Day 2- Setting Minimum Standards and Building Simple Habits

Welcome to Day 2.

Today is about creating practices and habits to make your path to an ideal life simple(r) and automatic.

With some daily practices, you can keep focused on where you want to go on your journey, and head off the obstacles as they may arise.

Let’s get started…

Step 1: Creating a “Minimum Standard”

Throughout your life, you have undoubtedly earned more income over time.

I am sure your lifestyle has risen to use all that income (and some)

Is the life you are living now all you hoped it would be?

Did you have grand plans just a few short years ago?

Did you say things like, “We will be so much better off with just an extra $100 a week” or “Paying off the car will make all the difference to the budget”

What happened?
Invariably, we get the promotion and pay rise.  We decide we deserve a new car and extend the car loan, a new job means the kids need more time in daycare and life just sort of goes on.

Not much changes to make you feel like you’re living your Ideal Life ☹

How can you break the cycle?

To begin with, it is a good idea to be clear with what is the absolute minimum standard that you feel comfortable with.

You might feel all is well in the world as long as you have a minimum of $5000 in the bank.
Or maybe it is just that you know you have enough to pay the credit card bill in full each month.

Get clear with yourself as to where your minimum is and determine a workable strategy to achieve that level.

Many people find that they get so enticingly close to their goal only to have something happen to pull them further away.  It might be the car breaks down or an unexpected expense arrives in the mail.

Whatever it is, try REALLY hard to not lose your momentum.  Find other ways to solve the problem without jeopardising your “minimum standard” plan.

Once you reach your minimum standard, set yourself a new target.  By showing the universe you are OK having excess, you will attract more.  This excess is not necessarily just money.

A friend of mine achieved her new minimum bank balance target and set her new intention to have more time with her kids.

She spent a few months looking for a job closer to home, and finally, a job presented itself.

It was 20 minutes closer to home and meant that she no longer needed to have her kids in after-school care, the downside was that it meant a $ 5000-year pay cut, but thanks to her new minimum she was comfortable that the new wage would not be an issue.

She accepted the job and made an appointment with her current boss to tender her resignation.   At that meeting, her boss offered her a newly created management position at a branch that the company was planning on opening in the next quarter.

The new branch was no more than a 2-minute drive or a leisurely 10-minute walk from her home.

She could walk the kids to school and she negotiated a finish time to be able to collect them after school and complete some management paperwork tasks from home.

The best part was the salary was $1000 a year higher than her current role.

The result is she now has more time AND more money.   She truly does feel closer to ideal with this new situation.

Action Step:

Have a look back at your “Life Audit” worksheet from yesterday.  Write down what is the MINIMUM standard you would feel happy with each section?  Are you below it in some areas?  If so, they are the important areas to work of in 2025.

Are you totally sick of seeing that word everywhere?    It does seem that decluttering is the new buzz word of the time.

I am not going to tell you to throw out everything or that things do not “spark joy”

However, it is beneficial to clear the path for riches to enter your life.  I am quite sure that in your vision of a perfect 10/10 life your rooms do not look like an episode of “Hoarders”.

You can start with you less than ideal items, get REALLY critical here. CAN you throw some items away?

Most of the time the real answer will be YES.  Look at items in a room and rate them 1-10.  Now look at the lower scoring items. You rated them low because they do not represent the vision you have for your 10/10 life.

So, in the word’s of a Disney Princess “Let it Go”  you may not be able to uplevel immediately, but give yourself a chance to live without that thing and see how it feels.

How to declutter?    I like to use the “Nike” method….JUST DO IT!!

Grab a box or some trash bags and just pile all that clutter in there.  Those pesky voices are going to start SCREAMING at you..  Excuses like:

• But it was a gift, what if they notice it is not here anymore (They won’t)
• But I love this top (but it doesn’t fit and you have not worn in 5 years)
• But I will use this one day (you haven’t yet and you won’t in the future)
• But I need it (No you don’t )
• But it was expensive (but it is not useful anymore)
  But – But  -But – BUT

Just pack everything up and seal those boxes or bags up with good strong tape.  Take them to an op shop or straight to the dump.

