We tend to fill our lives with activity and with 'stuff'. It's supposed to mean we're successful, that we're fully living. The reality is that it usually just leaves us feeling overwhelmed, crowded and with a longing for a simpler, quieter life. By filling every minute of day, we find ourselves with no time to be 'quiet', to go within, to find inner peace that allows us to be creative, productive and free. By having too much stuff, we feel cramped, stifled and burdened. We feel restricted by 'too much' of everything and this impedes our ability to do what's truly important to us.

It's not necessary to go down to bare minimum, but it is essential that we give ourselves room to grow and time to be reflective. And there is a pervasive effect. Simplifying your life in any area gives you more 'space' in all areas. Try it!

To get you started, here are a few ideas to simplify your life. Get prepared for a burst of energy from doing each one of these.

1. Clean out your closet.

Throw or give away what you no longer wear. [Recently read a great tip for this. Take 10 minutes to re-arrange all hangers in your closets back-wards, with hook facing front. Once you've washed or cleaned something, hang it up with hangar facing usual way. After a time you've set (3 to 6 months, after a 'season') get rid of all clothes whose hangars are still facing front. This is an easy and almost painless way of cleaning out closet!]

2. Keep your inbox clean.

Delete as much as possible as soon as you've read it. Use a simple folder system to file rest. Use large groupings such as chronological time (January through December, rolling year). Filing by topic, unless it is a large project, seldom works. [How often have you found 4 folders on same project, all called something different?]. Use tools available in your mailbox to auto-filter email. Choose a primary email reader and have all others auto-forwarded to that email box. Most email readers allow you to automatically delete or file mail from specific individuals.

3. Schedule a breather.

Treat your cover letter as an opportunity to impress your target employer. For example, when you arrange to send your letter to person making hiring decision, you communicate that you have researched specific requirements of their company. Contact office and ask for name of manager responsible for department you are targeting before sending your letter.

Do you have information to communicate to person you have selected?

If you have chosen a particular company as a target, you must have something of interest to communicate. If you are unable to think of anything that you believe would interest reader, you should not spend your time sending your resume or a letter to this person. Instead, you should spend your time researching companies in your sector, or any growth sector that hire people with your abilities. When you select a target that is a better match for your skills and experience, you will find that letter writing can become a fairly easy job search task.

Focus on communicating that you are a perfect match!