What’s One Thing You Could Make Easier This Week?
Have you ever fixed one tiny annoyance in your life and immediately thought:
Why didn’t I do this sooner?
I sure have, and couldn’t believe it took me so long to figure it out. Maybe you moved something you use every day to a more convenient spot. You finally put a trash can in the room where you kept needing one. You started keeping an extra charger somewhere instead of constantly carrying one back and forth.
Nothing about your life dramatically changed.
But every time you encounter that little improvement, there’s this tiny feeling of relief.
Ohhhh. That’s easier.
I love improvements like that.
Because I think when we decide we want to make our lives better, we tend to think much bigger.
We want to get healthier. Get organized. Fix our finances. Improve our relationships. Get our house under control.
Those are all worthwhile things to work on.
But sometimes a better question is much smaller:
What’s one thing I could make easier this week?
Look for the Little Things That Keep Annoying You
There are probably dozens of small things in your life that aren’t exactly problems.
They’re just mildly annoying.
You can never find the scissors when you need them. You forget to bring something upstairs. You intend to drink more water but your water bottle is always in another room. Dinner becomes stressful because you don’t decide what you’re making until everyone is already hungry.
Individually, none of these things seems important enough to fix.
So we work around them. Again. And again. And again.
That’s what makes them worth noticing.
A two-minute annoyance that happens once doesn’t matter much. A two-minute annoyance that happens five times a week becomes part of the texture of your life.
And sometimes a surprisingly small change can make it disappear.
Pay Attention to the Sigh of Relief
One way I like to think about this is: What small improvement would create the biggest sigh of relief? Not the biggest transformation. Not the thing you should be working on. Not the habit that would make you the most impressive version of yourself.
The thing that would make you think: Oh, thank goodness. That’s easier now.
Maybe you’re constantly rushing around looking for your keys before you leave the house. You don’t need a new morning routine. You might need a designated place for your keys.
Maybe you keep ordering takeout because figuring out dinner at 6pm feels impossible. You don’t necessarily need an elaborate meal-planning system. Maybe you need three easy dinners decided ahead of time.
Maybe you want to move more during the day but never seem to find time for a workout.
You don’t necessarily need a new exercise program. Maybe you need to find one minute you’re already standing around waiting and use it differently.
Small problem. Small redesign. But potentially a very nice sigh of relief.
Don’t Automatically Add Something
There’s another reason I like asking what I can make easier. It changes the kind of solutions I look for.
When I ask how to improve something, my first instinct can be to add something. A new habit. A new routine. A new system. Another thing I need to remember to do.
But making something easier often means doing the opposite. Can I remove a step? Can I move something closer? Can I decide something earlier? Can I keep a duplicate somewhere? Can I lower the number of times I have to remember? Can I attach something to something I’m already doing?
Sometimes the best improvement isn’t another thing to do. It’s one less thing to think about.
Fix Something You Encounter All the Time
If you’re trying to decide what to make easier, look for something that happens repeatedly.
This is where tiny improvements can become surprisingly valuable.
My lips often feel dry. I used to have just one lip balm in my bedroom. I’d often notice throughout the day that my lips were a bit dry, but I didn’t want to spend the few seconds walking to my bedroom to get it, so I’d tell myself I’d get it soon.
Of course, I didn’t. So by the end of the day, my lips were really dry.
Then one day when I was ordering more online, I realized that if I put one in my purse and one on my desk, I’d have lip balm nearby most of the time when I noticed that I needed it.
Now, when I realize that my lips are getting dry, I can just put some on without having to go to my bedroom (and stop what I’m doing in the process.)
Sure it’s something small, but it makes a big difference.
Moving an item. Changing where you charge something. Putting something where you actually use it. Choosing tomorrow’s clothes tonight. Keeping an easy food where you’ll see it.
If a small improvement helps you every day, or even several times a week, it gets to keep paying you back.
Make the Solution Smaller Than You Think It Should Be
This is the part I have to remind myself of. Once I notice something I want to improve, it’s very easy to turn it into a project.
Dinner is stressful? I should create a complete meal-planning system! My house feels cluttered? Time to reorganize the entire house! I’m not moving enough? Clearly I need a detailed new workout schedule!
And suddenly the little thing I wanted to make easier has become another thing making my life harder.
Instead, I can ask: What’s the smallest change that might help?
Not solve the entire category forever. Just help.
That’s why I only plan a few dinners ahead instead of insisting that I need seven perfectly planned dinners every week. Three dinners aren’t a complete meal-planning system. But they make three evenings easier.
That’s enough to matter.
You Don’t Have to Pick the Most Important Thing
You also don’t need to carefully rank every annoyance in your life and make sure you’ve selected the absolute highest-impact one. That would turn this into another project. 🙂
Start with something you notice. Something that has been bugging you. Something you keep thinking, I really need to figure out a better way to do this.
Then try one small change.
Last week, I talked about treating your life like an experiment. This is a perfect place to do that.
You don’t have to find the permanent solution. Make one reasonable change and see what happens. If it helps, keep it. If it doesn’t, change something else.
Just Make One Thing Easier
There will always be big things worth working toward. But I don’t think making life better has to happen only through big goals and dramatic changes.
Sometimes it’s moving the thing you always need. Deciding something before you’re tired. Removing one unnecessary step. Making the thing you want to do slightly more convenient. Solving an annoyance you’ve been tolerating for six months. And then getting that wonderful little moment: Ohhhh. That’s easier.
So sometime this week, look around your actual life and ask: What’s one thing I could make easier?
Then don’t turn it into a giant project. Make one small change. See if it helps. And enjoy the sigh of relief.
Want More Little Ways to Make Life Easier?
This is exactly why I created The Simple Life Upgrade.
Every week, I do the digging for you and send you specific, practical ideas you can try to make your life a little easier, healthier, or happier.
You don’t need to do all of them. Find the ones that make you think, I could try that.
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