, but it certainly was challenging and I’m ready to move on.

How ready am I to move on?  So ready that I’m trying to purge anything that’s unwanted, unused and unnecessary.  In fact, I was just telling Hubby that my word for 2014 is “simplify”.  It seems like I have let things take control of my space and therefore me, and it’s time to regain control.

Nowhere is the need to simplify more apparent than in the home office, specifically my desk area.  While I desperately want to make things easier for myself, the decorating scheme for my desk can best be described as “professionally cluttered”.

Seriously, if you could see my desk and office right now, it’s awful.  Stacks of notes with ideas for new writing posts, all sorts of “to-dos”, half-started projects and papers stacked a foot high, things strewn across the floor, etc.  I’m thinking I might just purge everything and start over.

Honestly, if I haven’t looked at it in months – okay, at least a year – why am I hanging on to it?  Sentimentality?  Come on, it’s just paper!

Since I don’t make New Year’s resolutions (I tend to break them before I get started), perhaps applying the word simplify to everything I do will help.

Just simplify, I tell myself.

Good news is that every year around this time I get energized to do all sorts of organization projects. This “end-of-year/beginning-of-year organizing” spurt has already started and I’m ready to kick some serious butt in the home office in order to simplify my life.

Not sure if it’s due to the cold weather that forces me inside, or if it’s my way of trying to start the New Year off on a positive note.  Whatever it is, I have to take advantage of the energy while it’s here because all of a sudden it will turn off, just like a spigot, and the projects will languish until the following January.

All of this energy scares Hubby – he sees dollar signs; I see an organized sanctuary.  But I need his presence while I organize and simplify my desk; someone for me to lean on in case I get weak and try to save the stack of stuff instead of throwing it away.

Hubby agrees and also decides to adopt the mantra “simplify” for 2014.  Grabbing two containers for recycling and trash, we dig in.  We also set a timer that keeps ticking, so we know we are on the clock – no time for dilly-dallying.

Our work is like an archeological dig. “Just found our tax stuff from two years ago”, says Hubby.  Well that’s a keeper.  “Why do I have a Starbucks receipt from last year?” I ask.  Rapid fire, we sort through the stacks of papers, making great progress.

Then we come to the big stack on my desk.  The notes.  The ones I’d been saving; my inspiration for future writing.  All the witty ideas I was going to use at some point but so far had never touched.  My hands were on the stack, but I was frozen in place.

“Come on,” coaxed Hubby.  “You can do it, just like you said you wanted to – simplify things and throw it all away”.

I felt a tear roll down my cheek.  “What if I need something here? What if I have writer’s block and I need an idea?” I whispered.

“You’ll have plenty of ideas; you always do”, says Hubby.  “Remember the goal is to simplify. Be like Nike and Just Do It”.

While Hubby held the trash bag, I let out a little scream while I dumped the stack of paper.  My notes. And anything else that happened to be in the stack.

With that out of the way, we continued straightening and within a couple of hours the office and both of our desks looked better than they had in years.  We can actually see the tops of the desks.  It’s a Christmas miracle! 

Simplify – I already feel better, and just sitting at a clean desk makes me feel more productive.

I want to simplify my job search as well.  Sometimes it’s easy to complicate the process by failing to have a strategy and losing focus, making it more difficult that it should be. I’ve already started a written to-do list – in one notebook, not on hundreds of sticky notes – and I start my day by looking at the list.  I’ll admit that this attempt at hyper-organization will be challenging, but I’m trying to make it work.  Organization, while arguably not my strong suit, is the key to simplification.

Hello, 2014!  I think this is going to be my year.