Do One Thing Every Day to Simplify Your Life

A Journal

About the Book

365 quotes and prompts to help you get rid of what's inessential and focus on the important aspects of your life--part of the bestselling Do One Thing Every Day journal series.

Clutter is not just what you trip over, or paw through looking for your glasses or car keys. It's a state of mind. This journal offers 365 prompts and inspiring quotes that will help you clear your space, inside and out, including "Write about an important thing that turned out to be simple today and a simple thing that turned out to be hard today," and from Socrates: "How many things can I do without?" These thought-provoking questions will help you declutter various parts of your life so that you can uncover what is truly important and worth keeping.
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Excerpt

Do One Thing Every Day to Simplify Your Life

Simplicity is light, carefree, neat, and loving—not a self-punishing ascetic trip.

—Gary Snyder


Simplicity is a balance, tricky but attainable. In Do One Thing Every Day to Simplify Your Life, inspiring quotes, practical advice, and challenging prompts will steer you toward this happy way of being and away from the pitfalls of strict self-denial.

Simplicity is “light,” Snyder writes. Look to the words about nature and language inside this book and to the features that urge you to explore your senses, such as Simple Sounds and Simple Sights. The entries under Simple Tips and K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Stupid) will make everyday life more “carefree.” They offer systems to clear your physical space, from your inbox to your backpack, and specific efficiencies for unmatched socks, chaotic linens, and lost bills. The entries under Simple Mind-set will help to clear your mind.

For advice on being “neat,” read the words of nineteenth century designer William Morris and today’s tidying guru Marie Kondo. Also consult the feature Back to Basics to reduce your oversupply of tools, clothing, and other possessions by identifying the essentials. Finally, simplicity, according to Snyder, means “loving” yourself, others, and the world around you. Look for quotes and prompts throughout this book that elicit self-understanding and gratitude and the feature Simple Gifts, with suggestions of small treasures to give to someone dear.

Guiding you on this journey to simplify your physical and mental life are writers, philosophers, chefs, politicians, musicians, scientists, artists, and celebrities, from ancient times to the present, who have dropped the excess baggage from their own lives while gathering extra joy.

Where should you start? The unnumbered pages of this book are meant to be flipped through and sampled according to your mood with two exceptions. Begin by marking your place on the meter below. Then rate yourself again, on the meter at the end of the book, after a year of doing one thing every day to simplify your life.

Do One Thing Every Day Journals Series

Do One Thing Every Day to Make You Smile
Do One Thing Every Day to Sleep Well Every Night
Do One Thing Every Day to Simplify Your Life
Do One Thing Every Day That Makes You Smarter
Do One Thing Every Morning to Make Your Day
Do One Thing Every Day to Change the World
Do One Fun Thing Every Day
Do One Thing Every Day Together
Do One Thing Every Day That Makes You Happy
Do One Thing Every Day That Centers You
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About the Author

Robie Rogge
Robie Rogge is a New York City-based packager who has created many successful guided journals and novelty products for Clarkson Potter, Chronicle Books, and the Museum of Modern Art, including Clarkson Potter's best-selling Do One Thing Every Day journal series. More by Robie Rogge
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About the Author

Dian G. Smith
Dian G. Smith is a freelance writer and reading specialist. More by Dian G. Smith
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