If you REALLY cannot bring yourself to dump them, write the date on those boxes and if they have not been opened in 6 months, you have your proof that those items do not belong in your life.

Keep it simple:
Choose ONE room today (or even ONE area- The kitchen bench, the bathroom vanity or the coffee table) to declutter.  Overwhelm often shows up as inaction.

A special tip on Digital Decluttering:

An easy way to declutter your inbox is to sort your emails by sender.
Now it is easy to see all those emails from “junk addresses” – newsletters, catalogues and sales emails that have served their purpose and are no longer necessary and that you do not need any longer.
Click on one and unsubscribe, then delete the whole lot.  Move on the next one and do the same.
Create folders in your inbox and have emails automatically sort themselves into the correct area.

What results will decluttering bring?

• Removing these negatives from your life will open up the energy to allow new “ideals” to flow toward you.
• You will begin to show the universe that you will not tolerate lower level items in your life, that you deserve so much more.
• By decluttering the lower level items, you may force yourself to use those good glasses or wear that nice top, making you feel closer to your ideal you already.

How to create a daily practice decluttering?

Obviously, you won’t have time to do deep decluttering every day, but you can do little things most days to keep your life clutter-free and open for the flow of “ideals” to arrive.

Try creating these daily habits:

• Make your bed in the morning.  The first step to tidying a bedroom is to make the bed. The bed is the focal point of the room. Having it made and tidy sets the tone of the environment. An unmade bed tends to accumulate clutter on it and around it.
• Deal with physical mail immediately. Open mail over the rubbish tin and discard envelopes and junk mail.
• Empty your pockets or purse of paper receipts, notes or lists
• Do the dishes, clear the sink and bench tops before bed so you wake up to a fresh start in the morning.
• Take out the trash.
• Put things away before bedtime.  A quick whip around the living rooms to return remotes, throw rugs and cushions to their rightful place will, again, give you a fresh start for the morning.

None of these tasks take more than 1 or 2 minutes each, but the results are noticeable.

Step 3: Plan your Day

Just like when you go on a diet, it is a good idea to have a meal plan set out so you don’t fall off the wagon and eat a whole cake at morning tea  🙂  Planning your days and allowing for time to dedicate to your “ideal life” will make that journey happen.

For this exercise, go back to your Life Audit and jot down what you can do this week to up level one or two things this week.

You might want to connect with your partner more, so today, make a reminder on your phone to text him or her at a number of times throughout the week, just to say “Hi, I Love You” or Send a cute smiley and let them know you are thinking of them.

Another example might be that in your ideal life, you run 30 minutes every day.  Start right now by running 5 minutes 2 or 3 times a week.

Most of the things on your Life Audit can be levelled a little bit at a time.

A cautionary note though: Do not overwhelm yourself with a huge to do list.  Keep it to no more than 4 “must do today” items.

Your Action Steps for Day 2

• Decide your Minimum standard for each segment of your Life Audit ( see here for some ideas)
• Choose ONE area to declutter
• Choose a “quick win” (no more than 5 mins) task that you can foster as a new habit.
• Plan your day – no more than 4 ‘must do” tasks

Giving yourself the gift of time to work on your own life is a precious thing.
Taking just a few minutes each morning or evening to create these practices will help immensely on the path to your ideal life.

Share in the Facebook Group how what new habits you are creating.

Tomorrow’s Focus: Long Term Success

Tomorrow, we’ll focus on keeping the momentum going with some , practical ideas that help anchor in the vision and move you closer to your ideal life each day.

I’m so excited to hear your thoughts!  Don’t forget to share your vision or insights in our community group.

Let’s make 2025 your best year yet!

PS: You can download today’s lesson as a PDF eBook here

PPS:  You don’t have to do it on your own.
Did you know I have a Membership called “Rise to RICH” ?
Every month we work on just ONE area of the Life Audit, dissect it into smaller chunks and keep the momentum going toward the Ideal Life you have been craving.