THE POWER OF
SIMPLICITY
Lance Witt coaches, cares for and
consults leaders and their teams all
over the world on how to live from a
healthy soul.
« Lack of clarity around who you are and what is truly
important to you will lead to complexity and clutter. »
S
implicity. It’s a beautiful word, isn’t it? But the
irony is that simplicity doesn’t always feel simple.
And everywhere I travel and speak, I hear words
that are a disguised plea for a simpler life. Words
like exhausted, overwhelmed, overscheduled and stressed.
Maybe you can relate to the words of Charles Wagner:
“Amid the confused restlessness of modern life, our
wearied minds dream of simplicity.” It is mind-
boggling that he wrote these words in Paris in 1895,
before the invention of the car, the airplane, the
television, the computer, the internet or social media.
I am convinced that the quality of my one and only life
has a lot to do with learning simplicity in an increasingly
complex world. This topic is about far more than
organizing your closet or cleaning out your garage. So, let
me share with you three steps on the road to simplicity.
1. OWN YOUR LIFE
The first step to simplicity is responsibility. You need
to “own” your life. You have to face the fact that the
life you’re living is the result of the decisions you’ve
made. We all have circumstances we can’t control, but
we do control how we respond to those circumstances.
I love the words of Dr. Henry Cloud who said,
“You are ridiculously in charge of your life.”
Let those words soak in for a moment.
You have to own your stuff and admit that, when it comes
to simplicity, you are your own worst enemy. Most of
the complexity and clutter in your life is likely your own
doing: saying yes to too many requests, not having healthy
boundaries, not knowing your limits, and always trying
to please everyone all contributes to a cluttered life.
You are not the victim. You are the perpetrator.
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